FireFly Remote vs. Gyration Keybd / Mouse

[rpemb]

I want to buy one of the FireFly remotes but am concerned it may interfere with my Gyration Mouse / Keyboard combo. Is anyone using both products without problems? FireFly looks cool but I don't want to spend $50 on another P.I.T.A.

Thanks...

[rakeshagrawal]

This is a good question... I'll get it answered for you shortly.

[rakeshagrawal]

OK, so the quick answer is 'no', they don't interfere... For several weeks we had a 50" plasma TV in the office and we had both Firefly and Gyration hooked up to it and used them together without any trouble. Come to think of it, several demos that I've done myself have had both connected to the same machine without any problem.

[rpemb]

Originally Posted by rakeshagrawal

OK, so the quick answer is 'no', they don't interfere...

Thanks for the quick reply. Do you guys publish a spec or something with the frequency data so I could run it by one of the EE's at work?

[rakeshagrawal]

Firefly operates at 433.92 MHz. Let me see if I can provide any more detailed information for you...

[Brett]

Just to reconfirm Rakesh, I have a Gyration Pointer / Keyboard and FireFly. No problems.

-Brett

[rpemb]

Just Ordered!

Thanx 4 the help...

[rpemb]

I've had FireFly for a few weeks now and LOVE it! It is the final tool which has made my HTPC a seamless entity that my whole family can use without bugging me for TS. But...

I often must reposition the remote in my hand many times to find a "sweet spot" in which it will respond correctly. I have the receiver sitting beside my TV with the antenna sticking up. If I move to within 2 feet of the receiver the remote responds correctly. If I move back 8 more feet to the couch, the remote does not work well at all. If I point Firefly directly at the TV (which I do instinctively) the response is very sporadic. If I point it to my left 45 to 90 degrees, it works alot better but still not as well as when I am 2 feet away. I am sure this is not normal and guess that either FireFly has a problem or there is an EMI issue with my location. I have tried moving the receiver everywhere the cable will allow with little change. It's not the batteries either. Currently using fresh Duracell Ultras that showed 1.59v each when I installed them yesterday. HELP!

Suggestions:

Remote feels a bit "cheap". Try adding a small amount of weight in different areas to bulk up the "feel" of the product. This can make a big difference in the customers perception of quality and reliability.

Button travel distance seems a bit long. I find myself having to look it the LED to know if I have sent the keypress or not. This may be related to my reception problem.

Provide haptic feedback when a keypress is successful.

Add LED to remote which shows hard disk activity!

[Brett]

The issue with the "holding at an angle" is very typical of an underpowered usb hub, found on several motherboards. The easiest solution is to get a cheap powered usb hub and route it through that. Not only will it fix that problem it will likely increase the range to about 50 feet.

-Brett

[rpemb]

Hmm...

The hub on my motherboard (Intel) shows 500 mA available per port with Firefly requesting only 2 mA and it's the only thing on that hub. Sounds a bit Rube Goldburg but I'll try it if I can scare up a powered hub somewhere.

[rpemb]

Added a powered hub and I can now and everythings great. Did some digging and found that there is a known current problem with the Intel(r) 82801BA/BAM Universal Host Controller with SL4HM marking, which I have in my Dell 8200.

Thanks for the help...