The Test PSU that I used (straight out of my box).
Both products, opened. How fun.
Detail on the Lit Acrylic Feet package. Notice that the PCI slot-cover ISN'T the the full length of a PCI slot, and that it has a chunk missing to fit the switch. The switch was very painful to install for me, as it interfered with four out of six slots due to motherboard components. Also notice that two of the LEDs have longer leads, this is so that you can wire it up nicely with the junction of all the wires being somewhere hidden.
Detail on the EL Wire's connectors: You get a controller for 2 strings of EL wire, instructions on how to cut it, but NO SPARE CONNECTOR. If it's a bragging point for your product, you should at least make it so that you can DO IT.
Here's the feet all lit up purdy-like. Pretty sweet, makes me wish I had taken a picture of the pattern they make on the table, though.
The EL Wire. Remember that it's "Blue", and compare it to the Blue LEDs in the fan from my PSU. See the difference? It's more of an aqua than a blue. Just keep this stuff away from REAL blue lights, and the difference is vastly lessened.
A shot of the Acrylic feet, temporarily installed. This is full light, too. Too bad I didn't take one of these in the dark.
Acrylic LED Feet:
Pros
- Easy Installation
- Very visible
- Wire length is superb.
Cons
- Rear panel connector is horrible. A Full-length slot cover with a hole would have been a much better choice.
- White wires used in assembly. I know this is nitpicking, but if you're going to have your case all lit up, you're going to notice these ugly white wires sticking out of the feet.
- Not easily removable and reusable. The sticky tabs are a pain to remove.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10. A nice detail piece, but nothing to get too excited over.
EL Wire (Blue):
Pros
- Easily set up, just plug and glow.
- Small size of the inverter: Very important to the Shuttle case.
- All black wiring. A plus, unless you're planning on re-wiring it.
- Can operate as low as 9 Volts. If you want to dim it, you can.
Cons
- Not Blue. This is my most major issue. It would probably look REALLY nice in green, but unfortunately, I'm going for blue.
- Annoying, High-Pitched squeal emitted by inverter. Really gets on my nerves, and drives cats insane.
- No pass-through connector. This thing is a molex-end. An issue when it comes to my PSU, since it has two molex connectors and both are needed. Rewiring is necessary.
- No on/off switch. Again, rewiring is necessary.
Overall Rating: 5.5/10. I'm not too happy with the colour, but we'll see how it looks on the Shuttle.
That's it, go home, folks.
