Does anyone use an Apple Airport Express?

[cjs]

I am just about to buy one of these however I was told by a friend that they are unreliable, they fail after a year or so, has anyone experienced this?

I mainly want it for the wireless capability and the USB facility that allows the sharing of a printer, are there any alternative products that can do this?

[ThePassenger]

No direct experience but from reading around online, they'll either keel over and die just outside of warranty or keep on trucking forever and a day... so pretty much like any other gadget.

[PJR]

I have read some reports of them dying pretty early too.. But i bought one anyway as the price was dropped to about £65. Not had it a year yet though..
Still, it works very nicely and the USB printer sharing is very handy too. So long as the thing stays working, then I'd say its very good.

P,

[CatherineJ]

Yes we have had one up and running for the last 2 years.

Occassionally it needs resetting when the internet appears to freeze, but that is quite an infrequent occurrance.

[olf]

I have had two for two years. I've had no reliability problems at all.

I've used them in both modes, i.e. clients dedicated to music and USB printing and also as wireless range extending base stations.

Speed drops off if you use them for the latter. My main problems have the with the Airport Extreme I had. Now replaced with a mass market alternative. The airport expresses work very well with the new set-up and I'll be keeping them for the foreseeable!

[Mr Beckerman]

Same as the Extreme's really reliability wise. The main issue is which version of firmware you run on them. With the Extreme's (not the new N variety), the latest firmware is 5.7, but the one to run is 5.5.1

With the Expresses, I think it's 6.1.1 (or 6.1) rather than the latest. The Apple support forums will tell you which is best.

I look after about 100 Extremes and 5 or so Expresses and the only problems are rogue AP's with 'wrong' firmware or dodgy power supplies on the Extreme's.

Edited by Mr Beckerman on Sunday 6th May 12:22

[cjs]

thanks for the feedback, this product will really do everything I want however I'm still a bit worried about spending £65 on something that may only work for a year or so, I have just read the reviews on Apples Stores own site and they are not very favourable re reliability

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjec

I just hope the latest production has the reliability issues sorted.

[Globulator]

I've got 2 and never had any trouble. About 2 years old now IIRC.
I play a lot of music through mine, streamed through them from a remote server.

[PJR]

cjs said:

I have just read the reviews on Apples Stores own site and they are not very favourable re reliability

The same as I read. But when it comes to things like that, people do tend to make more noise when something goes wrong, as opposed to when it works fine. Its not the only Apple product with similar feedback..
It's not especially expensive anyway. Go for it, just be sure to keep the receipt handy just incase. Odds are it will be just fine.

P,

[cjs]

Hmmmm. I think I'll go for it and take my chances on it lasting. Its the only product I can find that will do what I want and as its only £65, its not a fortune to lose if it dies after 14 months!