Review: Wi-Spy on the Mac
Update: I was contacted by Trent from Metageek about this post!
Ever since Metageek announced the Wi-Spy I've wanted to have one. It was just too expensive at first. Then new models came out and they lowered the price of the old model to $99.
Unfortunately, the eBay sellers and Dutch stores selling the Wi-Spy don't seem to be aware of this fact, they're all selling the thing for close to $200 or even €189!
Early last week I saw an ad on eBay from someone selling a Wi-Spy for $99, including shipping.
I now finally have my Wi-Spy!
Click 'Continue reading...' to read my review.
Ever since Metageek announced the Wi-Spy I've wanted to have one. It was just too expensive at first. Then new models came out and they lowered the price of the old model to $99.
Unfortunately, the eBay sellers and Dutch stores selling the Wi-Spy don't seem to be aware of this fact, they're all selling the thing for close to $200 or even €189!
Early last week I saw an ad on eBay from someone selling a Wi-Spy for $99, including shipping.
I now finally have my Wi-Spy!
Click 'Continue reading...' to read my review.
It comes in a DVD box, including a CD-R (according to the inner bezel of the disk) with Windows software: Chanalyzer 2.1. I haven't tried this software.
The Wi-Spy is stuck to the inside of the box with a piece of gum-like glue, which stays attached to the Wi-Spy when you remove it from the box.
I pieled it off and threw it away emmediately, but now the Wi-Spy rattles around loose in the box...
As I am using a Mac, I had to download other software, helpfully, Metageek links to Mac software on the download page of their website. One of these programs seems to be made by Metageek, the other (Eakiu) is from Cookware, a company which seems to be willing to do anything, as long as it's related to computers
Using the device was MUCH easier than I expected. Just plug it in to any USB port, either before or after starting the software. This works with both Eakiu and Mac Wi-Spy.
Mac Wi-Spy is a very simple program, it only has two ways to represent the data from the Wi-Spy:
It can also record the data from the Wi-Spy and play back these recordings. (These recordings are saved in csv files.)
Eakiu is a much cooler piece of software. It has four ways of representing the data from the Wi-Spy, and it can also record and play back.
The first representation is called 2D, the two dimensions are the frequencies/channels and the amplitudes of the signals:
The second representation is called 3D, the third dimension is time, the amplitudes of the signals are represented by different colours in the graph:
The third and fourth representations are quite similar.
Wire:
and Quad:
The data comes in very fast. I don't know what I expected, but I wasn't expecting this kind of speed. Here is a movie from the 2D representation of Eakiu:
The background of the graph is distorted, Youtube is a bit too enthousiastic with their compression...
Here is another movie, this time from the Quad representation of Eakiu:
It is a great little toy and it might prove to be usefull in the future. I've already seen that there is quite a bit of background noise on channels 11 and 12 in our appartment...
I'm glad I bought it!
The Wi-Spy is stuck to the inside of the box with a piece of gum-like glue, which stays attached to the Wi-Spy when you remove it from the box.
I pieled it off and threw it away emmediately, but now the Wi-Spy rattles around loose in the box...
As I am using a Mac, I had to download other software, helpfully, Metageek links to Mac software on the download page of their website. One of these programs seems to be made by Metageek, the other (Eakiu) is from Cookware, a company which seems to be willing to do anything, as long as it's related to computers
Using the device was MUCH easier than I expected. Just plug it in to any USB port, either before or after starting the software. This works with both Eakiu and Mac Wi-Spy.
Mac Wi-Spy is a very simple program, it only has two ways to represent the data from the Wi-Spy:
It can also record the data from the Wi-Spy and play back these recordings. (These recordings are saved in csv files.)
Eakiu is a much cooler piece of software. It has four ways of representing the data from the Wi-Spy, and it can also record and play back.
The first representation is called 2D, the two dimensions are the frequencies/channels and the amplitudes of the signals:
The second representation is called 3D, the third dimension is time, the amplitudes of the signals are represented by different colours in the graph:
The third and fourth representations are quite similar.
Wire:
and Quad:
The data comes in very fast. I don't know what I expected, but I wasn't expecting this kind of speed. Here is a movie from the 2D representation of Eakiu:
The background of the graph is distorted, Youtube is a bit too enthousiastic with their compression...
Here is another movie, this time from the Quad representation of Eakiu:
It is a great little toy and it might prove to be usefull in the future. I've already seen that there is quite a bit of background noise on channels 11 and 12 in our appartment...
I'm glad I bought it!
4 months later: