Tritton TRI-UV100 SEE2 USB 2.0 SVGA Adapter

The Tritton is an excellent product as long as you bear its limitations in mind. It is definitely not the equivalent of a high-performance graphics card, but it is great for extending your desktop to one more monitor. That's what I needed and that's what I got, easily and cheaply.I use Windows XP on a Sony VAIO laptop with one external SVGA port. Some of my work is very graphics intensive and some is not (e.g., email, programming). I needed more screen space, i.e., multiple monitors.Using the Tritton SEE2, I now have ample room to work on three screens. In addition to the laptop screen, I use two external LCD panels, one connected to the laptop's SVGA port, and one connected to a USB 2.0 port using the Tritton. I use the SVGA port monitor or the laptop monitor for graphics-intensive tasks, and the USB monitor for primarily textual tasks.The instructions are good, and the basic setup was easy. After installing the drivers from the CD, I set up an Extended Desktop configuration in Windows XP. The laptop recognized all three monitors and allowed me to set different resolutions and color depths as needed. I run the USB monitor at 1280 x 1024, with 16 bit color. I run the SVGA one at 1280 x 1024 with 32 bit color, and the laptop at 1280 x 800 with 32 bit color. Configuring the SVGA port external monitor as the Primary Monitor took some trial and error, but worked OK.This setup is not completely perfect, but its a vast improvement over what I could do otherwise. The monitor running through USB is somewhat slower than the one running through the SVGA port, as one would expect. If I run the graphics-intensive tasks on the USB monitor, I find the slowness annoying. But for textual tasks, it works great and I'm very happy to have it.Previously, I tried the Matrox DualHead2Go product. It worked very nicely, and both external monitors were equally fast, but it would only allow me 1280 x 768 resolution due to my particular graphics chipset, which I found insufficient and annoying. If you can afford the higher price for the Matrox, and it is compatible with your graphics chipset at the resolution you need, you may be happier with the Matrox approach. Otherwise, using the Tritton for low-intensity graphics is a great way to get more screen real-estate.Overall, I am very pleased with the Tritton SEE2 product and wouldn't want to be without it.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Followup two years later:My Tritton USB/SVGA adapter had a lamentably short life. It began to freeze, necessitating reboots, until it died.However, I now have an EVGA UV Plus+16, which is much superior to the Tritton. Video speed is nearly equivalent to the SVGA, at 1280 x 1024, with 32 bit color depth. Much more stable.

There are already lots of reviews for this item. But I'll add my 2 cents. We used it to test and document a complicated billing/accounting application in UAT, and it was a real life saver. It allowed us to exercise the application on one monitor and document the results, with screenshots, on the other. As is stated in other reviews, the refresh is not terribly fast, but it was not problematic for our purposes. Some other devices may be faster, but the Memtek TRI-UV100 Tritton SEE2 is inexpensive - it was about half the price of some competing devices. We used it for more than 100 hours with a variety of PCs, monitors, and a projector, and it worked flawlessly in every situation, and it worked perfectly with SnagIt and LogMeIn, as well. Selecting on/off, functions, and resolutions from the system tray is effortless, and it turns on and off with no fuss. When you turn See2 on, it remembers your last resolution; when you turn it off, your primary monitor instantly resumes its previous function. See2 is great for road warriors, too - it's not much bigger than a mouse and requires no external power. Several of my team mates on the project promptly purchased their own.

I have tried to use these adapters for the last six months at work and at home. My company ordered several of them recently but we had to give up on them. I tried them with my home laptop and the same results.The laptops crashed very often (BSD) for no reason, and also when trying to open .mov files. The resolution is not good, and the refresh rate is very slow. I work for the IT department, and I tried to troubleshoot it by contacting the Tritton tech service. I installed the newest drivers/firmware. No luck. I had to return the device.Note: Our company tried a couple other adapters but they had the same performance. We had to buy DVI connectors and use docking stations.If you are looking for an adapter with great definition, and great performance try something else.

If you need to add an extra monitor to use with Windows XP, and can't use a standard video card, then this is for you.On the other hand, this can't match the quality of a standard video card, and motion will look somewhat choppy. If an extra PCI or IDE video card would work with your system, then that would be the better choice.PROS* Can be connected with only a USB 2.0 port.* You can plug or unplug it from the USB port without problems, and the monitor will be immediately added to or removed from your desktop.* Up to 1280x1024 resolution at 16 bits (near true color), with 32-bit true color available for 1152x864 and lower resolutions. (You may need to download the newest drivers for high resolution).* Can support a flicker-free refresh rate of 85 Hz at the top resolution.* The display on the attached monitor is crisp and clean.* Small, attractive design with a blue LED.* Powered through the USB port.* I've been using one without a problem for nearly a year.CONS* While the newest XP drivers (downloadable from Tritton) are easy to install and have passed WHQL testing, the older drivers that may still ship with the device aren't as polished.* Attaching the device to a different USB port means installing the drivers again (apparently the manufacturer saved money by not giving each device a unique electronic serial number).* Motion on the attached monitor is somewhat choppy. It's fine for things like email, word processing, or web browsing, but it's not fast enough for games or video.* DirectX 3D windows (including any DirectX9 window) won't work. This means that some games can't display if you drag them to the attatched monitor.* The driver puts an icon in the Taskbar's notification area (system tray), with no way to get rid of the icon. (On the other hand, the icon's popup menu may be convenient.)* The connector is standard VGA, not DVI.Again, it's a good device, as long as you don't want to play games on it.