ODROID Reviews 7

if there was a possiblity for less than 1 star I woul dhave given it....while devices are working it's honeymoon. once they stop working then trouble start. Spent days trying to explain the issue. Once they determined the issue is with the hardware, they throw in my face a 12 weeks warranty period which was never communicated before not in their product pages. then they locked the forum so I can't post anything....and of course they stopped answering emails....summary: stay away

I purchased 3 H3+ single board computers and intended to run them as a cluster.
I intended to add more to the cluster but one of the three died within only a few months. The fuse had blown and after bypassing the unit is stuck in bootloop, which suggests hardware failure.
I have little confidence in the products after reading many posts on the forum about failing units and the need to return to the manufacturer. All very well returning units, but this proves an unviable option due to the cost of shipping and very short warranty period.

WARNING, do not order from their website as you will not be able to clear customs if you live in Europe. The items will then be sent back to them, they will not refund you and in addition they will ask you to pay return costs rising above the price of the item. A good oriental scam like we are used to experiencing on the internet. Be careful

I've been using Hardkernel products since 2015 I believe it is and have around 18 devices and have only had one hardware failure which was due to a nearby lightning strike which killed the LAN. I continue running that particular XU4 over USB connected LAN.

The company does have a short warranty period but this has never been an issue personally.

I don't know of any other company where the CEO (Justin Lee aka odroid) actively supports users, he has 40,000 forum posts most of which are direct support.

Bought an HC4. Nightmare setup. I mean, I'm no noob, but people seem to be pretending it's easy, almost plug and play - anything but. So first you need to install Debian on an appropriate microSD card, which needs to be Class 8 at least. Why? No idea, and no info on whether it will work on less. Whatever. Time to get set it up! Easy, right? Ehhh, well make sure it's connected with ethernet cable first, because it needs to download Debian online. Yeah it's not contained on flash, didnt we tell you that? Oh well! Which version to install, of the many options? Lol who knows! Just pick one! But now you're installing, should be easy, right? Just follow the instructions, thats what it says? Except they are not clear, and glitchy. Oh, your SD card randomly cannot be partitioned? Ehhh just play with the settings, try again, see if it will work. So you slog to the end. Well that took literally 4 hours, with a painfully slow install, but debian is set up now, all good? Aaahh not quite, now you need to install openmediavault. Time to download another program for your PC, and then manually type out the commands - make sure you get them right! Because copy paste doesnt work, enjoy! Well hey done, except whats this, your HC4 won't boot any more? Just black screens? I guess you'll need to crawl the forums looking for other people who had the same issue! Have fun! Ah well you figured that bug, which we didnt document, so now you just need to log in via the net interface. Oh yeah your username and password dont work - silly, you don't use your debain details! Off to the forums with you to find the OMV admin login! But hey now you're in, you can share files easily right.... right....??!? Huh, your SSD cannot be selected to share, and you have no idea why? Great learning opportunity! Back to the forums!! And then how to map it in as a network drive accessible on my computer? Lol I dunno, it's not my software!
What. The absolute. Hell.
Sure, people who love tinkering with dev boards and know OMV and linux, maybe can have fun with this. For anyone else, DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. It assumes a level of knowledge that it just not appropriate for 95% of people. Once it's set up, it probably works great. I wouldnt know, I haven't got that far, right now I'm just too frustrated.

I have made multiple purchases from HardKernal and received great customer service. The items are always sent promptly and for global shipping, the delivery times are very good.

I'm a proud owner of the ODROID-HC4, Multiple ODROID-XU4 and ODROID-HC2.

Solid products with great linux support.