Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Yep, that's what I heard.  I called Abel to order a ProDrive a few weeks ago and
they said they would get some in in a few days but that they had backorders to
fill first.  I thought at the time I'd just wait to order when they get caught
up, but its sounding like I'd better pick a number and wait!

                 Please pick                      Now
                  a number                      Serving

                    _____                        _____
                   /  O  \                      /  O  \
                  |       |                    |       |
                  | 43541 |                    |   2   |
                  |       |                    |       |
                  +-------+                    +-------+

							...richard

    Sigh!  Me too.  I placed my order a little over 2 weeks ago.
    I've been living with 1 drive for almost 2 years (yes, I said *years*),
    so I can wait for a few more weeks.  
    
    Please let us know when yours finally arrive.
    
    Gary

    Last week I talked to Abel and they said that my Prodrive was still
    on back-order but he was sure that he would be getting some of the
    PHD 135's from Phoenix (a new arrival on the external floppy market)
    early in the next week.
    
    He offered to ship me what ever came in first, either the ProDrive
    or the PHD. I went for that option not caring what I got as long
    as you could fit a 3.5" disk in it. They actually shipped one to me
    today!!
    
    So if your waiting for a ProDrive, consider the PHD 135 (it passes the
    bus unlike the ProDrive) and if your fast you may even get one shipped
    today. 

    And oh, another nice feature of the PHD is that it is about $4.00
    cheaper than the ProDrive.
    
    		Regards...   Clint

    Re .3
    
    Thanks for the tip.   I'm a little nervous about ordering untried
    hardware, but I just might have to give them a call and chat with
    them about it.  Please give us your impressions about the machine
    when it comes in.
    
    Gary

Well, I've been using my new PHD 135 (3.25" floppy drive from Phoenix)
for a while now and it works great. 

It's a nice small package, about the same profile as the ProDrive but
a little longer (front to back). One noticeable thing about it is that
it is really quiet, sometimes I have to look at the light to see if it
is being accessed. I wish the internal one was half as quiet as this
guy is.

I also have the Commodore A501 expansion memory installed and have had
no problems (ie. some of the power supply problems talked about with
foreign addons).

My first impressions of this drive are very favorable and I hope to
get many happy hours of use from it.

                Regards....   Clint

    Re .5:
    
    Glad to hear that all is going well with your drive.  I switched
    my order to the Phoenix as well.  Unfortunately, by the time I did
    so, (several days after you mentioned it) they'd already sold out
    of them.  They claimed that they would be getting the Phoenix drives
    first, so I asked them to swap.  Still haven't seen it.  I'm getting
    ready to call again.  This is an unacceptable length of time.  I
    tried to be fair to them and give them plenty of time, because I
    know that they're not a big operation, but it's been well over 6
    weeks since they received my order.  I don't plan on ordering any
    more products from Abel.  I'll pay a little extra and get faster
    service.  (Of course, it's partly my fault for waiting so long to
    get my second drive.  I should've done this before the big demand
    caused by new A500 owners.  Sigh!  I'm thrilled that the A500 is
    so popular now, but I wish the drive makers had been able to foresee
    it.)   
    
    Enough grumbling already....
    Gary

    That's it.  I've had it.  Has anyone got an alternative 3.5 inch
    external drive source besides Abel?
    
    Its now been over a month since I ordered a Prodrive.  Three weeks
    ago I switched the order to a PHD.  Neither drives show any promise
    of showing up.  Its always "tomorrow" or "in a few days" or "should
    be next week."  This is ridiculous.
    
    Has anyone had any luck with a mail order house that has Prodrives
    or PHDs lately?  I'd appreciate any recommendations.
    
    Tim :^(   
                   

    Re .7
    
    I wish I had a good answer for you.  But I certainly do feel for
    you.  My order has been in the works so long now that I've forgotten
    just how long it's been.  It's been so long that I've had time to
    save for, order, receive, and begin to use, a brand new printer.
    I'm not pleased either.  
    
    I don't know whether they carry either of the drives, but I got really
    got excellent service from a place called Computer Mail Order, in
    Penna.  Their prices aren't the best I've seen, but they filled my
    order for a printer and the appropriate cable for my A1000, correctly
    and within 48 hours.  Refreshing indeed.  I know they carry the C=
    drive, but I'm not sure about the 3rd party drives.  Good luck with
    your quest.  Take comfort in the fact that you aren't alone. 

    
    Gary

C'mon guys, you are not making my day.  (Or week, month, etc...)  I placed my
order from Abel for an internal ProDrive almost three weeks ago.  Don't tell
me that this is just the beginning of the wait!   At least swapping disks is
giving me some exercise...

					...richard_who_is_not_a_happy_camper

Have you tried the Software Shop in Worcestor Mass.

John

    Re:.8
    
    Yes, I can agree on CMO.  I ordered my A500, monitor and printer
    from them.  Not the lowest price around, but good service and very
    responsive to problems. Unfortunately, they only carry the C-A drive.
    
    Re: .10
    
    Worcester is a looong way from where I live.  And I'm not sure what
    added value I'd get from them when purchasing a drive.  You should
    just plug it in and go.  I'm generally happy going mail order.
    
    I saw an ad in the latest Amiga World for a 3.5" drive from some
    outfit called California-something-or-other.  I don't have the issue,
    but the picture of the drive jumped out at me.  This drive is
    unbelievably skinny and "passes the bus" (sounds like a lot of work
    to me).  Has anyone heard of/seen reviews of this device?

    
>    Worcester is a looong way from where I live.  And I'm not sure what
>    added value I'd get from them when purchasing a drive.  You should
>    just plug it in and go.  I'm generally happy going mail order.
                               
Huh? Added value? The Software Shop carries the same add on drives
that abel carries, and are just as cheap (maybe a couple dollars more).

And they *are* mail order. 

John

    I ordered a bridgeboard and a hurricane accelerator board from Abel
    some time ago.  The bridgeboard made it no problem, but the accelerator
    board was always back ordered.  They charged my credit card for all the
    boards, so I called them and they told me it was still back ordered.

    I decided to call Finally Tech. to find out what the problem was.  And
    found out that Finally has the boards ready to be shipped and that I
    could order direct from them.  They ask me what mail order house I
    placed my order with, and when I told them Abel the operator laughed.
    He said that they weren't shipping to Abel because they had not paid
    them for the first shipment of boards that they had sent them.  And he
    was wondering how they were going to pay since their selling price was
    almost the same as their purchase price.

    I don't know if they are having financial problems, but I go nervous
    and dropped my order and got a credit.  I'm ordering the boards direct
    from Finaly. Maybe somebody wants to call the manufacturer of the
    drives to find out if everything is ok. 

    Angel

    Unsolicited Plug - The Software Shop does have a good relationship
    with Finally Technologies.  I have seen and held the Hurricane board.
    Drooled a little bit on it, in fact.
    
    Don't know the exact price, but $895 (stuffed) seems about right.
    
    PS:  The Software Shop is putting together full blown A2000 systems
         with Hurricane CPUs, de-interlacers, multisync monitors, 3
         megs, ect.  I bet the price compares favorably with a Mac ][,
         the most direct competitor I can think of.
    
    Ed.

Re: .13

>    The bridgeboard made it no problem, but the accelerator
>    board was always back ordered.  They charged my credit card for all the
>    boards, so I called them and they told me it was still back ordered.

I am sorry to see that Abel has started indulging in this common but
sleazy mail order business practice.  One of the reasons I originally
liked doing business with Abel is that they didn't charge until they
shipped the goods.  They use to do partial billings for partial orders.

This sort of pay now, we'll ship it when it comes in stock is the reason
why when buying mailorder, I always check to see if the item is in
stock before placing an order.

By the way, Go Amigo doesn't charge before they ship.

>    He said that they weren't shipping to Abel because they had not paid
>    them for the first shipment of boards that they had sent them.

Abel could be having money problems.  Their prices are very, very low
and it is a new business.  One of the problems some startups have is
they don't do profit and loss statements, so they don't know if they
are making any money!  As long as they have a business that has a
rapidly expanding customer base, the business can have the illusion
of making lots of money because of the large, and ever increasing,
cash flow.  A major personal computer magazine a few years back
went under that way.  Of course, this is pure speculation.

Right now I don't think I would order anything from Abel unless they
had it in stock.

    Re: .12
    
    OK, I "replied" out of ignorance.  I was perusing Mail Order firms
    in Amiga World and there's the Software Shop's ad for anyone to see.
    Their price is not that much greater than anyone else in the business.
    Sometime soon I intend to take that looong trip.
    
    By the way, its not fair for me to dump on Abel for not having 3.5"
    diskette drives (which are in short supply everywhere as near as
    I can tell) without mentioning that I ordered ProWrite from Abel
    and recieved it promptly.

    My faith in Abel has been restored!  My Phoenix arrived today after
    an extended wait.  Yahoo!  Makes the Amiga into a whole new machine. 
    I will probably order from Abel again, but I'll make D*MN sure that
    whatever I order is in stock.  No more "we're expecting a shipment
    next week" nonsense.
    
    My first impressions are favorable.  The drive is amazingly small
    but it's heavy and feels solid.  It's quite a bit quieter than the
    internal drive and the noklickstart patch that I applied months
    ago to shut up the internal drive when it's empty, works for the
    Phoenix drive as well.
    
    Great stuff!
    
    Gary

    I picked up a ProDrive from the Software Shop. Surprise -- its
    manufactured by NEC. As a matter of fact it comes in an NEC box.
    All the "ProDrive" people do is toss in some hardware and installation
    instructions. They gave me 4 screws and 4 spacers. They forgot the
    washers, and the spacers are too short. Sheeesh. Matter of fact,
    the hardware they supply does not match what is described in their
    instructions. Oh well.
    
    Paul