Ambient Market Maven

I purchased two Ambient Orbs. One was faulty, and they replaced it with no problems.

One worked perfectly for a long time (doesn't seem to be working, now), and the other worked on the middle light intensity, but not on high or low intensity. Then I dropped it and broke it (about 6 months ago).

Had them for years, but don't use them now.

We could not get reception sufficient to "pull in" the signal necessary for the product to work properly. There was nothing wrong with the product, unless you count the lack of signal.

This item is not as described. The Ambient Orb, which I intended to purchase, is currently unavailable. The Market Maven is a different product from the one described in the item description. Returned for refund!

I received this as a gift a month ago, so I can't fairly gripe about the cost. But it's certainly an overpriced paperweight. I compare it to the Galileo thermometer (also a gift) it sits next to on my desk -- attractive and a conversation piece, but minimal practicality.

Cards inside the package indicates I can set displays for stock prices, today's high temperature (although the Ambient website says current temperature), weekend forecast, air quality, pollen count, and a dozen other things. Neat idea. But I will have to pay a monthly fee (I get the first three months free) to use the majority of them. And the website doesn't list all of the choices I have on my cards. But it does list a choice of chances that "Bush will be re-elected." Huh? At least it correctly predicts that as zero.

The website also correctly indicates that my portfolio is up 1.25 percent on this particular day, and it indicates that my orb should be light green. However, it's been red all day, and it's been off on other days as well. Unless the accuracy improves, I won't be signing on for the monthly service. And while I initially thought this would be a great gift idea for someone else, that won't be happening unless I see significant improvements.

The orb works as defined. It's usefulness is open to interpretation. Out of the box, I believe it to be an overpriced conversation piece.

The quality is not outstanding. The pager card had come loose in the one I received and was bouncing around in the orb. It worked once I reassembled it. I'm not quite sure what justifies the high price, I can only guess that it must be to subsidize the network costs.

The ambient site itself seems a little disorganized and the community forums are pretty inactive. This leaves me uncertain of the viability of the company itself.

It should be noted that ambient sells an add-on card that allows programmers to control the orb via serial connection. This allows programmers to turn it into a more useful conversation piece (regardless of ambient's future).