Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!EE.UCLA.EDU!willing
From: willing@EE.UCLA.EDU (Scott D. Willingham)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: (none)
Message-ID: <8807221907.AA02420@ee.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 22 Jul 88 19:07:07 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 48

There seems to be some interest in the hard drive kits from 
Tech Specialties on this newsgroup lately.  Some have even
mentioned problems with getting them to deliver.  I do not
have a hard drive from them.  However, last year I ordered a 
1MB 520ST memory upgrade from them.  They initially assured
me that it would ship in 2 to 3 weeks.  Every time I called
them, they told me it would be an additional 2 weeks.  Finally,
I received a PC board -- 5 months later!  Thats bad enough, but
in addition, they forgot to put any memory chips on the board.
I called them and got chips a weeks later.  I then had to send
board back to them twice (at my expense) to correct poor design
problems with their MMU "connectors".  Two months later (a total
of 7 months after ordering), I finally had a working board.
A month later two memory chips bit the dust.  Because of their
poor service and since I am an electrical engineer ( working on
my PhD in IC design), I decided to desolder and replace the chips
myself.  After another month, a third chip went out.  I decided
to look into the cause of the problem.  I found that the power
lines on the board were ringing between 4 and 7 volts!  I replaced
the bad chip and made several changes to the board and power
connections to correct the faults in their design.  The board now
works fine with no problems.

You can gather from this story that I would not personally
recommend dealing with Tech Specialties for any product that they
might offer.  You may have better luck that I (even my S*NY products
seem to break).  However, even if you do get a good product at a 
good price from them, it will probably take several months.

At the time I ordered, they did not accept credit card payments
either.  That makes it even more difficult to deal with them if there
are problems.

I have one happy story to relate.  I purchased a 30MB hard disk
from MicroByte (in Texas).  Their product is built by them using 
the ICD controller kit.  I received my drive within a week of ordering
and it has worked great (though it is a bit ugly).  Their telephone
technical support is friendly and answers all questions (Tech Specialties
once hung up on me!).  The 30MB MicroByte system cost me $689.

Sorry about the length of this posting.  I hope it is of some help
to you.

Scott D. Willingham
willing@ee.ucla.edu

PS: I am not affiliated with Tech Specialties in any way except as
a dissatisfied customer.  Also, my opinions should always be assumed
to be my own unless otherwise stated.