BitFenix Recon Black Fan Controller (BFA-RCN-KS-RP)

I've had this for a little over two months and I love it. I wanted something with a clean look that didn't have several colors on it.Pros: I just keep it on "auto" and let it do it's thing. The quality of the face is really nice. Some people don't like that it's hard to see at some angles, but to me its not a big issue. It's just a matter of bending down.Cons: The stickers on the temperature channels are pretty weak. Mine kept falling off. Use some other adhesive like electrical tape, and you'll be set. The online software is a bit of a pain as well, but since I don't do anything TOO intensive to my system (Mainly I don't overclock), I just keep it on auto and let it do it's thing.

It's okay if you want problems! This is the second unit, the first Amazon authorized return due to the fact that it was stuck on automatic mode and the software did not function at all. This unit does not fit well into my Corsair Obsidian 750D case. The tool less latch is in the way of screwing in the mounting screw, because Bitfenix made the sides way too short. Furthermore the first one I installed went right past where it was supposed to stop and latch and got stuck inside the computer case. That was amazing as I was pushing only with both index fingers ever so carefully. I installed the second unit with the assurance that it too would get stuck if it suddenly went past where it is supposed to stop. This unit functions like it is advertised to however the software does not. You have to manually start this program from within the hard drive you installed it on. There are two parts of the program that must be manually started then you can finally go to Google and manually type up the address to it and finally get it going.I found the most help with the buggy software here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HutTStr_JiQThe software and being that it it supposed to be on the internet was a selling point for me and ultimately the main fail point. I was under the impression that once you have the mobile app on your smart phone, it would give you some sort of warning when your computer was overheating while you were away from home, but this is not true. The warning beep is only on the unit installed into the computer. The manual mode keeps self adjusting as well, so therefore it is not a manual mode. The automatic mode works well and the display is nice. You may be happier with their Sentry line

The quality of the unit itself seems ok. No problems there.It has 5 temperature probes and controls 5 fans.I have some issues with the automatic fan adjustment. If I set a target temperature, of a fan to, say to 45c, and turn on set the recon to automatic mode, this is what happens:- The recon runs the fan slowly and quietly (which is what I want)- After a few minutes, the temperature rises to 46c for longer than 30 seconds- The recon beeps twice loudly, and turns the fan to max speed. It sounds like a hurricane inside my case- After a minute or two, the temperature drops to 43c or less for 2 minutes- Then the recon runs the fan slow again.Thank god the beeping noise can be disabled because this cycle repeats endlessly. It seems that the recon, in automatic mode, will NOT incrementally increase the speed of the fans in order to maintain a stable temperature. It only knows the minimum fan speed (which you can set) and MAXIMUM, leading to this endless +/- 3 degree cycle. While this cycling is happening, the fan noise from my computer goes from a barely audible whisper to a low roar and back again every 2 minutes. It's very annoying. I'm also a little concerned about what the constantly fluctuating temperatures might do to my hardware in the long term.The software which comes with the Recon totally sucks. There was almost zero documentation, and it took me over 2 hours of googling to figure out what was wrong. I had to uninstall and re-install it several times, trying different things I found in message forums before I finally got it working. Then when I finally did get it working, the 5 slider controls for controlling the fans' speed moved around randomly every 30-60 seconds, even when the fan's speed aren't changing. To this day I don't know why they do that - I wasn't even able to find a reason why.At some point during my Googling, I discovered that someone actually wrote an open source program to replace the crappy software that came with the recon, called Phoebetria. It has many more features and helps to resolve that cycling problem above somewhat, but even that didn't get rid of it entirely. It also doesn't run as a windows service, making it unsuitable to run on anything other than a workstation, while I'm running a headless server in my living room. The original recon software at least runs as a service.Eventually, after several hours of tweaking this thing and then about two months of being distracted by the constantly changing fan speeds, I set the recon to manual mode and adjusted the fan speeds so that the system will be cool no matter the load it's under. My system is now nosier than I was hoping for but, I barely hear the fan noise most of the time.I could have spent less on a controller that allowed me to do this. I really don't like the recon, but the only thing keeping me from giving the recon one star is the fact that I'm still using it. If you don't use the automatic mode, it works as well as any other manual fan controller, and hey, at least I can open up the software every so often to check on my temperatures. I am not, however, getting to make use of all the features.Ultimately, I could have spent less on a plain-old manual fan controller and gotten the same use out of it.

As reference, I have this fan controller inside a Corsair Obsidian 650d computer case. This fan controller looks great. It matches my case. I don't use the temperature probes and I don't use the mobile temp monitoring feature because I don't need to. The housing of the fan controller does not fit in a flush manner at the front of my case so it's not aesthetically perfect. The display panel is quite simple to use but if you're viewing it from an angle you won't see anything; you need to be directly in front of it to have a clear view. I control my fans manually because it's fun that way. The loud beep can be turned off which is good. So far I haven't encountered any problems. I will report any issues that I encounter from here.

Unit looks great and does a great job with monitoring temps and fan speeds, however if you have your PC on the floor be prepared to do a lot of side stretches, the viewing angle is terrible. if you are on the same level looking at it then its great to look at.

I love the fact that the screen light is very delicate, not too bright and that the screen can be turned off. Performs great and you can control it over the internet.

NO FUNCIONA CORRECTAMENTE, SE ACELERA LOS VENTILADORES CADA RATO, NO FUNCIONA LOS CONTROLES TACTIL NI EL DISPLAY NO MARCA LA LECTURA DE LOS MEDIDONES DIGITALES..