SideTrak Portable Monitor

I am not even a week into remote learning and this monitor has become essential for me. I can easily access both class conference calls and any additional materials without constantly switching back and forth or sacrificing screen space. I am giving this product a 5-star review because it works perfectly for me and has even exceeded my expectations. However, I have noticed that occasionally the display freezes or lags behind my inputs (mouse clicks, button presses, etc). I am unsure if this is an issue with the product or my computer, and the issue is not a frequent one, which is why I am deciding not to change my stance. I never knew that I needed a second screen for my laptop, but now that I have it I cannot live without it!

Let’s be clear: I never got far enough to complain about the weak magnets or awkward arm design. That would require the monitor to actually turn on. The Lie: “Plug and play. Simple installation. Get working in minutes.” The Reality: “Please block off your entire afternoon for BIOS tweaks, driver hunting, power cycling, display setting resets, and a growing sense of dread as absolutely nothing happens on the screen.” I was optimistic. I followed the instructions. I updated firmware. I changed BIOS settings. I changed cables. I sacrificed small animals to whatever gods control USB protocols. Nothing. The screen stayed black, the LED blinked mockingly, and I slowly realized I had purchased a glorified laptop appendage that serves only to collect fingerprints. At one point, I found myself staring at this lifeless screen and thinking: “I wish that by shaking this thing, I could either A) get all the hours I wasted on it to fall back out, or B) somehow shake it into working. But no. Only a barbarian would do that.” Instead, I did what most buyers of this product will probably end up doing: Playing Taps from the sole working screen on my laptop while gently laying this dead hunk of plastic back into its box, return label attached. 🔧 Engineering note: When your “portable monitor” requires BIOS changes on a fully modern laptop just to possibly power on, you’ve already lost. Bottom Line: This wasn’t a bad monitor. This was a dead monitor. And it wasted far more of my life than any inanimate object has the right to. P.S.: The links to download the drivers in the included manual? Broken. Enjoy your Easter egg hunt through support forums, dead URLs, and broken downloads, only to discover the electronics were DOA the entire time.

UPDATING 3/8/21 AFTER 2/2021 BELOW - STILL NO RESPONSE FROM SUPPORT I LOVE this device. I work from home but on times when I'm in the office, having dual monitors will be fantastic. Also, with my freestanding dual monitors and laptop monitor, this gives me four working screens on my desk. The setup was very easy, and after a few minutes, it was working great. Now the less than perfect stuff. Tech support was an answering machine. There's no email address, there's no chat. Both are shown on the card that came in the box, but no email and no chat on their website. No one answers the phone line during business hours. So hope it works or you're out of luck. Second, why I was calling ... my monitor starting blanking in and out 3-4 times a minute. Sometimes it would take all my monitors down and sometimes just the SideTrak would go down. It was annoying. The instructions said the driver needed 2 minutes and it was much longer so I called. After about 10 minutes, the issue resolved itself. Maybe if I ever get that tech support callback, I can let them know. And lastly, the screen is clear, but it's not bright and there's no way to adjust it. If you go through Windows and try, the laptop monitor gets dim/bright, but the SideTrak doesn't change. So as much as I love this, it could be even better.

I was hesitant to buy this actually. I normally read the bad reviews first to see the potential issues. There were complaints about the magnet wouldn’t stay in place. So I was pretty hesitant. Before I bought this, I bought an 98$ dual monitor just like this in Cottageder website, it came up from facebook ads, I thought it was valid, so my order never arrived. Im pretty pissed of why Facebook would allow fraudulant ads in there. anyway, so i bought this our of desperation. I had very low expectation obviously. But shipment came just after a day (i have to mention it since amazon have pretty great shipment. When I opened it, it was very easy to setup. You have to follow the instruction how to attach it to the back of your computer, there is a reason why you had to stick magnets from your computers back and stick it to the sticky magnet of the monitor, this makes the adhesive work better, with magnets on both sides, it makes it very stable and not wobbly at all like what others complained. Resolution of the monitor is so good, even better than my laptop. Only negative is, the mouse movement is intermittently slow, which means rendering is felt, its not seamless. not sure if its bec of my specs? but I have 8cpu, and pretty reasonable space, so not sure. but overall, it is an excellent purchase. super happy with it. i will recommend this product. putting 5 star rating.

Helpful

I am working from home now, and don't have much room for a second monitor. With this product, I am able to add a second screen without taking up additional desk space.

Super petit produit. J'ai hésité au départ car c'est plutôt nouveau comme concept et j'avais peur que cela ne fonctionne pas bien. Branché sur mon Packard Bell, aucun souci, mais sur mon Huawei matebook d14, plus petit que l'autre, problème, l'écran ne s'allumait pas et l'ordi faisait un bruit de connexion déconnexion usb constant... Je farfouille sur le site constructeur (en anglais) j'essaie plusieurs choses, toujours pas... Puis, contact pris avec le service client qui distribue la marque ici, on convient du fait que je vais acheter un câble Y (une sortie usb alim et une data, de l'ordi vers l'usb de l'écran) et si ça ne fonctionne toujours pas, je retournerai l'écran et ils me rembourseront. Puis, câble reçu, suspense, et banco ! Ca fonctionne ! C'est top ! Le distributeur m'a gentiment remboursé de suite le prix du câble pour me dédommager d'avoir eu à passer par ces étapes. Super service. L'écran est très bien, le cadre paraît fragile mais lorsqu'on comprend qu'il faut le clipser une fois sorti, il ne bouge plus. Top, tout à fait ce qu'il me fallait ! Hyper pratique pour pouvoir se déplacer en travaillant sur deux écrans. Je recommande vivement !

Been a dual screen user in work and at home for several years and could not ever go back to one. Issue has always been when going to meetings, remote offices and clients etc you cant lift your two screens, dock etc and take with you. Well, you can i suppose but its a lot to lug around. With this you maintain your productivity on the go. Super piece of tech!

Ecran défectueux. L ecran passe son temps a se connecter et se déconnecter. J ai essayé avec un de mes câbles, le problème persiste. Il s agit donc bien d un défaut de l ecran lui-même. Aucun remplacement proposé et le retour est à mes frais. Donc produit me mettant dans une situation où je me retrouve sans double ecran (indispensable dans mon metier) et en plus ça va me coûter de l argent ... A FUIR !