P3Free Review

[opiate81]

I recieved my P3Free today and decided to write up a quick review.
This is one of the first batch which is not upgradeable via USB.
I will add areview of the USB version when I recieve my replacement & I will also eventually buy a PIC Programmer to complete this review also.
Feel free to ask any questions & I'll try to answer.

P3Free

Initial Purchase
Was made through http://www.ic2005.com on the 13th of September.
All went well and the following day it had been posted, although my tracking number never worked personally. (could have emailed ic2005 but never bothered)
Pro's:Smooth Transaction
Cons:Tracking# (easy fixed and not P3Free teams fault)

Receiving P3Free
8 Days after I clicked "Send Payment" my P3Free arrived, it was in a "recycled" box with two plastic sealable bags. One containing the P3Free & the other contained a thin ribbon cable (for PIC Programmer I'm guessing).
Pro's: Recycled & generic packaging, no chance of damage.
Cons:None

Initial Thoughts
I pulled the dongle out and gave it a good look and feel.
Looks: Great in my opinion! nice & sleek, "Front" is spelled "Font". Have since been informed FONT is spelled correctly and is for ribbon cable
Feel: Feels very robust. I gave everything a good pull & twist & nothing happened, the dongle will snap before the case comes off.
Easy to feel which side is the top in the dark.
Pro's:Looks nice, well made & easy to tell top from feel.
Cons:None for me.

Using the P3Free
The dongle comes pre-flashed so I plugged my P3Free into my PS3 & booted as per patrick's instructions.
Nothing happened, I then realised I still had 3.15fw I proceeded to upgrade & try again.
First time on right fw I have a jailbroken PS3.
When it boots the green LED flashes up and then comes back on static & the PS3 boots into jailbreak mode.
I installed the FTP Server, backup manager & Snes9X in less than a minute.
All 3 worked as expected.
Pros:Comes pre-flashed (plug 'n play), has worked 1st time everytime.
Cons:None

Support
So far everything I have asked has been answered within or around 24hrs.
I was one of the people who ordered the first non USB updateable dongles without knowing. Patrick has offered a solution which I find to be suitable & I'm happy with the outcome.
I like that they have a strong presence at this forum as it makes contacting a lot less hassle.
Pro's: Quite fast support, all questions answered & problem was solved fast.
Cons: No cons yet for me.

Things Ive tried
Pulling the P3Free out after booting works fine.
Jailbreaking with USB Fan running works.
Jailbreaking with Disk in works
I have come to the conclusion that jailbreaking with ANY! USB device plugged in also works. Tried PSP, Controller, HDD & USB Stick, PS3 was still jailbroken with

Conclusion
Well I'm very satisfied with my purchase, once my Bootloader version comes I would say a perfect product.
I can honestly say this is the first time I expect to get better support from a clone's developers rather than the original
USB upgradeable version is now shipping

[dcemureviews]

Actually, "FONT" is spelled correctly and not supposed to be "FRONT". This is so you know which way to insert the ribbon cable. See image

[keropi666]

mine came today, small and working fine \
still waiting for the upgradeable replacements

[chi3f]

Got mine Yesterday. I agree with everything opiate81 says about it.

[opiate81]

Actually, "FONT" is spelled correctly and not supposed to be "FRONT". This is so you know which way to insert the ribbon cable. See image

Excellent. Thanks for that info
I'll update the first post

[botleman]

i ordered mine from ic2005, last week, the dhl tracking didnt work, it came via TNT, marked as a usb dev kit, it works perfectly on my phat 60gb ps3, i used filezilla to tranfer stuf into the ps3, all works good, also if you havent realised when you quit a game you can go straight back into back up manager, and choose another game with out hard reseting the whole console,

[regg949]

got mine today bit it doesn't have the backup mgr or the ftp. I had my own from my Droid incredible setup.

[patrick]

I will add areview of the USB version when I recieve my replacement & I will also eventually buy a PIC Programmer to complete this review also.

hehe, maybe i should think about present the FREE programmer with the F1 version P3FREE together

[opiate81]

hehe I know I would definitely like that

Im going to buy one of your Wii modchips for my sister now

[patrick]

cheers mate