Targus Reviews 489

Yayyy!!!! I got my second mini2 IPAD, I love it. It came super fast, faster than I expected. I will give 10 stars for Great Product, outstanding CSR and super fast an furious delivery, many thanks Targus. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Targus Chill Mat AWE81EU is one of many handy dandy little platforms designed to run off USB power and keep your laptop cooler than it usually runs.

Like all such It's a plastic board with a couple of standard cooling fans usually found inside computer cases or strapped onto video cards bolted to the underside of the resting surface.

Most come with at least one USB port to make up for the one used to power the mat. This one has 4 and unusually they are robust and fast. Plus point. It's a good hub.

The whole kit is not cheap for what it is. They generally retail between £45-60 depending on who you shop with. There's a warranty of a sort that lasts for a year. After that you're on your own. Targus don't repair out of warranty or sell spare parts
It's a spectacular example of "disposable tech" designed for a limited lifespan and priced to allow for grudging replacement.
Which is an environmentally unsound waste of money, especially when the most common failure is an easy fix. Or should be.

The bit that WILL go wrong is the fan assembly. The fans are regular 8010 brushless case fans. Fast, quiet, efficient movers of air. But they are known to fail after prolonged use. It's what happens when you run a small motor constantly, which is why in computer cases and on video cards where they are most often used they are easy accessible and replaceable. Which is what you want to do when they start to fail.

The bearings wear and not only does that stop them shifting air and heat, they sound like your laptop is sitting on an industrial vacuum cleaner.

These fans are cheap. From everyone's favourite online auctioneer they can be had for as little as £3 each. So under a tenner to fix over fifty quid to replace. Tough choice.

The problem is, on this kit, you can't get to the bloody fans.

You can see the screws holding them in place but the design of the sealed plastic supports makes free access impossible unless your hands are the size of a five year old child's. Another common swizz of tech companies is to make products that cannot be repaired. You MUST replace them. And all that plastic goes off to landfill. Forget recycling. 90% of all that's collected ends up dumped or exported to a third world country to add to their plastic mountains.

This could easily be avoided in the Chill Mat AWE81EU design by holding the supports in place with a simple nut and blot assembly and allowing the hinge to open beyond it's restricted 30° angle to give us access to the fan assembly. Not doing this is about making any attempt to open the unit up a destructive one.

There are fairly new laws in EU & UK called "Right To Repair" that compel companies to reasonably provide parts and advice to fix malfunctions. Swapping out a couple of plug in fans that require unfastening a dozen screws falls squarely into that category. If you can put a plug into a wall socket and know how a screwdriver works you can do this repair.

So I contacted Targus for parts and to ask how to open the case without destroying it to effect this repair.

What I was confronted with was a cut and paste nightmare of obstructionism that was designed to be as unhelpful as possible. A multi email exchange of them willfully ignoring and evading these simple requests while presenting me with a useless warranty claim form ["Just out of warranty. Sorree"] demanding the level of personal information usually extracted in a dark concrete room with extreme prejudice.

I eventually figured it out myself accessing components with cranked precision tools and applying a great deal of patience. Most people will simply scrap the plastic brick and buy another. Save the planet my perfect peach of a bottom.

Targus clearly don't believe laws apply to them and they don't give a hoot about their company's "green credentials". Their designs are entirely in the realm of disposable tech. They want you buying an endless supply of unsustainable plastic toot on a regular basis. That's their business model. Their staff are cut and paste polite but incapable of actual discussion and deliberately of no help whatsoever if you stray in any way from their business model,

Because I'm a contrary type and somewhat resourceful I'll repair the kit for as long as it's practically sustainable to do so.

What I won't do is buy another new Targus product.

From now on any similar kit will be sourced from everyone BUT Targus.

These companies will never change unless we force them to change by giving our business to those with a more globally responsible customer friendly approach.

I suggest more of us do just that.

Good product except that closure magnets are not strong enough—it flops open.

I Love my back pack. It is well worth the price. So many compartments. It is streamline but still plenty storage!

Always my first choice in companies because of their amazing products at great prices!

While I was unable to register my newly-purchased backpack (Urban Expandable) on the website because it didn't recognize the product number I WAS able to do so with the help of a very able support person. She was friendly and quick and I appreciated her style and problem-solving.

Love your products. Your iPad covers are great!

Superb! Fantastic sleeve. I bought two for my both laptops.

Love the bag. Shoe compartment is awesome. I also find it very sleek.

HAVE NOT SEEN MY TARGUS COVER YET
BUT IT SEEMS VERY COMFORTABLE
WILL LET YOU KNOW LATER IF YOU SEND ME ANOTHER SURVEY
THANKS

Fast shipping. Usual high quality & well-designed Targus product.

It holds my iPad securely, seems to protect it when dropped (although it does not stay closed), the color and finish are attractive.

... and customer support are not responding...

I rate them 1 star for customer service, the paid but missing item, and my wasted time. I will explain below.

I ordered 2 items at the end of January, just over 2 months ago, a backpack and a roller suitcase. The items were paid for immediately, and they were supposed to be delivered by courier, which is fast way to deliver, meaning within a couple of days or so. They were sent as 2 separate orders for some reason. Item 1 arrived on time within days, item 2 was stuck in the courier depo (using their online tracking).

I contacted Targus, red flag number one, they told me to wait, when it was clear the item was blocked/lost in the courier. Several days later, I contacted them again, they asked me to wait again. After about a month (?!) I contacted them again, and I said this is clearly stuck and it's not being delivered, so I asked for a refund or a replacement. They agreed to a replacement, but they made a mistake and send me a backpack again, which is clearly not the right item as that was already delivered, the missing item was the roller. I raised this with them immediately (even before I received it as I could see from the emails that this was the wrong replacement) and asked them for the correct replacement.

A few days later, and nothing happened, I called them again and they told me they escalated to their support team but I had no contact from them. I had to chase them again a few days/weeks later, and after a while, they stopped picking up their phone on my calls, and this happened on several repeated attempts.

Funny enough, as soon as I called from a different phone number, the support phone was picked up immediately, this leads me to believe they have black-listed my number now because I am following up with my complaint.

So when I managed to get through to their support (from my different phone number), they said they are going to "escalate" my case (again)... of course nothing happened after than. I emailed them giving them one week to sort this out either by a replacement or a refund, or else I will start the chargeback process.

I had no reply more than 1 week later, so now taking this with my bank for a charge back. Be warned if you are ordering from this company, you might not get the item you promptly paid for more than 2 months later, and you might have to deal with shady blocking number practices and waste a lot of your time chasing their support and dealing with the charge back procedure. Better choose a reputable supplier for your items.

Love it. Love how it holds the pencil

Targus has always delivered my products on time. Very good service.

I give them a high five, because I been purchasing computer accessories and backpacks with Targus received recently.
The package was sealed and secure with the delivery. I don't have any problems receiving delivery. Thank you Targus. F.L.