Cendyne 48x12x48x who made it?

[c5guy]

I went to Office Max to get one of their advertised deals for a 48x CDRW for $9.95 after rebates.

The advertised drive was a verbatium drive but they ran out of those so they gave me the Cendyne Lightning IV 48x12x48x CDRW.

I have a couple of questions :

1) Is this a better drive then the Verbatium (for $9.95 I'm not going to do much complaining if it isn't)

2) I read the article about the Cendyne 48x CDR drive on this site and it said that Cendyne buys all its drives and most of these were made by Lite-On. Well the one I got is not a Lite on and does not have any manufture info on the label. The model number in the specs box on the back of the box is DRIVE MODEL : 4816P

Anyone have any idea who made this drive?

3) I was hoping this drive would support Clone CD raw-DAO but I'm not sure if it does cause I don't know the manufacture.

Thanks for any help

[dhc014]

It's probably an Acer/Benq

[TheWizard]

Yup, drive model 4816P is definitely BenQ. The drive isn't that great, there are better choices out there. For $10, can you really complain though? Furthermore, Verbatim has been known to package various CD-RW manufacturers' drives in their boxes too. Not all Verbatim burners are Lite-Ons just like not all CenDyne burners are Lite-Ons. So, even if you got the Verbatim 48X12X48 drive, there are no guarantees it would be Lite-On.

[BillyG]

Is there any information printed on the back of the Verbatim box like Cendyne's to tell if its a Acer/BenQ or Lite-On? Or is Smartburn or Justlink-Seamless Link mentioned on the front?

[LeBrian]

yes, it's a BenQ which really stinks. i have a cendyne but samsung rebadged.

[miccha81]

Whats so bad about the benq?

[TheWizard]

Whats so bad about the benq?

Inconsistent burning results.

[Dartman]

The one I tried overheated then wouldn't burn anything hardly unless it cooled off. I took it back and got a Buslink/Liteon 48x12x48 and it still works like a champ.
Some people had OK results with them so hard to say if you should just try it out or get something different. Mine also had a bad burning plastic odor so that might be a tipoff if yours does the same.

[miccha81]

Your drive actually had a burning smell? Was it all the time? Or just when burning? I'm wondering if I should keep this drive....$10.00.....

[miccha81]

I just burned a 680 mb data cd with the benq. I ran the scandisc from cdspeed and it gave me a 100% good for both file and surface. I also ran the cd quality check and i got 24 errors at the very end i think. Is this bad?

I was using khypermedia branded cmc magnetics cdrs burned at 48x. No idea what they're actually rated as. Also, how do I actually use the smartspeed feature in nero?

[Dartman]

If it keeps doing OK yours is probably all right. Mine died pretty much the night I hooked it up.
Yeah it smelled kinda hot and like a tar plastic smell, hard to describe but if yours does it you'll know what I mean right away.
Mine might have just been defective but I didn't want to try another so I went back to LiteOns. It was very picky about media too but I'm sure they've updated the firmware a bunch since mine.
I think one of the regulars here had one too and his did OK for him, some others had trouble, probably about 70% OK and 30% bad I think.
If yours is doing that well sounds like they've worked out some bugs, it is sposed to do all the stuff LiteOns can do if it keeps going OK for you.

[miccha81]

I decided to take a whiff of my drive today and noticed it had a faint burn smell....I guess i'll take this back and return it. If it died, it should be covered by warrany though right?

[Dartman]

Mine the smell was enough that other people in the living room noticed it.
After that it wouldn't burn anything properly once it was warm the next day. A very faint smell might not be any problem becuase of the plastic it's built with. I got mine ove a year ago and they may have worked out what ever was wrong by now.
I don't know but if it still works for you it's probably fine, however if all this has made you nercous I guess you can take it back and get a Liteon like I did. I guess you can tell them it's not burning properly any more or it smells like it's getting hot and they should take it back.
I have never had a problem here with BB or Circuit City, I haven't ever dealt Office Max on a return.