Okay...after reading countless praises for the 16xx, I went out and bought a "Hi-Val" drive from Compusa hoping it was one that was a rebadged 1640. I read in here somewhere that some of the Hi-Val ones were the 1640's. Instead it was a DQ60. Has anyone actually used it, or is everyone judging it based on it being a teac?

I am getting a very large lump on my head from banging it against the wall over this.

Yes, it is bad beyond words. It reminds me of the disaster that Toshiba SD-R5372 was!
I will post some scans that ought to convince you, below.

Careful with the head!

CompUSA will take the drive back, and give you a full refund.

Here's 16x -R TDK media. First burn by LG GSA-4163B, second by BenQ DQ60.

16x +R Verbatim media. First burn by LG GSA-4163B, second by BenQ DQ60.

8x +R Taiyo Yuden media. First burn by BenQ DW1640, second by BenQ DQ60. [I suppose this illustrates that even the worst drives perform acceptably with this great media.]

okay so is what I read true?

both the 1640 and DQ60 both crap?

I havent been here a while, but I find myself wanting to upgrade my 1620, which has had quite a lot of hours on it(use it professionaly) and first I see that the 1640 is junk and everyone is flashing it to 1620.

And today I notice that the DQ60 is a new drive and this post implies its outsourced to Teac?!?!?

is there a link someone can give me that breaks down all this current with BenQ?

And if I am to get a new drive should it be NEC now?

Are you kidding?
The 1640 scans are perferct!!

I really don't know what to say except that everything in your post is wrong, but the DQ60 is a junk drive, you got that sraight at least. Try reading some threads and not titles.

No. Not everything you read is true.

All right. Here's the summary.

DW1620: good.
DW1640: better.
DW1655: best.
DQ60: forget it.

Pardon me, I did read entire posts and I could have sworn I heard somone comment exactly what I reflected.

I guess what I dont understand is why I see so many drives that are reflashed to the 1620? Is benq being slow on firmware updates for 1640 and 50's?

I guess if I need a replacement I HAVE to go with the 1655, Im just hate the idea of having the light scribe! I use inkjet printing for my discs (via Epson r320)
I guess the reason I am paranoid is that I fear the extra hardware will take away from the drive!

am I ignorant to the facts? does lightscribe use the same laser?

once again thanks guys for the info, I know lurking isnt looked onto as kindly here, Ive just been real busy the last 9 months

reflashed to 1620 what is? I have not seen one thread on this... please, point me to it

*off-topic*

The Philips 1640 is a BenQ DW1620. That is most likely what you saw. Some users prefer to flash the Philips version of the drive using a BenQ firmware, thus making it a 1620. The Philips firmware is said to stink, and the BenQ firmware said to be good, which is why users choose it over the Philips.

The BenQ DW1640, on the other hand, is a different drive entirely, and cannot be flashed to a DW1620. So keep in mind that the 1640 mentioned in some posts may refer to its equal, the BenQ DW1620, and not the BenQ DW1640.

*/off-topic*

And remember that LS doesn't have to be used...it is just there if you want to use it. The burning capability of the BenQ DW1655 should make it appealing as it is. You can always wait for the DW1650, just a non-LS version of the -55.

For every drive, somebody is bound to be disappointed, but on balance, BenQ 1620/25/40 have been very good drives, and 1655 is marginally better with the updated chipset. The best thing about BenQ/Philips drives has been their gradual improvement over time. With a couple of other major optical drive brands (which will remain unnamed), the general feeling has been that things have been going slightly downhill over the past 12 months.

Not at all, they've been coming at a good pace. BenQ has always been good with media support from the start, again, unlike several other manufacturers who release drives with very limited and incomplete media support. [A couple of notes here. First, what I said above does not apply to DQ60; it has a shorter media table than almost any other drive I've seen. Second, with SolidBurn, BenQ has largely removed the pressure to constantly update specific media support by making the burning process adaptive.]

Lightscribe support doesn't take anything away, or even affect the regular data burning process. It costs about $10 extra in DW1655, but you don't have to use Lightscribe. I have no interest in it, but feel DW1655 is well worth the extra $10 for its better 16x burns.

agent009---Thanks for the solid info. sorry it took two days to get back. I followed info in another thread and went to Staples and bought the I/O Magic w/ lightscribe cause it is a DW1655. Faster and easier than mailorder. Now to take the dq60 back to compusa.