APC Personal Biometric USB Pod fingerprint reader (USB)

I have used the product for over one year. In this time there has been one software update. Product integrates with Windows XP Fast User Switching so that members of a family (for example) can each login using just his/her own unique fingerprint. Once logged in the product can maintain individual password vaults for each user so that they can automatically login to different websites.

Unfortunately the Omnipass software is flaky and it really only functions reliably in an environment where there is only one Windows XP user. When you start adding in additional users and actively switching between them, the Omnipass program will usually crash, and you will have to reboot the machine to restore functionality.

The Biopod "solution" is the product of another company, Softex Inc., and in fact I don't think the hardware component is even their product but that of a 3rd company.

To get support you must go through APC (really just a reseller of the solution). My experience with their support engineers is that they're wholly unequipped to handle it. There does not appear to be a formal channel through which problems can be routed to Softex and solutions can communicated back.

I had two problems open with APC on the Biopod over the spring/summer of 2004. They kept automatically closing the problems every 30 days and never once offered acceptable solutions.

It is my impression that we are at the start of a wave of biometric security solutions - Microsoft is remarketing one now too (again, the product of another company). I think we are basically in the version 0.8 or 0.9 stage (of maturity) and that maybe in 12-18 months we will finally get to the version 2.0 or 3.1 stage (product is stable & has a good feature set). In other words, I might wait (in retrospect) to get one of these things right now.

I have this product and I love it - on my XP laptop, that is. It logs me in to every website with a simple touch, and it encrypts files the same way. Now, try using this on Vista, and you'll have a much different opinion. The software that comes with it is provided by Softex, and the Vista compatible version will set you back ANOTHER $50. Even if you do that, it wouldn't make a difference. APC still hasn't released the hardware drivers for Vista, so essentially, it DOESN'T WORK. I first contacted APC about this almost a year ago. They told me that by January 2008, this would be resolved. I was annoyed at the answer, but I had no other option. Now, it's March 2008 and there is still no resolution. If they would release the drivers, my rating for this product would be much higher.

The Softex OmniPass software that holds all of your passwords and interfaces with the hardware device is disappointing in that it's unstable, incompatible with Firefox, and generally feels "cheap" and buggy.

If I could get this device to interface with KeePass (http://keepass.info/), I would absolutely use it. In the meantime, I'd rather type in passwords than scan my finger 50 times and fight the software to make it work correctly.