Excellent product overall
For Tiny Little USB Volume Knob
Overall, this is an excellent product, but with one flaw. The flaw is so small, however, that I didn't feel right taking off a star, what with the inflated star ratings that everyone is used to these days. ;-)
Pros: It does what it says on the tin. It's a tiny 3D-printed box containing a tiny USB-connected circuit board, with little (but reasonably-sized!) volume knob (and push to mute / un-mute). The base is attractively-colored (various choices), and it's just the right size to stick onto the bezel of my shop computer's monitor with the provided square of double-sided tape to be handy for quick volume adjustments when a video or track change makes the previous setting either too low or too high. Just what I wanted, with no unnecessary functions to drive up the price. The MCU can even be reflashed with updated or custom firmware, which is nice, although I haven't had a reason to take advantage of that. For what it is and what it does, it's a good buy at the price I paid. :-)
Con: Just one, and it might be just the one I bought for all I know: The backing piece on the two-piece 3D-printed case is attached with little clips, and they are rather loose. It's quite easy to knock off the bottom (or top!) by accident, if you're not careful. As the bottom case piece is the only part of the case with enough surface area to apply the double-sided tape, that's where I put it to mount it on my monitor, and it looks right that way. However, what with the loose fit of this bottom piece, if I just barely bump the knob or its base, I find myself knocking the top part (together with the knob and circuit board) off of the base, then having to pick it up off of the bench or wherever where it landed and snapping it back in. I think I'll probably put some dabs of hot glue onto it to try to hold it in better, although I don't know if that would damage the plastic in some way (probably not). All things considered, it's a minor quibble, but a more secure fit for the case would make it a more robust product.
Note: The shipping to the U.S. was quite slow (slower than the seller told me to expect), but it was also very affordable, and the device arrived safely.
Response from Tiny Little Things | July 4, 2023
Thanks for the review, and point well taken about the clips - I went through many iterations trying to find the right balance of grip vs size vs durability etc. If I had access to a plastic injection moulding machine then this could have been a lot better! If I was making any more of these I'd for sure sacrifice some smallness for beefier clips.
