Kensington VeriMark Desktop Fingerprint Reader, UBS Security Key

This is absolutely excellent. I have it connected to my USB hub and when I switch laptops I can still login to anything with the same fingerprint reader, which I have in its ideal position on my desk. Plug and play, so no setup - Windows detected it immediately and I can use it for Windows Hello fingerprint login once registering my fingerprints on each laptop. The device itself seems high quality. It's very small in size but the fingerprint pad itself is relatively big, and it easily identifies my fingers. Very pleased with it.

This sensor was significantly more expensive than others, but it is the most reliable I have used. My laptop has a built-in sensor which works well, but at home I use large external monitors, and keyboard, and my laptop remains closed - so I wanted a sensor that I could connect to a USB extension cable. I had a semi-generic Chinese make that worked well for a few years, but recently has been failing to recognise my fingerprint on around 50% of the attempts. I could not buy a direct replacement from Amazon, I tried a similar alternative, and it was worse. Finally I splashed out on this Kensington item. It works excellently, and even shows a small light when reading a fingerprint -red or white.

It’s cool to have a fingerprint sensor. And often, they work super well. My hands could be sopping wet when I get to my MacBook and while I wouldn’t handle my MacBook in that state, I’m highly confident it would pick up my fingerprint still anyway. For £30, the verimark falls short of that by far. It was easy to set up and worked well with my desktop (I put it in the USB port my keyboard has), and it looks cool on the keyboard. It’s plenty small enough and seemingly works with a lot more than just Microsoft’s surface devices. However, it just doesn’t pick up my fingerprint very well at all after initial scanning regardless of how clean my hands are. I’ve tried redoing it twice since and it still just refuses probably over half the time to recognise me. It also REALLY doesn’t help that unlike macOS, you either have to click or swipe up into the login screen and then either fail scanning your fingerprint something like 5-7 times or press some fiddly buttons to have the right to enter your pin in Windows 11 if you start to realise the sensor won’t work. All in all, I just tragically can’t recommend it for £30.

Pretty easy to install and setup, but is old school and needs an adapter to work with usb-c. Recognises up to 10 fingerprints.

Accurate and consistent. This is a vast improvement over the previous one I used, which was like a usb key with a thin reader. Didn’t always work. This is fast and works every time so far.

TLDR BELOW: This fingerprint reader performs its job flawlessly. It reads fingerprints incredibly quickly, but the key is to keep your finger on the sensor until the recognition is complete, only lifting it afterward. It sounds simple, but it's surprisingly easy to forget during a busy day with lots on your plate. What sets this device apart is its on-device fingerprint recognition, which adds an extra layer of security. By processing the fingerprint data locally, it significantly reduces the risk of your data being intercepted by third parties. This is a big improvement over readers that send raw data to the host OS for processing. Additionally, the indicator lights are bright and easy to see, adding to the overall user-friendly experience. As part of the VeriMark series, this is the only fingerprint reader that's fully compatible with Windows Hello for desktop, which is a major selling point. The only downside, if I can call it that, is the stiff USB cable. A softer, more flexible cable would make the device even better. ---------------------------------------------- Update after 2 months: This fingerprint reader does not do the job properly. Praise for keeping the data on the device while processing, which is commendable however it is nowhere as close to a phone type fingerprint reader. This device fails to perform after a time with the existing fingerprint, why I don't know. Conclusion: It is nowhere as good as a fingerprint reader on a bad phone, even they are better sadly.

Costs a bit more than cheaper options, but seems very reliable

I bought it to use mainly to unlock my laptop with Windows Hello and to use with some Windows password manager apps. Initially it worked ok and was quite fast. I was quite happy with it. Then it started working intermittently and a small piece of the rim fell off but it was working 8 times out of ten. Then 3 months later a large piece of the housing came away and it started randomly not recognising any fingerprints. It was then working very poorly and I gave up on it. I bought two of these but I wish I hadn't. The second one is in place now so we'll see how long it lasts... 25/12/20 Intermittently not recognising any of my 8 registered fingerprints then recognises them perfectly...infuriating!🤬 02/01/21 Same problems as the first one. Gave up and replaced this second Kensington Verish*t fingerprint reader with a much cheaper one from Arcanite. 15/12/21 The Arcanite reader is working perfectly nearly a year later.

Nothing has ever been so painless, this is truly plug-and-play: you plug it in a USB-A port and Windows instantly takes care of everything. 10 seconds later it's ready to work. At this point you'll just have to go to Windows Hello in your settings to register up to 10 fingers. In my experience, this sensor is about as fast and as reliable as the second Touch ID sensor from Apple (which is considered as a leading standard in fingerprint authentication). I haven't yet fully tested U2F. Look for it in a subsequent edit. EDIT >> I have now had the time to test U2F and there are a couple of things to know: * This doesn't work like a Yubikey for example. U2F in this, the same as for Windows Hello, is directly tied to the computer where the fingerprints and the 2-factor auth had been set up (in fact, as far as I understand this, it's Windows Hello itself that manages the U2F bit in conjunction with the reader). It is therefore not portable, no data whatsoever is stored on the actual sensor. You can't just take this dongle and plug it in an another computer to authenticate; it won't work. You can however set this up with multiple computers you own. For each one of these, you must run through the entire set up process and register a "new key" with your websites. If you were hoping to trike two birds with one stone using this (fingerprint scanning and portable U2F), you are out of luck. This severely cuts the usefulness of U2F support as, generally, your own computers will be considered trusted devices for 2FA and will never be asked to use codes or keys. * U2F support just came to Edge in the 1809 Windows 10 update and it's still flaky. It's outright unsupported on Firefox (unless if you dig in the config page and manually enable it, and even then it's not reliable). If you use Chrome, you're good to go. END OF EDIT <<

En Windows 10 y 11 se instala solo, no necesitas descargar drivers, es súper rápido y se configura de volada. Le doy 10 de 10.

It enables double security key feature within Windows 11

Słabo działa, szczególnie za te pieniądze, często i tak muszę wpisywać pin, ocena 3 jest i tak szczodra.

Denna fingeravtrycksläsare monterade jag på en stationär dator. Fingerskannern igenkänndes omedelbart av Windows 11 och den fungerar alldeles utmärkt. Rekommenderas absolut med högsta betyg.