PoliceLink

Great tool. Keyboard requires alittle harder tough. Seem to slow my typing down.

The word tough says it all, but a core 2 duo in it would be even better.

looks tough

The price alone brings down its usefullness.

Wow! This thing is loaded! Awesome. Two thumbs up!

Kedra Hopkins

Good tool but in Chicago we seem to lose the signal often.

I love this computer. It can take a beating and keeps going. Very reliable.

Excellent computer. The department I used to work for used these and they were very easy to use while driving. The pd I work at now has a separate monitor and keyboard, which is suprisingly more difficult to use while driving.

Good performance and durable. It only gets 3 stars because of the hefty pricetag.

My buddy has these back east, and they wrok great! Better than the POS Dells we at LAPD have!! Dell is great for a home computer, but the SUCK for Police work.

I have had one of these computers since May of 2005. It is very durable and the touchscreen feature makes it cop friendly. It is an improvement over the old MDT's we had. It is far easier to run tags, while driving, when you can touch the screen to get the NCIC up.

Well No Choice They Have Them Installed In All Patrol Cars!!!
But Heavy-Duty!!!

They can be busted up...wireless cards will go right through the motherboard...one of the youngins I work with proved that.

I have to agree with Gordo... but in all it's a nice product.

GREAT TOOL.

this an excellent tool every squad car should have one.

While our department has some of the older models of this computer, they are a good computer to use in the field. We have some new ones and the keyboard is a little hard to operate. On the other hand, our older ones are having a hard time keeping the keys in tact. I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem if they would issue everyone a computer to take home. Officers tend to keep things nicer when they have some ownership in their equipment.

All in all, a good computer.

It will knock your teeth out. I can stand to that, hope you never hit your face on one in a crash.

Not worth the price.

A good, tough computer, a bit slow, but worked well. I used off-road alot when patrolling in a 4x4 at a previous job. I handled the rough ride well.

I currently use this model, and like it alot. The name says it all.

I would rate this piece of equipment as a piece of junk. I have had this product in my patrol car for the last four years. I have nothing but problems with it. We have cleaned and reloaded the programs several times but the problems persist.

Very tough, but a little on the slow side. The new ones might be a little faster.

Good computer, tough and dependable. Love the lighted keypad and touchscreen. A little bulky, and sometimes slow, but not bad for a government bid item.

Great computer..easy to access, I have the touch screen and wouldn't have it any other way..gets the job done..

Great product. One of my partners left it sitting on the roof of his squad as he drove away... boing, bang, crash it went on the road. He stopped, picked it up dusted it off and it fired right back up! Takes the desert heat fairly well also.

very sturdy and easy to view

Very easy to use and very tough. Great piece of equipment

Great product! I love the touch screen feature. Never had a problem with the computer.

Great to use and easy to get new data added. Very user friendly and with all the new computer stand it hooks up in a flash.

great product. I would not want to be in a crash with one of these things. But other wise it is nice to have it in the car.

good but to big to heavy i need lighter and whiter or the way make my self look good when i keef the law .right/thank

I liked this computer. Sure, it is bulky and heavy maybe more than the average beat needs but if your taking it in and out of the car and u drop it, or spill your coffee of other liquid on the key board it will take it. As an administrator, I will say I was concerned about putting computers or any more equipment in a car, which seems to get smaller and smaller. I was worried about my officers getting in accidents and getting injured more by adding a computer to fly around too in the driving compartment. I can remember when we had radio trees that stood up from the hump on the floor and held the radios and shoot gun in some cases. Who put that down the barrel??

When closed it can support a 4 piece spicey popeyes chicken meal with a red beans and rice and med drink with ABSOLUTELY no problem. Also holds up well to black coffee with sugar with no side effects. Screen can get scratched from repeatedly playing solitare on the computer but some administrators have blocked both solitare and spyder in a hopeless attempt to get officers to do more "police work"
As far as how well it works who cares it beeps ,I'll go, I do, I go home.

Love it! I just have to get use to the freezing and all the lost paperwork, signal dropping. But it might be me.

Drop it on the ground. Spill your coffee on the keyboard as you respond to an in progress call. Takes a lickin' (you know the rest). This baby was made with Law Enforcement in mind. The most reliable laptop I've had the privilege to know.

Our guys use this one. So far haven't heard anyone complain.

Our Department recently purchased Panasonic Toughbooks for our patrol units in our fleet. They have been a great tool for our Officers. We also have the DL readers for each laptop. Our Department is considering purchasing ticket printers for each unit. Our Officers have no compliant about the equipment, but they do complaint about running out of space in their units.

My department just bought 5 of these to replace some of our older MDT's. They are much more user friendly then our current computers. Only 4 stars though for the high price tag, many smaller departments are not going to be able to have this sytem because of the rediculous price.

I could use one of those

I want one!!

Works great and is very tough, beware te software you have for it though

We are still using the 27s, but it has lasted with only upgrade problems.

The Baltimore County Police Department uses these and they seem very effective. I havent used one but I have seen it used during a ride-along.

We've had this computer in our squad going on 4 years and are just now having to replace the keyboard. These computers are built to last. The only complaint I have is that the rubberized keyboard is really hard to use to type a report.

I might keep this product in mind.

I love the touch screen and the light up key pad

I like its ruggedness. I also like the touchscreen and its function like a dvd player. I also like the rugged case and convenient handle.

Ours are permanently mounted in the patrol vehicles, don't swivel, do nothing except run DMV info and warrants, have Windows 2000 installed (even in the new ones), and all other features are locked by the department tech guys. Basically a useless tool to us because the department won't spend the money on better software or upgrades. A very nicely made computer, however ours serve us better as a nice tray for sandwiches and sodas when closed.

ours takes a lot of abuse and still works like a champ

We had the older version from several years ago, and it fell apart. It continued to work, but the buttons were flimsey, and the paint peeled.

Nice and tough. Better when you add a backlit keyboard for nighttime ops.

Mine works great, never had any problems with it. I got a new one about 1 year ago and it had some good updates on it. The keys are not rubberized anymore and it make it easier to type.

GREAT MDT!!! Love the illumintaed keys! Love the touch screen! I think a patrol officer designd this laptop! Perfect for what we do! It takes a car crash really well too! Don't ask, just trust me!

The computer is awsome, the only bad thing is our network sucks so it goes down all the time but I like the computer

The computer in general is great, but the rubber keyboard sucks. It's never locked up on me, and I've never experienced the common problems a lot of other users have.

Good product

I have seen these items in use in surrounding agency's this is a product I would like to see our agency have. This lap top handles great in all different kinds of weather hot or cold.

It's an awsome piece of technology I recommend it to all agencies...

Great product, wish mine had a cd drive though...

I used to have one, it did a really good job for me.

Great Tool. Don't know what I would do without it.

Outstanding product, I now have the 30 but the 29 is great too. But it will not survive a ride off of the top of a cruiser at 70 MPH in the rain, trust me.

Love IT!! The name says it all. What a well built product, I have made an arrest using the technology of this product everyday since I have used it.

Very pricey...but excellent for mobile reporting with many expandable features. A great alternative to mounted laptops in the vehicles.

They Don't call it a tough book for nothing. Just use a good vehicle mount in the car.

Hella better than the cf-27

life saver! once you have this its sucks to be without!!!

This is one heck of a computer, this is what we use to fly the USAF UAV Desert Hawk. On my last deployment to the sandbox this Toughbook was awesome. Never had a single problem. 127 degrees it didn't care, 50mph dust storm it just worked great!

Really Tuff! Easy to use, can transport to scenes, touch screen, illuminated and reliable.

I love It.

Great. I just have to remember that touching the screen on the computers at home doesn't work...

I wish I had one at home! yes a lttle pricy but tough as nails and dependable.
Gregg

A LITTLE PRICEY BUT A HECK OF A LAPTOP. IT IS JUST HARD TO BEAT

The Good : Rugged design, Nearly 7 hours of battery life, 3 year warranty, Anti-reflective touch screen.
The Bad : Expensive , Limited RAM expansion , NO Fire Wire and only one USB 2.0 port.
The Bottom Line : This is one of the best ruggedized laptops,perfect for War Zones, and other tough enviroments, but is too expensive for the average user.
However,.....
I have just discovered a problem. If I put The computer into sleep or suspend mode, there is no way to 'wake' the computer back up.

So far so good. Like the product. We have one in every one of our front line patrol cars. They automatically charge as they run so battery life is never an issue. The one that I am currently using has the LCD, Touchscreen display with a lighted key board for those night shifts...what a great tool!

It's good when it works.

WISH I HAD ONE!

GREAT PRODUCT.. however my connection to the modem sucks! I like the other opts. such as microsoft word and excell.. !

Been using them for a couple years now. very durable costly but seem to last

Surprisingly the keyboard makes a world of difference. The touch screen helps alot.

i want one

These are a great tool for law enforcement.. Love it when it works!! It does work great!!

Wish I had one for my personal use. This thing really is tough, really.

Great piece of gear! Clear display, easy to type on (even for one-finger typests...). Touch screen feature makes it faster to select pull down menus for field input.

Very good computer as far as my experience goes with them. The signal goes out once in a while, but over all great tool to have!!!

My last two years on patrol our city went to this product. Our ems, fire and police cars were issued them. For those of you who remember the little mdc's that first came out, this computer made that look like a toy. I have not heard any real complainants about this computer.

wish we had them

Awesome computer. The one all others should be judged by.

This is a great computer, it can take a beating.

excellent product. it gets the job done and doesn't get slow.

love this computer because it doesen't get slow.

It's a tough good product, as long as it holds out for it's time of operation

Its a good computer but the internet is very slow. We have just upgraded to the CF-30 version and it performs much faster.

Not a bad piece of equipment overall, it's very duarble & shock-resistant, but VERY EXPENSIVE for what you get. The internet/network card could definately use some more improvement.

LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! Fantastic computer, very user friendly and stands up to the abuse of Police Officers

Very TOUGH!!!! One of my guys left it on top of his light bar, drove off, three cars ran over it. Sent it to Panasonic, they replaced the case, screen and key board, nothing else. Sent it back, works great. Why did he put it on his light bar, when we provide him the tough book stand, Who knows!!!!

Pretty tough for the amount of people that have to use it 24 hours a day. The mouse is very sensitive while you're trying to type.

Although it is tough I find it not to be price practical.

How the hell does this laptop cost so much, I've used it before looking up people's plates while on a ride-along......it was fun.

Great product, good tool for us LEO's. Very easy to use in and out of the vehicle.

Had it in the car for 2 years now and can't imagine working without.

awesum laptop

A bit expensive but the duraility is worth it. We just went with the CF-30 model. Pair that with The Arbitrator in car video and you have a state of the art set up that will last.

Great computer. Glad our department did something right in buying these.

it nice not to have to wait for the dispatchern when u got some requests....

I am on my 4th Toughbook since we started using them many years ago. The one I have now is the best by far and I guess that is because of the keyboard. Most of the ones that I had were the spill-proof covers and typing sucked, but the one that I have now is awesome. One of the best things you can put in your car.

I have the cf 30 and it's great. It's dependable and durable. Easy to use with the light up keyboard

I am on a team called TERT (Telecommunications emergency response team) and we use the Tough Books. Greatest thing ever.. Easy to use and we have the ones with touchscreen and I wish our computers in dispatch was like those. Well worth the money

By far one of the best out there. To take the beating it take, day in and dayout. #1

Compact and tough. Excellent in-car computer. Dislike- only external ports, no built in drives.

LOOKS NICE

A tad slow, but I think that is on our end. Great computer

Great piece of equipment. It can take a cup of coffee and still continue to work. Very detailed graphics and quick processor.

Awesome and versatile tool. A MUST HAVE!!

Great computers if you can afford them.

This is a GREAT computer- you can get refurbed cf-29s for a lot less than what's listed at toughbookexchange.com though. Comes with a warranty too.

This is one tuff piece of equipment. I'm glad are department went to them.

If you like the CF-29, the CF-30 will blow your mind!

Too bad my Department did not chose better software. Also, the keyboard is "tight."

My Dept has a mix of 29's and 30's. My 29 hasn't given me any trouble, and has surprised me at the fact it will run in high in-car temps. It does have to warm up when it is pretty cold though. No complaints about the unit itself, but we did have a bunch of touchscreens go out on us. Warranty fixed luckily.

Used a CF-28 for years and now a CF-29. It work great and takes a beating. A little on the pricey side but I didn't pay for it thankfully. It does its job very well. I lose the signal frequently as I'm in Chicago like another reviewer stated.

Reliable and Tough! Luckly I didn't have to pay for it, but I am definitely pleased with this product!

If you are using the Panasonic CF-29, it's worth the money to upgrade to something like the CF-30, which is what we use at the DC Metro Police. The CF-30 fixes many problems and manufacturing short-comings of the CF-29.

"very good pc for patrol cars"

WOULD BE LOST WITHOUT IT

Love the rubber keyboard, this thing will take a beating

Very good and reliable computer. The light up key board is great for night shift. Very dependable.

Great computer and lives up to its name. Keeps working great in the Redding heat (up to 116 on average in summer) and in the Redding cold (as low as 36 on average in winter). Have no problems at all.

Great MDC........a bit bulky but it sure does live up to its name!

With WiFi and a cellcard thsi product goes anywhere. I have takin it into crime scenes and filled out my report while on scene, or finished paperwork sitting at a park bench. With our mobil data system I can keep constant track of all the action and my troops without having to worry about damage to this product. I would however recommend the soft keys vs the hard keys. My soft keys are lghted and easy to see at night and much faster and eisier to type, the hard keys a lot of errors are made if not hit hard enough and are not lighted making it so you have to use a back light at night to see the keys. Yes I'm a looking typer, and not a tough typer. lol

great piece of gear

Best computer for law enforcement. Has outlasted any other computer we have used in the past.

Good and fast and absolutely indestructable. Well worth the price.

Good computer for the car.

Rugged and dependable; still the best computer of its kind. Never an anachronism.