AirMagnet PDA 4.8 Rating Company: AirMagnet, (650) 694-6754, Price: $2,500. Pros: Sensitive, good user interface, strong analysis of radio functions. Cons: A few task- switching road bumps.	Sniffer Wireless PDA 4.6 Rating Company: Sniffer Technologies, (800) 764-3337 Price: $4,000 for software. Pros: Very good capture/ decode analysis; full- featured tool kit. Cons: Weaker user interface than AirMagnet; occasional lock-ups.	AirMagnet notebook 4.6 Rating Company: AirMagnet, (650) 694-6754, Price: $3,000. Pros: Mode-switches 802.11a/b automatically; good user interface. Cons: Limited a/b card support; needs lots of cursor movement.
Sniffer notebook 4.0 Rating Company: Sniffer Technologies, (800) 764-3337 Price: $10,000. Pros: Excellent seven-layer analysis; legendary decodes. Cons: Weaker WLAN relationship analysis; can scan for 802.11b or 802.11a, but not concurrently.	Finisar Surveyor Wireless 3.8 Rating Company: Finisar, (408) 548-1000 Price: $2,500. Pros: Good real-time monitoring/ capture; comprehensive seven-layer analysis. Cons: 802.11b only; weak user interface.	Network Instruments Observer 3.8 Rating Company: Network Instruments, (952) 932-9899 Price: $1,000. Pros: Very good mix of wire and wireless analyzer/packet decoder. Cons: Cannot view 802.11a/b con-currently.
Fluke OptiView Pro Gigabit, Wireless 3.6 Rating Company: Fluke Networks, (800) 283-5853 Price: $23,600 for OptiView software, wireless option costs $6,000*. Pros: Multitasking portable analyzer; strong WLAN features. Cons: 802.11b only; sep-arate app from wireline analyzer.	Fluke WaveRunner 3.2 Rating Company: Fluke Networks, (800) 283-5853, Price: Price: $4,000 (includes PDA and NIC). Pros: Good overall tool set. Cons: Tough to use applications; much context switching; limited channel support.
AirMagnet PDA Sniffer PDA AirMagnet notebook Sniffer notebook Surveyor Wireless Observer OptiView Wave Runner Ease of use 20%  5 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 Diagnosis depth 20%  4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 Radio features 20%  5 5 5 3 4 4 2 2 WLAN features 20%  5 5 5 4 3 4 4 4 Performance 20%  5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 TOTAL SCORE 4.8 4.6 4.6 4.0 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.2
Individual category scores are based on a scale of 1 to 5. Percentages are the weight given each category in determining the total score. Scoring Key: 5: Exceptional showing in this category. Defines the standard of excellence; 4: Very good showing. Although there may be room for improvement, this product was much better than the average; 3: Average showing in this category. Product was neither especially good nor exceptionally bad; 2: Below average. Lacked some features or lower performance than other products or than expected; 1: Consistently subpar, or lacking features being reviewed. *Less-expensive options available.