The Basics:
Straight out of the box, the FP-01 looks like it might be an optical drive with a handful of extra ports installed in its front bezel. What would be the tray for the drive is actually a flip up LCD screen that slides into the housing when not needed. This allows you to have a very clean, uncluttered look, as all the animation and bright colors don't have to be visible at all times. What is visible is the eSATA port, a USB port, and the 5 slots needed in order to accommodate the 55 different types of multimedia cards mentioned at the beginning of the review.
The back side of the device is where all the connections are made... And there are plenty of them. From left to right we have: the three temperature sensors, three 3-pin fan connectors, the main power connection, a hard drive activity light connection, the USB connection for the card reader and USB port, and finally a SATA connection to feed the eSATA port. It wasn't until I actually looked at the back of the unit that I realized I was going to have my hands full with cable management!
The side of the device was somewhat of interest to me, as I was excited to see that it had the depth and screw hole placement to suggest that I might be able to use it with a case that had tool-less drive bays. So many bay devices just don't take this into account, and installation is made harder than it has to be. But by the looks of the FP-01, I should be able to get it latched into the tool-less drive mechanism on just about any case I presently have on hand.
The next set of images show the LCD screen out of the housing. Aerocool describes it as a "car stereo style flip-up" screen, and except for the fact that most cars have a motorized mechanism to do the work, that is a very good description. Pressing the small arrows at the center of the screen's edge releases the catch, and a spring pushes it out just enough for you to grab a hold of it. From there you simply slide it out as far as it will go and tip the screen up into a viewable position.
The screen has just four buttons around it in order to control the various functions. The +/- keys are used to manually adjust fan speeds or the alarm setpoints available for fan speed and temperature. The Mode button allows you to change views to see the different speeds/temperatures, and it is also used in conjunction with the Set button in order to program the settings. In addition to having manual control over fan speed, you can switch it into auto mode, and let the FP-01 do the thinking for you based on preset temperature levels.
