I hope one day before I die I’ll be able to go anywhere with my phone or laptop knowing that whenever I want to go online, there will be WiFi available. But until that mythical day arrives I’m forced to hunt and peck for open WiFi scraps if I want to check my email anywhere outside my apartment. (Or the local Apple Store.) WiFi detectors make the hunt a little easier, and from what I can tell Canary’s Digital Hotspotter seem to be leading the pack.

The HS20 is actually the second generation of the Digital Hotspotter, and it uses a 96×94 pixel LCD screen to provide detailed information about detected 802.11b, g and n WiFi networks. It uses a “true 802.11 engine” which means you won’t see any false readings from Bluetooth devices, cordless phones or even microwaves and it has a new scrolling feature that allows you to see detailed information for multiple access points like network type, security level (open/WEP/WPA) and channel configuration. It will even give you a reading of a particular network’s top speed by sniffing the data packets, so I guess beggars can be choosers.

The HS20 Digital Hotspotter should be available sometime soon with a retail price of $59.95.

[ Canary Wireless HS20 Digital Hotspotter ] VIA [ Gearlog ]