How does this compare to Lotharek's offerings?
It doesn't really. ;-)
OK...
The HxC is MUCH nicer.
Much more polished. Easier to use. Easier to set up. More options. Better display. More compatible.
However, if all you are looking for a basic "reading standard ADFs off of a USB device" and you are OK with maybe a little bit of soldering (to add some header pins, not technically required, but a good idea) and flashing firmware via a USB to serial adapter, then these are really cheap and work.. ;-)
As much as I like the HxC, I don't mind floppies (I actually like them sometimes) and I just can't justify the expense of the HxC.
But this is pretty cheap and requires a bit or tweaking to get to work, which I enjoy.
Just got the Linux firmware flashing program working yesterday (as I burned down my XP laptop for MINT).
There are things it doesn't support (IPF, extanded ADF, compressed ADFs, kickstart images, etc) yet, but it's still a work in progress..
desiv