CEA-DHTI+ Digital Home Technology Integrator All-In-One Exam Guide, Second Edition [Kindle Edition]

I was eagerly awaiting this book, I had it pre-ordered since September, and can't help by feeling a wee bit disappointed in some areas.

Firstly, for a book that had the release date delayed, I still can't help but feel that they rushed it to print. There are MANY spelling mistakes, but they should not throw an experienced integrator - who would really be the bulk of the people using this book. Some of the diagrams are pointless (the wiring diagram in the security section of the sensors in series is laughable - it doesn't back up the theory behind it at all) and the black-and-white product photo's are uninspiring (but this is endemic of the All-In-One series and no criticism on the authors behalf).

I have a huge beef with the emphasis on 110V AC electrical standards, along with all the other US-based committees and organisations which litter this book. I am based in New Zealand and these organisations have no jurisdiction here, nor is 100V AC used. CompTIA promote their certificates as "International Vendor-Neutral". So whilst this info is useful for integrators in the States, either CompTIA are including non-international questions in their international certification (bad idea), or it is being included by the authors themselves (poor decision and irrelevant).

The last negative... I can't help but think that Helen Heneveld has shares in X10. Maybe a quick Google search can confirm that, but it doesn't offend me, more bemuses me, that this product, which I have never seen in my 4-year career in AV, is name dropped almost every other page!

Now on to the positives.

Make no mistake, this book is FULL of information. The amount of information that encompasses this field is overwhelming - and the authors present it, I believe, as best they could and that is more than satisfactory. There are some great ideas for those of us in the field for documenting our work in the way of tables (although alarm bells ring as to how relevant this will be in the exam, but I certainly appreciate it!). Also, the troubleshooting sections at the end of chapters are fantastic. Very repetetive, but that is the pure essence of troubleshooting - formulaic and efficient. I really hope that CompTIA use a lot of trouble-shooting questions in their exam, as I believe this has been well covered here.

Overall, I would recommend this book for the pure fact is that someone had to attempt one that encompasses custom integration as a whole, and the fact that it is based around a certification adds value to it. However, I'm not sure how well someone with less than two years experience in addition to this will do in the exam. I will be sitting my exam in the next couple of weeks so I will update my review accordingly.

Bottom Line: This book was my only prep material and I passed the exam with a 90% (the exam is 97 questions, 90 minutes long, and you need 680 out of 900 to pass [the possible score range is 100-900]).

The pros: Basically the only exam guide designed for the current version of the test. Long and full of information. Covers all competency areas that are on the exam.

The cons: The book has a lot of mistakes in it. I don't necessarily mean incorrect information--more like proofreading and word processing errors. I saw at least 4 paragraphs where the paragraph had been copied and pasted twice in a row (like I would read a paragraph and then that same paragraph appeared "pasted" into the next paragraph). Also there are some errors in the review questions at the end of chapters--but relatively few when you figure there are over 350 review questions. Also the software practice exam had a couple of errors (like one question asked 'which of the following is not commonly used in a surveillance system?'. I didn't see any incorrect answers and the computer said CCTV was the answer but explained itself by saying that 'CCTV *is* commonly used in surveillance systems').

Also, the exam was *much* harder than both the review questions and the software test prep.

But that's almost making the book sound like it wasn't an asset and that's just not true. Bottom line: I used this book and passed on my first attempt with a 90% the day after I finished reading it.

If you are serious about taking this exam then get this book!

I felt like I was reading light articles in Electronic House or PC-Magazine. Not impressed, didn't learn a thing. Every time I go to it if I have a question on a related topic, it doesn't tell me anything I didn't know. Way to shallow, in my opinion, to make anybody an expert.