Customer Reviews

Belkin 2-Port KVM Switch with Audio Support and Built-In Cabling (USB, F1DL102U)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

OK, I own many Belkin products. Up until now, they have not let me down. I would recommend just about anything made by Belkin. Anything but a KVM switch, that is.

Does it work? Yes, but it has some MAJOR drawbacks:

1) Not compatible with all USB keyboards

2) Locks up occasionally, requiring you to disconnect it from all computers

3) Periodically switches your monitor off (standby) for no apparent reason

4) Causes degradation of video signal

For one, the only way you will know is to try it with your USB keyboard. But at about fifty bucks a pop for this KVM, that's an expensive experiment.

For two, this is supposed to be a KVM switch. If you need to disconnect it and reconnect it periodically, what's the point of even having a KVM switch?

For three . . . don't know what to say on this one except that it's very annoying.

Also, the picture displayed on my NEC LCD1760V 17" LCD monitor is distorted when using this KVM. It's not terribly distorted (so I know all the hardware is working AS DESIGNED), but it is noticeably distorted. Basically, if you pass video through this Belkin KVM switch, the video is darker and blurry. Bright white colors take on a slightly gray tinge and text is harder to read than it should be. It's almost like this KVM causes your monitor to lose some contrast. Yes, all cables are properly and FIRMLY connected. This isn't a hardware problem or a connection problem, it is a design problem. I suspect the cables used on this KVM are inferior quality, which is possibly what is causing the video degradation.

I think this one is a waste of money. Normally, Belkin makes great products, so I was REALLY disappointed with this KVM.

This is an improvement over my last KVM, which would only merit one star. This KVM gets a second star because it provides good video quality at 1280x1024 and has a hardware as well as a software switch mechanism.

It has two USB ports. Don't be deceived by the labeling that says one port is for the mouse and one is for the keyboard. You can plug any USB device into either - including a USB hub. USB is USB.

Actually there are two different kinds of USB. There is the older and much slower USB 1.1 vs. the now ubiquitous USB 2.0. However, they are entirley compatible. You just lose significant performance if you plug a 2.0 device into a 1.1 port.

My biggest complaint is that you will naturally want to connect a USB hub to the KVM to share more than just slow devices like a mouse and keyboard. For example, a digital camera, MP3 player, external hard drive, cell phone, printer, scanner, etc. Then you will discover that these devices now run SOOO SLOOOW. The problem is that this device is USB 1.1 instead of the ubiquitous USB 2.0 that you would assume it is, and you must ASSUME because nowhere on their package, booklet, disk, or web site do they mention this critical flaw.

Another short sighted feature is that the USB and audio cables are too short where they split off at each end. If I plug in the USB cable on my laptop, the audio cable needs about six more inches to reach the audio port - and laptops aren't exactly big.

Another problem with laptops is that if yours even starts to go into standy mode, this KVM will no longer recognize it until you reboot it.

If you can be certain that you will NEVER want to share a USB 2.0 device, which is astronomically unlikely, then this is a good KVM.

I wasted a couple hours of life on this JUNK.

Decides for itself when you want to change inputs.

If you push the button, 50% of time it fails to correctly hold new signal after user button press, swapping you back to other machine. The other half of the time it never finds the new signal and swaps you back to the first machine.

Bought this hoping to replace my aged PS/2 KVM so I can use my USB keyboard and mouse, no go. Mouse worked fine, monitor (17" widescreen sony) worked fine, but my keyboard was a no go. It would work, for about 30 seconds, then I'd get that "you just disconnected a USB device" beep in windows and it would take about 4 seconds for the keyboard to start responding again. Kind of annoying when you're driving at high speeds through the streets of San Andreas and all of a sudden your car careens off the side of the road and stops for 5 seconds.

My keyboard is a Viewsonic Slim Keyboard KU201.

I use this switch with a Windows XP machine and a G5 Power Mac running OS X 10.3.8. I chose not to install the software that would enable hotkey switching since the included software is Windows-only. The only way you can switch from a Mac with this switch is by using the manual button on the switch. So I can't speak to any software issues -- all I'm trying to do is plug the thing in and try to press the button to switch from one computer to the other.

The product behaves erratically, switching between computers at random while I'm working. Most of the time, the button does not respond or will switch from computer 1 to computer 2 but immediately switch back. It is completely useless. It looks nice and it would be great if it performed as advertised, but it has not worked at all for me.

This is an absolute P.O.S.

As someopne else said, it auto-switches everytime you reboot a machine, and apparently any other time the O/S or BIOS decides to re-initialise the USB ports. What it does is switch back over to the other input when you reboot the machine you're working on.

Even worse than that... it won't stay selected on a machine if that machine hasn't initialised its USB ports properly, e.g.:

I am working on a dead machine here which hasn't managed to get its USB drivers up and running properly yet (it's midway through the XP repair/setup), so I'm only running video through the KVM and have a ps/2 keyboard attached to the machine. This would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that after about 5 seconds this junk KVM decides to switch back to my main machine. I do have the KVM's USB cable (for mouse/keyboard) plugged into the machine as well, but until XP setup installs the USB drivers and 'connects', this thing will continue to keep switching away from the machine I'm working on.

I had much better luck just using an extra keyboard/mouse and the input-selector on my Monitor.

100% JUNK.

If you aren't rebooting computers regularly, and you can put up with the above, then there is the other problem of the delay. As another writer said, there is a delay of around 5 seconds when you switch. This is because the device basically performs a USB connect / disconnect. This means you also get the "dum daa" USB noise (the sound that Windows XP makes whenever you plug-in a USB device). The only thing is, you get it twice. Once for the 'virtual' mouse and once for the 'virtual' keyboard.

Pressing the select button on the top isn't exactly responsive either. Sometimes you have to press a few times, or give up and wait 10 seconds and try again. Or unplug the damn thing from all USB ports and try again. Or just unplug it and throw it away.

I suppose it has to be 1 star. There's no option for zero-stars.

Initial installation worked fine, both mouse and display were switched w/o any problem, but my Compaq Desktop keyboard was not recognized by my laptop after switching. Upgrading the laptop BIOS and installing correct keyboard drivers fixed this issue.

It's strange that the product documentation does not contain information about hot key support: pressing Scroll Lock 4 times in a row will switch - an important undocumented feature. Thanks to "JustMe" for pointing this out!

The other thing I don't like is the Audio support cables: If I plugin the USB cable into the back of my laptop docking station, the audio cables are not long enough to reach the front, where audio ports are located. Fortunately, audio support is only a minor requirement for me.

Switching time for me is about 3 seconds, which is kind of what I expected to get.

Overall, 3 stars ...

I have mine hooked up using only one of the usb ports for my Microsoft Wireless Desktop (Wireless Comfort Keboard 1.0A & Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0).

I use it to switch from my Dell Dimension Desktop to my HP TC1100 Tablet in a Docking Station that I use spanning both monitors.

Audio & Monitor switching works fine using the hardware switch or the software switch. USB 1.0 fine for keyboard & mouse.

Does everything I expected, using my wireless keyboard & mouse!

Buying this KVM was probably one step short of someone knocking me down in the store and taking the 50 bucks out of my wallet.

I'm a IT Engineer and still couldn't get it to work right. The gentleman who said it keeps autoswitching and losing the keyboard and mouse intermittently. Then disconnect it to get it working for 5 sec. is right on the money. If you want to see how far you can throw a KVM switch you should buy this one. I'll almost guarantee you'll get at least 10 yards out of it.

The "Belkin Gotcha" with this product is a very long switching delay. Good KVM's of the PS/2 variety switch instantly. To accomplish the same thing with a USB keyboard and mouse would take some engineering which Belkin did not bother to do (in fact, as with many of Belkin's products, this product is actually made by some other fly by night outfit, Belkin is just slapping their name on it).

There are probably applications for this product where the delay is not important. Too bad Belkin can't be honest and print the expected switching delay on the product's packaging.