Customer Reviews

Belkin 2 in 1 USB 2.0 7-PORT HUB

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is a high-quality, versatile USB hub at a bargain price. I am a very pleased owner of several Belkin products, and always look to the Belkin name for quality & problem-free use. This hub was no exception.

I purchased it for my Windows Vista 64 desktop PC (no brand name - I built the system from components). It was "plug-and-play" easy to install, w/ no additional drivers needed. Vista 64 recognized it without a hitch, as well as any other devices I have plugged into the hub, both powered (printer) and non-powered (mouse & keyboard). It includes an AC power supply which I like for desktop hubs - I have found over the years that some non-powered hubs do not play well with non-powered USB devices.

It looks attractive sitting on my PC tower case which is black as well, and I like the additional thought that went into designing the base to serve also as a "knick-knack" tray (for paperclips, etc.). But to me the "killer feature" of this hub is that it is two hubs in one. The black base features 3 USB ports, while the removable silver attachment has an additional 4 USB ports. There are electrical contacts on the bottom of this attachment so that, when plugged into the base, it is powered. When removed, it acts as a standalone, non-powered travel hub, great for laptop use. (And, in fact, when the silver travel hub attachment is disconnected from the black base, the black base then has 4 available ports - the three on the back & the one that the travel hub attachment plugs into). I use the travel hub sometimes on my MacBook Pro, and it works great, even with two non-powered devices - a mouse and a Kensington numeric keypad. Another reviewer mentioned that the travel hub section was too "thick" to be used on a MacBook - it is indeed just a little bit thicker than the Macbook Pro itself such that when you place the MacBook Pro flat on a table, it pushes up a wee little bit on the hub - but not enough to make it unusable. Regardless, I use a laptop stand that makes this a moot point for me.

A final nice touch on the travel hub portion is that it swivels 180 degrees so it can be twisted out of the way of other ports, etc. on a laptop. Or, you could even turn it to a more convenient position while it is plugged into the base, although in that case the top attachment would function as only a non-powered hub if swiveled as the two electrical contacts would not contact their mates on the base.

The description is a little misleading. Yes, this is a USB 2.0 hub in that it has USB 2.0 ports. However, the silver portion, when attached to the main hub, is only USB 1.1. That works fine for mice and keyboards, but not much else.

So only the four ports on the base are particularly useful. So if you bought this, like I did, to plug permanent items in the back and temporary items in the top, you'll be disappointed.

You can do better...

This hub seemed like the perfect combination of features and price and with mostly positive reviews (there are always a few bad reviews) I went ahead and purchased. For about 3 months the hub worked flawlessly, even when using several ports at one time. Then, suddenly, the hub stopped working and my computer stopped recognizing anything plugged into the hub.

I tried all the normal problem solving such as unplugging, rebooting, trying different ports on my computer, etc. but nothing worked. It was not until I came back to Amazon and re-read the negative reviews that I realized I'm having the exact same problem as others listed, namely, that it is the powered base that has stopped working. If I remove the 4-port attachment hub and plug that directly into the computer port, it works. However, the base remains useless.

Interestingly, after using the hub this way for a bit, I decided to see if the base would work plugged into the 4-port adapter (which remained plugged directly into the computer) and it did. Then I tried the base without the hub directly into the computer - worked again. So I reassembled the whole thing as it should be and lo and behold, it worked fine.

So I have no answer on what caused the problem or what specifically solved the issue. I just know that right now, it works.

Belkin does have an easy to use replacement page on it's website, which I will use if problems persist. If your hub is not working and is within the warranty period, I would suggest by-passing the call in support center and just get it replaced. All the call center did was waste 20 minutes of my time to tell me to go to the website for a replacement.

So I'm giving the hub 3-stars since, when working, it is terrific, but downgrading due to occasional problems.

I picked-up this hub for my 40GB PS3. I works great with an external hard drive, PlayStation Eye, and RockBand (guitar, mic, drums). And that still leaves one front port on the PS3 open and 2 on the hub!

No problems, hard drive spins up as soon as the PS3 is powered-on. Good overall design, attaching the permanent devices to the bottom (rear facing) hub allows easy access to the vertical ports (in my set-up).

The power cord connection is on the bottom hub (same side as the usb ports). The unit also has a blue LED (front).

CONS: The power adapter is way oversized in my opinion.

This is the nicest hub I have ever owned. I use it on my laptop that also serves as my main computer. The detachable 4 port hub is nice for use when I take my laptop with me. I only have three problems with this unit. First: The detachable 4 port unit will not work in any of my laptop ports without covering up other components. I usually use it in the one port where it covers up my DVD drive because I seldom need the DVD drive when on the road. I do not necessarily see this as a problem with the hub as I do a problem with my laptop. My second problem is I have external speakers that use a USB port for their power. When I plug them into this hub I get a constant low volume singing from the speakers. I must plug the speakers directly into a port on the laptop itself to avoid this annoying noise, but then I have the same problem with all other USB hubs I have used as well, so I guess this is more a problem with USB hub technology rather than with this hub in particular. Finally: At $31.00 it is a bit pricy, but the appearance and portability make it worth the extra money to me.

(Update... I see the price of this unit has dropped to under $20. This makes it an excellent value).

In summery I would recommend this unit to any that may consider it, but suggest you look at others that are less expensive if the nice appearance on your desk and the portability are not factor that are important to you.

Footnote: I would not give much credence to the one and two star ratings of this unit. It never ceases to amaze me how some people rate a product down when the problem is actually with the hardware they are using it in or their own lack of knowledge on how to use it.

To a certain extent, all USB hubs are about the same. Granted, there are two major categories (powered and unpowered/passive) but beyond that, differences are mainly in how convenient the hub is structured rather than actual performance issues.

This Belkin model scores very well when it comes to convenience. The ports are nicely spaced so you can use all of them even if you have a bulky connector, such as a large thumb drive. There are four ports that face up, and three more that are on the back. I use the back ones for devices that don't get unplugged very often (such as my keyboard, mouse, printer, etc.) and use the top ones for devices that get plugged in and out frequently (such as external drives, thumb drives, etc.). The device is powered, and comes with the power adapter.

Love having the removable four port option - very handy for use with a laptop. Plus, when you remove it, you still have access to four ports on the base unit (three in the back plus one up-facing port).

Build quality is decent. Also appreciate that there is some storage space in the base unit to hold things such as thumb drives, paper clips, etc.

My only quibble is that the base unit could be a bit more skid resistant. But, it's a minor fault to an overall well-designed and well thought out product.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I've found out that this hub is somewhat quirky when used with a Dell Vostro. If the hub is plugged in, the PC will not boot -- hangs at the Dell logo screen. Unplug the hub and it boots fine. Once it has booted, you can plug it in without any problems, or put it into sleep mode and wake up without any problems, but a cold boot is not possible with the hub pugged in (even if nothing else is plugged into the hub). Did not encounter this problem on other Dell models nor an HP. If you have a Vostro you may want to look at other hubs.

I got this because the Dell I have has the USB ports in the front of the tower on the bottom under a lift up panel. Very difficult to get to let alone see almost have to stand on your head. This has made hooking up the several USB devices I have so much easier.

I like the 4 port portable part not sure I will ever us it but still nice to have just in case.

Also has a handy little base to keep rubber bands, paper clip etc. in and since it is a flat base can be set on almost any surface.

Very inexpensive devise for those who need more ports or just have an awkward computer like mine.

Ordered this recently for my iMac after my 4 port Targus suddenly died on me. My only dissatisfaction is that the power cord is very short (maybe 4 ft?) and the part that goes into the outlet is huge, so that it blocks the outlets next to it. Other than that, I'm very happy with it. It worked perfectly out of the box, with nothing to install, and I like the versatility of having 4 ports be removable for use with a laptop. Not the most elegant design (is that a paper clip holder or what on the bottom?) - I'd rather have something more streamlined. But for the price, it offers good, versatile functionality.

UPDATE: After a few months, connections on the top ports (the detachable ones) became unstable. I had to stop using that part. So, now I have fewer ports, but the ones one the base are fully functional and in constant use.

Pretty good product. Used it for 3 month, everything works well. Nothing else I can think of that need to improve. It just satisfy all I need.

I bought this hub about a month ago. I connect it to a laptop running windows 7. Devices connected to the BASE behave fine (I have a printer connected), and they get re-connected when the laptop comes out of hybernate for example. However the silver 4-port portion is very unstable. As other reviewers have discovered, it works for mice and keyboards (but in my experience waking from hybernate does not re-detect the mouse). However other devices such as hard drives, thumb drives, and even -in my case- plantronics usb headset, would drop the connection repeatedly and windows would go out and download/install drivers repeatedly. I really can't recommend this device at all. I'm not sure whether it's power supply or quality of components, but it is unusable.