Customer Reviews

D-Link DFB-H7 4-Port USB 2.0, 2-Port Firewire Combo Hub

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After 2 months, the firewire component of this product short-circuited and fried all connected firewire components including the firewire port on my CPU motherboard. D-link will not accept liability for any damage caused by this malfunction. This hub acted as a conduit for $2500 damage to my computer system. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!

Having a Mac, I want to be able to expand the number of USB & Firewire devices and this seemed like a great choice, 4 USB, 3 Firewire. Perfect. Well not quite. You only get a *total* for 3 Firewire ports, including the one you'd have to hook up to a computer. For USB though, you get 4 USB ports, and one additional port to hook up to the computer. Sure, you don't have to have Firewire connected to a computer, unlike USB, but what would be the point of buying a hub with both USB and Firewire if you weren't going to hook it up to a computer for both things? Just be aware of that if you buy this product. -1 star for misleading product naming, and -1 star for not actually providing 4 total Firewire ports.

I bought this product purely on the past experience I've had with D-Link products, which have been very good until now.

I have a Palm V (connected through a Keyspan USB-PDA adaptor USA-19A), an iPod (connected through FireWire), an Apple Keyboard and mouse, a Posiflex barcode scanner, a USB floppy drive, and a Seiko Smart Label Printer (USB). When connected directly to the iMac (or with a low power device connected to the keyboard), these devices all work fine.

When connected to the D-Link multi-port hub, things just don't work. The barcode scanner interferes with the keyboard, my iPod is sometimes invisible, my Palm won't sync (sometimes the "Establishing Connection" phase doesn't complete, sometimes the sync aborts half way through), and my floppy drive doesn't work.

Eventually I figured that if I don't connect my floppy drive or thumb drive, the keyboard and barcode scanner can coexist peacefully and the FireWire port becomes more stable. I wonder if the hub is simply having problems supplying enough power to all the devices?

This product is a lemon, plain and simple.

I bought this USB hub for my new XP Media Center PC and my system was having problem recognizing my logitech webcam when it's connected via this hub. I have an existing Belkin USB HUB so I tried to connect that HUB to my new media center PC and my webcam is working fine. I am not sure what is the issue but I figure it's best to return this D-Link DFB-H7 since it does not seem to be versatile.

I had this product for a little over a week and had nothing but problems. Devices that attach and install fine on other USB hubs would not work. The firewire ports worked for a very brief period, then stopped working altogether. The best thing about this product was that I could return it.

This dual firewire/USB 2.0 hub was perfect for my needs. It allows me to connect my external hard drive and my 3G iPod to my computer at the same time. And lately I've been appreciating the four USB ports as well. As other reviewers have pointed out, you only have 2 firewire ports available, not 3, because the third connects to your computer. That's a flaw in the description, however, not the device. I've had no trouble with it, and it's a good deal.

Power adapter is a US friendly 110 volts only. Can't use the power adapter in many countries. Although in every case, the hub works unpowered. I'm sure this is a very system dependent result, YMMV.

Disappointed that I can't plug in a high-power-hungry USB device (DVICO USB HDTV receiver) into the hub because WinXP reports "usb power exceeded" and disables the hub's USB port. This happens even when the hub is powered and happens in every USB slot even if the device is the only USB device in the hub. Must continue to use a notebook's USB port for this device. For my notebook, a Dell E1505, it doesn't seem like powering the hub has any benefit. Perhaps the Dell puts out a maximum current to the hub eliminating the need for powering? Guess I don't need an international voltage adapter after all.

Reviews on items like this are always mixed. Nobody's system is exactly the same and things might not work for one system while they work flawlessly on someone else's. Most products in this price range could arguably be called "disposable". I sympathize with the reviewer who had his whole system fried, but the device has been solid for me. I'm buying another. I too, have deducted one star for the marketing: ports used to "connect" to the system should not be counted; only the number of expansion ports.

Evaluate your needs; evaluate the risks as extolled by other reviewers, and make your choice well informed of the risks and experiences of the others. Good luck.

I have purchased many Dlink products in the past and have always been happy with them. Same with this one. It just works.

As previously stated the DFB-H7 hub really only adds three additional USB 2.0 ports and 1 additional firewire port. But the hub is perfect if you want your ports closer to you while working. I have my desktop PC under the desk and the hub on top of the desk and it works perfect. I like the DFB-H7 much better than the GE USB 2.0 hub, which is much more compact and will now be used with my laptop. As the packaging says the DFB-H7 is for desktop use.