Customer Reviews

Kensington ShareCentral 2 for USB Device Sharing (K33900US)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this ShareCentral 2 to share a keyboard and mouse between two computers. In short, the device delivers. You plug everything in and it works, without need to install any software. Switching control between computers is easy, just press a button on top of the device.

I have purchased a couple devices from Belkin and others in the last few years that promised USB switching capability, but none of them worked all that well, so I'm happy to see something finally accomplish this.

Note that, as the other reviewer indicates, the documentation is pretty worthless and there is nothing more detailed online. All it really includes is a setup diagram. The diagram is sufficient to connect everything, but includes a step where you place the included CD in your computer's drive. And then you do nothing with that CD and do not need--what? Just ignore the CD and you'll be fine.

I bought this device a few weeks ago to share my keyboard and mouse among two computers (one desktop and one laptop). The device works very well and I have not had a single problem. It even works with a USB hub!! How cool is that!

I bought the device for $8.50 on Amazon which I think is really a bargain. What I really don't get is why the 1 port USB share (Kensington ShareCentral 1 for USB Device Sharing (K33903US)) is more expensive than this one, which shares 2 USB ports. Anyways, after using it for a few weeks, I like the device so much that I bought another three. I don't really need that many myself but I'm sure my siblings' families will love this device for their home. I mean, who doesn't have more than one computer these days.

There are few things I want to bring to your attention before you consider buying this device:

1) Switching Scheme

Initially, I was a little confused on the nature of the sharing scheme. This devices shares USB devices, NOT computers. I originally thought the two buttons are for Computer 1 and Computer 2. But actually, it's for USB device 1 and USB device 2.

How is that different you might ask. Well, when I plugged my keyboard and mouse in to the two shared ports, I pressed the first button thinking that both keyboard and mouse will work on Computer 2. But in actual fact, only the keyboard switched to Computer 2, the mouse is still on Computer 1. This is because the button is for switching the shared device (Device 1, which in my case is just the keyboard). So if I want to switch BOTH keyboard and mouse, I have to press both buttons once to switch both devices to the alternate computer.

I can see how this works better for peripherals such as printers and scanners where if you just press the printer icon, it will switch the printer; if you press the scanner icon, it will switch the scanner. However, this is a pain for sharing keyboard and mouse since every time I want to switch, I have to press two buttons!! Yup, I'm just that lazy ...

Thankfully, my keyboard is also a two port USB hub (which is standard now on most keyboards) so I plugged my mouse to the keyboard and keyboard to the USB share unit so I only have to press one button (i.e. the keyboard share button) to switch both devices. Pain free!

Oh, I should also mention that I use a PC (Windows 7 on Dells).


2) Magnetic Icons

If you are NOT sharing printers and external hard drives like me, you can take the default icons off very easily! The icons are magnetic, NOT stinky stickers. You can take them off and put different icons on in a flash while not leaving any sticky residues. I think this design is awesome!! Well done Kensington!

3) Switching Latency

There is a small delay when you do the switch (about ~2 sec). I'm a trigger happy guy and 2 sec seemed like eternity. I expected things to work as soon as I press the button, but this is not the case for this device. Therefore, you can't play CounterStrike and also MSN at the same time using two different computers because it just can't switch back and forth that fast...

4) Manual Override

There is an auto/manual button at the bottom of the device. So if you set it to auto, it will automatically switch between two computers (if one of the computer is turned off, or un-powered like in hibernation mode). This is a useful feature but I like mine set on manual. It's sorta like buying a car with tip-tronic transmission. It's just good to know that you have an option to go both ways.

5) USB Cable Length

One of the USB cable is fairly short (I think it's the orange one). It works out for my laptop/desktop configuration but I imagine it would be a problem if you have two desktops that are located at opposite edges of a large table, the short USB cable will NOT reach. However, USB cables are fairly cheap (~50 cents) so I don't really see this as an issue and I think most people nowadays probably do have a laptop and a desktop so it may not be a big deal.

6) Cable Organizer

The cable organizer is utterly useless! It is provided in the package as an add-on but I think Kensington should just not include that in the package and reduce plastic waste. I mean, really, most people run their cable at the back of their monitor so what's the point of having a cable sorter on the side of the device???

7) Weight

I consider the device having a near perfect weight. It is not too heavy to carry around when I need to. It's also not lite enough that if you fiddle with the cables at the back, the cable moves the position of the box on the desk.

8) Color

It is dark in color. Like the picture shown it is dark-dark gray, which matches very well with my computer systems but I can see this may be a problem for Mac users since most Macs are either silver or white.

9) Size

It is not the smallest USB switch I saw while shopping but I think the size is not too big to fit on my desk.

10) Price

The price is just unbeatable. Just do a search on USB share and you'll see what I mean. Similar devices costs around than $20 if not more.

I bought this so I could share a printer with one other.
Once you install the software on both computers and the
"mutual" usb device is hooked up, then you are on your way.
Works well for me, just click on the button that corresponds
to the computer you are using. I can't find any real fault
in this so it gets all 5 stars. It's not perfect but like
my title suggests, it works as advertised and now it's only
$10. Consider that since I paid $40 for this last year.

Just as it was tough sharing your popcorn--or your favorite toy--when you were a kid, it's often tough to share USB devices between multiple computers without constantly plugging and unplugging cables. Kensington's ShareCentral(tm) series of devices aim to make sharing printers, hard drives, memory cards and virtually any other USB peripheral a tad less painful, by enabling one-button access to any connected device from any two Macs or PCs.

The ShareCentral series comes in three flavors, according to the number of USB peripherals they're capable of sharing. The ShareCentral 1 ($39.99) shares one device between 2 computers, while the ShareCentral 2 ($59.99) shares 2 devices. I'll let you do the math for the ShareCentral 5 ($79.95). Each comes with a power adapter and the necessary USB cables to connect two computers to the unit, helpfully color-coded orange and white in an attempt to head off any possible confusion that might be encountered during the connection process.

The rear panel of the unit provides one USB "A" connection for each peripheral it's capable of supporting. Since I was testing the ShareCentral 2 model, there were two USB ports to which I could connect my devices: my trusty but dated Olympus digital camera, and an 80 GB USB hard drive. I connected the ShareCentral to my 24" iMac and my MacBook prior to connecting my peripherals, and plugged in the AC adapter. On both Macs, the Keyboard Setup Assistant appeared instantly; it seems OS X recognizes the ShareCentral(tm) as an input device. I dismissed the assistant on both machines and it did not reappear in the course of my testing.

With my USB drive and camera connected, the unit worked as advertised, allowing me to mount both the camera's memory card and the hard drive on either machine with one button press. Kensington thoughtfully provides alternate button covers with icons of typical USB peripherals, so instead of pressing button #1 or button #2, you can swap them for buttons with printer, scanner or hard drive icons, in order that you don't have to ponder too deeply about which peripheral is cabled to port #1 and which is on port #2. The unit seemed to switch from one Mac's USB bus to the other quite rapidly, as there was very little "lag" between ejecting the devices from the first Mac, pressing the button to switch them over and seeing them mount on the second Mac.

That being said, I think this device still has a few rough edges in a number of areas. First off, the top panel on which the switch buttons reside has orange LED indicators to show which device is currently switched to which Mac or PC. But for some reason, the LEDs for computer #2 occupy the entire left and bottom border of the panel, while the LEDs for computer #1 occupy only the top of the panel. Further, neither indicator is labeled as computer #1 or #2, so the user is forced to guess which is which based solely on the relative position of the indicators. It would have made far more sense to put #1 and #2 LED lights on each button, so that it would be clear at a glance which computer each of the peripherals was currently switched to.



Using the included "custom" buttons helps the user remember which button controls which peripheral (as long as your peripheral device is a printer, scanner or USB hard drive). But there's nothing to assist one in divining which strip of LED lights represents computer #1 or computer #2; can you guess which computer is connected to the printer and which is connected to the USB drive? Answer: They're both connected to computer #1. How do I know that? I had to go back to the instruction sheet, and then look at the connections on the back of the device one more time, and even then I wasn't 100% sure.

My primary beef, however, is with the instructions--or lack of same. Although there was no shortage of 4-pt. legalese on the included instruction sheet, the setup and connection info itself did not provide a single word of explanation--information on setup and use was provided solely in the form of line drawings with supporting arrows and icons. I could certainly see many a user becoming befuddled over how the connections are supposed to be configured, especially given that the computer #2 connection is located on the left side of the device and computer #1 on the right, which to me seemed backward from the get-go, and when combined with the bizarre configuration of the LED indicators, only added to the confusion created by the lack of any written explanation.

Step 1A of the instructions did indicate that the user should insert the provided CD, which I assumed contained a PDF manual and possibly driver software. I was half right--there was no manual in sight, but there was a folder labeled "MacDriver_x86" which contained the ZIP archive "Kensington_Share_Central.zip." Again, no Read Me, no PDF, no indication whatsoever as to what I should do with this file. Assuming it to be a driver for the device, I double-clicked to uncompress it, upon which it created a file on my desktop called--not surprisingly--"Kensington_Share_Central."

The Finder's "Get Info" window revealed this file to be a Universal application, so I went for broke and launched it. No Dock icon appeared, nor any change to the menu bar indicating that the software was running. A quick check via Activity Monitor showed an active process called "Share Central," but there was no way to know what it was or was not doing, and no way to quit it. If it actually was a driver for the ShareCentral, or something else entirely, I'll never know. Whether or not it had anything to do with the "Auto/Manual" switch I discovered on the bottom of the unit will remain another of Life's Great Mysteries, as the instructions did not make even a graphical reference to this option.



The mysterious "Auto/Manual" switch on the ventral surface of the ShareCentral 2. What does it do? Should I leave it on AUTO or switch it to MANUAL? Can I switch it while the devices are connected, or will that create a rip in the fabric of the space/time continuum? Will Luke and Laura ever get back together again? Don't leave me hanging like this...

I'd like to give the ShareCentral high marks for doing what it claims to do, but the woefully inadequate attempt at an instruction sheet, the confusing layout of the device, the lack of any electronic manual, the mysterious "is it a driver or isn't it" software on the included CD, and the even more mysterious and completely undocumented auto/manual switch on the bottom of the device all point to a lack of care and preparation on Kensington's part. For my $60 I expect a more polished product, with functioning driver software and far better documentation than Kensington has chosen to provide.

Sure, it's nice to share, but I feel that anyone who makes use of this device will share my opinion that Kensington has some more work to do here in order for the ShareCentral to earn its $[...] price tag.

[...] Rating: 3 out of 5

It took me a while to get this product to work. It really does work well as switching a USB Hard Drive (HD) between two computers is not as simple as unplug it from one computer and plug it into another. You have to unmount the HD first or you run the risk of file damage. The device does it all for you so I can share a HD and keyboard between my MAC and PC.

The only issue is their instructions. They are just pictures and do not tell you what the switch marked Manual / Auto does. Even their web site does not help. After some searching around it turn out in Auto the switch detect which computer is one and switches your USB devices to the "on" computer. Since both my computers are always on I leave the switch in Manual. I hope that helps out some of you.

There is also some software for a MAC you install. Again no instructions and when you run it I have no idea what it does. It does not even tell you it is running. I still do not know what this software does.

With such a great product you would think they could at least have some instructions!!

Awesome product. Very easy to use. I use it to share content on a USB drive between two computers.

The switch works even if you connect a hub to it, so you can share more than two devices. I use the other port for a kensington displaylink. I had to first connect my keyboard directly to the port for my macbook pro to recognize it, but after that the keyboard worked even behind the usb hub. The device is solid, and looks sleek. I like the fact that they included spare replacement buttons with different graphics, not necessary but nice to have. Definitely a recommended buy for those who need a usb switch. I would easily pay 30 for the design, functionality and convenience, for less that 10 bucks the sharecentral 2 is a steal.

I have a laptop and a desktop. Both have a usb mouse and keyboard. This let me switch between computers for less than the price of a KVM.

Something I don't think anyone else has mentioned in other reviews (and that I discovered completely by accident) is that this switch will flip both of the USB connections from one computer to the other when you press Num-Lock twice in rapid succession.

It is a strange and unexpected element, but, in my opinion, worthwhile. I use this feature fairly often when I want to switch both USB devices (one of which is a hub with several peripherals, and the other a keyboard and mouse combo) at the same time.

As people have stated, there is essentially no documentation to explain the functions of this unit, but it would seem it has more nuances than meet the eye, regardless of the included software, which I did not install.

FYI, I keep the mode switch set to Manual, which does not stop the device from switching from one computer to the other when one is powered down. The USB switch seems to be fairly unpredictable in its behavior in this regard...or maybe I just haven't been paying attention. Either way, it's still worth the $10 I paid for it. Any amount over $25 and I'd have to reconsider.

If this is what you're looking for and you can get it on the cheap, I'd say go for it. Don't pay too much, though.

And remember - Num-Lock Num-Lock!

We are on netware and we already have few network printer setup so I cant use netware printer sharing or window networking to share the printer between two computers only. This device sharing made my life much easier.
Usually switch between printers automatically (other wise you have to press the button on top)
Overall, I am very happy with share central and didn't have any problem with it (almost a year now)