Customer Reviews

Macally Mini 7-Port USB 2.0 Hub with AC Adapter (TriHub7)

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

I purchased 2 of these and love the design. I was trying to find hubs that had the ports on the front with no wires from the back. I found that hard to find until these.

The USB cable is hard wired into the side. The AC is plugged into the same side and that can be disconnected. It is triangular shaped and comes with mounts to stick on a surface. I have both mounted under my studio desk with the ports faced in the back. I had to use superglue as the adhesive mounts kept coming off...probably had to do with the surface of the desk. Not a problem at all for me.

Keeps everything organized and easily accessible. Quality build and does not feel cheap. 2 usb ports are spaced out further to allow access to bulkier usb products.

UPDATED JUNE 1ST 2009

Lately I noticed my PC would hang when booted. I would have to disconnect the hubs. Once I did that the PC would boot. I tried to narrow it down to which USB device was causing the hang and no luck.
A couple days later I wondered about unplugging the AC from the hubs to see if that would help. So I disconnected them from the outlet and plugged back in...no more hang.
It's like it had to be reset or something.

UPDATED APRIL 17TH 2010

Both USB ports are working like they should. I have 14 usb devices hooked up and all are working.

UPDATED JANUARY 27TH 2011

I purchased a new pc and switched the hubs over. I am now running Windows 7 and no problems at all.

Length:: 1:59 Mins

I've had several hubs and this is the best one yet. Will work well with a desktop or on the road.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews, accompanied by detailed videos, can take the place of first-hand experiences that are often lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and try to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and the video at least entertaining. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

I highly recommend this product. I can't stand the bright blue lights and big show you see with other usb hubs. This product is compact, discrete, elegant, and the usb ports are easily accessible--exactly what I was looking for in a usb hub.

I was reluctant to buy this product because it didn't have any reviews, but I'm definitely happy I made the purchase and highly recommend it to others.

This product is great--I've had no issues as the port expander is powered. Great for Mac laptops that inexplicably only have 2 USB ports.

It's hard to say very much about such a utilitarian item such as a USB hub, but let me try. I am using this Macally hub with my MacBook and MacBook Pro computers (though as with all hubs and most USB devices, it is fully compatible with PCs, I recently used this hub with my Mom's PC with full success). I withhold the final 'star' only because I only give 5-star ratings to items that are revolutionary and extraordinary. This hub is excellent, and highly recommended.

*Construction quality and materials are first rate. Lightweight, but solid. ABS plastic is excellent, durable, scratch and crack resistant. Cabling is good quality, silicone rubber. Good quality switching-type wall-wart PS.

*Devices plug in and detach positively and securely, and do not work themselves loose as in some hubs. Connectors appear to be made for the long haul.

*Low-profile, triangular design attractive and functional. Hub attaches to desk or side of notebook computer securely, and looks like part of the original design of the computer. You can use the manufacturer supplied adhesive, shock-absorbing pads, or velcro attachments (self supplied

*Operation with full 7 devices attached (two external HDDs, iPod, two USB flash drives, digital camera, and Flip video camera) works without a hitch. Hub supplies total of 2A from its external power supply. While that is probably not enough to run all seven devices, you never simultaneously use all at once anyway (USB is a serial interface, so even with microsecond level switching, you use each device in a CPU/USB bus assigned queue anyway, even when using the computers internal USB jacks, there is usually only one USB bus). I noticed no delays over and above what I see when I have multiple devices directly attached to Macs. I left everything plugged in for about two days, through two reboots (done after installing application updates), and worked with iTunes/iPod intensively, as well as transferring files from cameras to machine, edited them, transferred them to flash drives. In fact I tried everything I could think of to stress the USB hub and the computer's USB bus, setting up a number of tasks for different devices, transferring files among devices and computer. No problems encountered of any sort.

*Works well on its own as a charger. Charges my iPod Video faster than Mac's USB bus (max 500mA, that's the USB standard) or even aftermarket 1A USB charger. iPod gets a little warm during charging, but not hot, and reduces charge time from flat by over an hour over 1A charger and more than 2 over machine.

*Works just fine without power supply connected. This wont work with multiple high current devices connected, or multiple devices in charge mode, but for a fully charged iPod, an external HDD, a USB flash drive, and an SD card via USB adaptor, it worked well. YMMV, and probably will, dependent on the current demands of what you connect. Seven flash drives will be fine, seven external HDDs will clearly not.

Of USB hubs (powered or not) available on Amazon in March 2010, this is one of the very best. Of the 4 or 5 I have owned this is second only to another Macally I had that was mostly metal in construction, and looked like it came with the MacBook I used it with. Strongly recommended! Seven ports may seem orverboard, but think ahead to all the devices you may acquire later. Macally makes also a 4 port version of this hub that is identical in all other respects, if smaller size is essential (this 7 port model is about 5" by 1")

This replaced a hub that failed after only a couple months, and it's a big improvement. The triangular shape takes up minimal desktop space. There are no LED night lights constantly shining, and you can pack seven USB cables into the ports. What more could you want?

This usb hub is great. It connects my keyboard/mouse/webcam/external HDD to the laptop. Everything works fine.

Pros:

1. Small and mechanically sound. I like its form factor very much
2. It's a powered usb hub. I have connected two external HDDs to it and everything is OK.
3. Finally a usb hub without the BIG DAZZLING LED which you can find on nearly every hub! This hub only has a small green led.

Cons:

1. Some of the ports may get hot when using the power adapter. It's OK. But I suggest that you disconnect the power adapter when you just use some low power consumption usb devices.
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Update:

Now I am not so happy about the product. The devices connected to the hub frequently stop working. I have to unplug the hub and some of the devices to reconnect them to the PC. I am not sure whether this is a universal problem for all USB hubs.

Got it, loved it's look, plugged it into my laptop and power into the wall, and hooked up seven thumb drives. All worked perfectly. Two hours later I came back and half the thumb drives were no longer visible to the laptop. I picked up the hub and it was burning hot. After some investigation, it looks like the power supply burned out the 'second' usb chip (7 port hubs are essentially just two 4 port hubs with the second hub plugged into a port on the first); it has worked great as an unpowered 3 port hub for the weeks since, but I'm disappointed that there is a quality or design problem. From other reviews, it looks like the good hubs (or the people using it without external power) love it, but that there are a number of people who received bad or defective hubs or otherwise burnt them out. Too bad, because this was one of my favorite hub designs along with the Kensington Dome Hub and the USB Squid hubs.

This hub started failing after a year. Losing connections - not a good thing for a disk - or not connecting my iPhone through its cable.

So I bought a better quality hub, and opened this one up.

What did I find?

There are a couple of GL850G USB controller ICs in SMD format. And a lot of crappy soldering! A solder bridge over pins 16 & 17 of one of the ICs. And another messy solder bridge at chip C15. Maybe this device sorta 'worked' with the 'power status' (PSELF) and '3.3V' (DVDD) inputs tied together, but long term, I doubt that this was a 'good thing'.

The circuit board is 'hand snapped' from a larger piece.

Two QC stickers on the board - 'Q.C. 39' and 'Q.C. A18' - reassured me that all was well!

This hub caught fire this afternoon. Not sure yet which devices have been ruined. three jump drives and an external hard drive were plugged in.
If we had not been home it would have burned the house down. It has been in use for over three months without any problems. After reading other reviews
I doubt the manufacturer will do anything. I have a second hub in another room and I will never trust it when I'm not at home.