CyberPower CP-H420MP 4-Port USB Hub

Other products by CyberPower

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 0.7 x 2.8 x 4 inches ; 1.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002UQALQ
• Item model number: CP-H420MP
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 9, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The latest product innovation from CyberPower Systems provides you with the ability to easily connect and power up to four USB devices without an ac power adapter. The new Mobile Battery Powered USB 2.0 4-port hub features rechargable batteries to power the hub.

Product Description

CyberPower's High-Speed 4-Port USB Hub offers connectivity up to 480Mbps, which is 40 times greater than legacy hubs. Dual-speed compatibility means this hub works seamlessly with all your USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices. The CP-H420MP is powered via included rechargeable batteries that automatically charge themselves when connected to a PC or laptop. Freely connect your USB devices such as: digital cameras, flash/thumb drives, personal printers, CD/DVD drives, mice, keyboards, scanners, iPods, or any other device that is USB compatible. Plug-and-Play technology ensures easy installation. Monitoring your device activity has never been easier, with LEDs that indicate power status as well as activity on each individual port. This device is perfect for stand-alone PCs with inconveniently located USB ports, or for laptops where the additional USB ports are needed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Battery does not power up USB devices standalone, September 19, 2007

By	VERNON J. VANSTEENKIST "Vernon" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The reason I bought this product is so that I could power up USB devices and the hub with the included batteries. Unfortunately, the hub will not power any devices I tried nor operate as a hub without drawing power from a laptop or PC. The manual states that the red LED will extinguish when the batteries have discharged. However, even when I removed the batteries, the red LED remained on. Basically, there does not seem to be any way to determine if the batteries are doing anything. I am still looking for a true battery powered hub.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Recommended, July 17, 2007

By	L. Yao (CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't recommend this unit for the following reasons:
1) The precision of the case is quite poor. I was almost unable to open the battery cover. I finally used my Swiss Knife to modify the battery cover to resolve the problem.
2) The battery indicator is only passive (switch on/off indicator only) and cannot tell you if the batteries are in use or not. Even without the batteries, the indicator can be still on. I cannot confidently say that this device does not draw power from my vulnerable VAIO UX280.
3) When using the Sennheiser USB adaptor on this device, the audio quality was significantly degraded. I assume that this device cannot keep data flow fast enough.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Understand what this is for befor you buy it, December 21, 2008

By	dr_canak (Illinois) - See all my reviews

As another reviewer reported, this hub does what it's supposed to do. It's *not* made to charge or power devices per se. It is meant to provide extra power to USB devices that would otherwise need an external power supply. Devices such as external cd/dvd writers, external hard drives, etc... often require addtional power. Usually that comes in the form of a y-adapter, taking up two USB slots (one for data, the other dedicated to power) or an external power supply. The purpose of this USB hub is to provide additional power to the device, on the road, so you don't have to (or probably can't) plug in the external device's AC adapter. The batteries, once charged, can provide additional power to a USB device for 1-2 hours, depending on draw and use. An occasional read/write from an external hard drive is a considerably different load than watching a movie, playing from an external DVD drive. And with the rise of netbooks, many netbooks rely on external drives so the situation is not all that uncommon.

Now, the build quality does seem somewhat cheap. I, like others, had difficulty putting the battery cover back on after inserting the batteries into the battery compartment. I'm using it on Vista, and Vista reports the hub and anything plugged into it as an unknown USB device. But the devices show up and work as they should, so have no idea what's causing the error. A quick search of the manufacturer's website doesn't list the product at all, and it appears everything about the product has been removed. The pages exist in Google Cache, not on the website itself. So don't expect a lot, if any, support.

In sum, it's an average product because of build quality and the possible lack of support from the company, assuming the hub is a discontinued product (note: it's not even listed in the discontinued products page for the manufacturer). But it does what it is supposed to do, as long as you understand what it is meant to do.