This review is for the "Tera Grand - Premium High Speed USB 2.0 to Serial RS-232 DB-9 Converter - Supports Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, 98, Linux and Mac - with FTDI Chipset". Cost at the time (January 6, 2015) that I purchased the item through Amazon was $10.98 each. Shipping was free with orders over $35, so I ordered four.
My need was for a USB-to-serial converter that works with Apple MAC OS X, preferrably without needing to install drivers. I had previously investigated USB-to-serial converters for use with my MacBook Pro, ran into difficulties with multiple Tripp Lite and other brands that use a Prolific chipset---for which there is apparently many counterfeit (fake) chipsets from China that don't work on a Mac with the Prolific drivers---and I eventually gave up on those and purchased a $30 CableMax brand USB-to-serial converter with an FTDI chipset from a local store. I had recently updated my MacBook Pro to OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) from 10.8 (Mountain Lion), but my uderstanding is that support for the FTDI chipset was added in 10.9 (Mavericks), which I skipped. I cannot confirm no need to install drivers with versions before Yosemite, but I do hereby confirm that no drivers needed to be installed with Yosemite.
The CableMax version with the FTDI chipset works flawlessly, but I didn't want to pay $30 for more of them. And that's when I found the Tera Grand version on Amazon. It looks nearly identical to the CableMax, just without an embossed "CableMax" logo in the outer mold, and slightly different screw grips. Actually, one oddity is this:
The first (of the 4) Tera Grand brand that I opened has a slightly darker casing, more black, and has no LED. The other three have a dark casing that is slightly translucent, like the CableMax brand, and contain a single blue LED that illuminates when plugged in, also like the CableMax brand. All four work perfectly, but why one is different than the other three is interesting. The packaging was the same with all four, including the Tera Grand part number USB2-VE487-TG, but one is slighty different.
The Tera Grand brand units works flawlessly too! No need to install drivers if you are running Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). Included was an approximate 33" length Male-to-Female USB extension cord, which is nifty if you need to use two adjacent USB ports on the MacBook Pro at the same time. Otherwise, the USB-to-serial converter partially blocks the adjacent port and prevents use. A mini-CD driver disk is included too, but I did not even look at it becuase it is not needed with Mac OS X 10.10.
For the geeks out there, here are some details for the CableMax brand and the Tera Grand brand. This information is found in Yosemite using the System Information app located through Finder>Applications>Utilities.
CableMax:
Identified on the USB Bus as: "FT232R USB UART"
Product ID: "0x6001"
Vendor ID: "0x0403 (Future Technology Devices International Limited)"
Version: "6.00"
Serial Number: "A6008YSN" (this changes with each and every unit)
Speed: "Up to 12Mb/sec"
Manufacturer: "FTDI"
Current Required (mA): "90"
Tera Grand:
Identified on the USB Bus as: "USB Serial Converter"
Product ID: "0x6001"
Vendor ID: "0x0403 (Future Technology Devices International Limited)"
Version: "6.00"
Serial Number: "FTAJMHES" (this changes with each and every unit; this one is the one that has no LED; all four Tera Grand started with "FTA")
Speed: "Up to 12Mb/sec"
Manufacturer: "FTDI"
Current Required (mA): "44"
The Tera Grand is nearly identical to the CableMax. Interestingly, the Current Required is less with the Tera Grand. At first I thought this might be related to no LED, but that turned out to be just the first Tera Grand unit I opened. The other three with the LED also require only 44mA.
Anyhow, even with the oddity of one unit being different than the other three, I give the Tera Grand five stars and highly recommend them for Mac users that are at the current OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). I'll eventually test it on a Windows system, which I expect will work too, but my goal was to find a economical USB-to-serial converter for my MacBook Pro that doesn't require installing a driver, and I've succeeded with both the CableMax brand for $30 and the Tera Grand brand for only $10.98 each. I'm happy. I can now use my MacBook Pro for configuring Cisco switches, Server Technology intelligent PDUs (the best!), and more.
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