Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra-Mini Hub
by Belkin Components
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List Price: Our Price: $4.66 You Save: $10.33 (69%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Belkin USB 2.0 4-Port Ultra-Mini Hub
Customer Review: Belkin beats the competition (at least with Macs)
Summary: 5 Stars
This compact, light-weight, self-powered (i.e. no AC power supply needed) hub is currently #1 on Amazon for good reason: amid a bewildering array of hubs, many of which disappoint and, sooner or later, fail, this one is not only modestly priced but connects--securely, surely, and swiftly. My Macbook Air has a single USB port, and this drive appeared on the screen, with a storage drive and external burner attached to it, as quickly as either component became visible when plugged directly into the computer's USB port.
This latest Belkin item replaces a similar, older Belkin hub that warned me it was working at the older, slower speed rather than the current 2.0 standard. Obsolescent the previous Belkin drive may be, but it's one of the few that has proven effective enough to be worth keeping for several years. Some that I've disposed of, such as the Kensington Dome, no longer show among the top 100 hubs in Amazon sales. In fact, just prior to ordering this Belkin hub, I ordered the identically-described Toshiba USB 2.0 Mini 4-Port Hub, currently listing at #16 in Amazon hub sales. It's, if anything, a more solid-looking, built-for-business hub, with a generous adhesive-coated base to keep it in place while doing desk work. Perhaps I expected too much from a hub costing under ten, but the Toshiba simply failed to make contact with an unpowered Iomega 320gb drive that I attached to it. It fared better with two other drives that were powered, causing them to appear on my computer's desktop screen within several seconds after insertion. However, I was bothered both by the Toshiba's failure with the unpowered drive and with the comments on the carton which, unlike the description on the Amazon page, indicate the hub "Works with Windows Vista" but say nothing about Apple computers or Apple operating systems. So I spent two dollars less for this little Belkin item, which has a much shorter cord, is noticeably smaller and lighter, and feels like a toy compared to its Toshiba counterpart. No matter. The Belkin not only enabled my unpowered Iomega drive to appear almost instantly but, if anything, caused the two powered drives to appear 1 or 2 seconds faster than was the case when I used the Toshiba with the two powered drives.
Toshiba makes some of the best drives available, and no doubt it would perform as well if not better than the Belkin when used with a machine running Windows. For my desktop machine, where I make heavy media use of several drives, I plan to stick with a 7-port powered CyberPower, securely taped to the edge of my desk. (The advertised weighted bases are never heavy enough to enable the hub to stay put.) When used with a Macbook, however, it's no contest: this little overachieving Belkin hub rules. ( I notice some rather wide variations in its price. Try not to be in a rush, and simply wait until it's available through Amazon Prime)
Customer Review: Perfect USB hub for general use.
Summary: 5 Stars
When looking for a USB hub, I wanted something that would provide a decent number of ports (at least 3) so it would add a reasonable amount of ports while making up for the one it uses. I wanted one that would be light, portable, sturdy, computer-powered, and most importantly, small. This hub fits that category perfectly.
For starters, each port is on a different face of the square-shaped device, so if you have devices with larger USB plugs, you don't have to worry about not having enough space to plug them all in at once (like hubs with side-by-side ports would). The cord from the hub to its plug is pretty short, maybe about 3 or 4 inches long, so it may be a big deal to someone with a desktop who has their tower located a fair distance away from where they sit; on the other hand, it is the perfect length for laptop users. It is powered via the computer's USB port, not externally. It feels pretty sturdy with no loose parts visible or internal (if shaken slightly) and weighs so little that it is almost unnoticeable. There is a red light on it below the name "BELKIN" that lights up when it is plugged in; there is no way to turn it off, so it may be a slight nuisance to some, but otherwise it is fairly inconspicuous. I have had no issues with this port whatsoever since purchased in March of 2010.
Performance wise, I have had all four ports used up (one with a USB headset, one with a gaming-grade mouse, one charging a cell phone, and one charging an iPod), and there was absolutely no interference or performance degradation with any of the devices, so it is a pretty handy tool for someone who needs more USB ports!
Full list of devices used, all paired with at least one other device with no interference or performance degradation:
Seagate Expansion 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External hard drive (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OJTR6I/ref=oss_product)
ASUS Travelite HS-1000w Wireless USB Headset (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001W1VDHU/ref=oss_product)
iPod Touch 16gb 1st gen
SAMSUNG HighNote cell phone
RAZER Mamba Wireless/Wired gaming mouse
Texas Instruments 512 MB flash drive
Toshiba 2 gb flash drive
Dane-Elec 4 gb flash drive
Centon DataStick Pro 8gb flash drive (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N8F01I/ref=oss_product)
Transcend 16 gb flash drive (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EOATIW/ref=oss_product)
ASUS USB-BT21 Bluetooth Adapter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032EYZ34/ref=oss_product)
Highly recommended by a pleased Belkin customer!
Customer Review: Belkin Mini USB 4-Port Hub=Best Possible Hub for Laptop/Notbook CPU's!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been using the Belkin Ultra 4-Port USB 2.0 Mini-Hub for about 2 weeks now, and it's become so indispensable around my studio that we ordered 2 more for my wife's use, and my use with my Dual Core 2.3Ghz G5 PowerMac, my production machine here that's always using multiple USB 2.0 devices at a time. This ultra-light, simple to use, and somewhat elegant 4-port hub is so simple to use that it's incredible! Just plug and play, hook however many devices you want into an available USB 2.0 port on your PC or Mac, and BAM! Done deal! And shockingly, I've been able to simultaneously use 2-3 devices on the port with no faults, no problems, no issues at all! The best part? It needs no power source, seems to work in both my PC notebooks, and my PowerMacs here with equal effectiveness. Like right now I've got my iPhone 3G, my Epson R340 Stylus Photo Printer, and a USB mouse power source (for a Logitech V220 mini-mouse) plugged into the device, and all are working nominally, no problems whatsoever!
Yesterday I had to work outside at a client's office, and took both my Acer 5920-6727 notebook, and my Acer One ZG5 8.9" netbook (sub-2 pound weight!), and was constantly using the USB hub in one or the other, with all kinds of devices from printers, scanners, and a multi-function HP system to the mouse power source, and had no problems at all with it. I am somewhat amazed by this product, and thanks to Belkin's normal "Lifetime Warranty" can feel assured that it's going to work forever, literally, or they replace it for free!
To think I started out getting one of these for my wife's iMac, and ended up with 4 of them now! Hah! That's pretty funny, being a Mac user mostly, and here I'm using this great USB 4-port hub that requires no power source for all kinds of mission-critical assignments and it's coming up all 10's! Incredible! I can't say enough good things about this product, it's simply a home run for the consumer who needs more USB ports, and yet doesn't want to have a "permanent" solution like an additional USB PCI-Express card installed in the G5 PowerMac...this just works great, and I'm 100% satisfied with the product thus far, in fact 110% satisfied to be honest!
Customer Review: Once again, Belkin delivers a great product!
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this Belkin USB 2.0 hub just three days ago, and found it waiting at the door today! I got it to expand the USB options on my mom's new Dell laptop (can't understand why any company would craft a laptop in today's market with only three USB ports...), and right out of the packaging, it works like a charm!
Her system immediately recognized the hub and installed the associated software, getting it up and running within 15 seconds. I'd brought my mom my old Seagate FreeAgent Go 250 GB external drive in order to set up system backups for her, but she'd been using an old, decrepit USB 1.0 4 port hub that (obviously) can't power anything more up-to-date. I searched ever-reliable Amazon, and found this little number by Belkin.
Of course, the countless positive reviews proved ever-helpful, and ever-accurate (thanks!). Since connecting this hub to one of my mom's few USB ports, I've found that it is entirely up to the task of powering any of her more modern USB-using externals, including the Seagate FreeAgent Go that I brought. The only equipment that this hub will NOT adequately power is that which comes with its own power source; the USB connection will, however, still work perfectly for connecting it to your computer for recognition and usage purposes. When I'd initially plugged the Seagate external drive into her old 1.0 hub, it made a consistent beeping sound that I'd never heard it make before. Now the only sound that the FreeAgent Go makes is that of reliable backups being created! ; )
Belkin's USB 2.0 4-port mini hub is the best computer-related item that I've ever spent less than seven bucks on! I may just get her to buy another one! Who knows what sorts of equipment she'll pick up now that she's got more options for add-ons to her system?
Customer Review: Nice product, works well, but not the design for me.
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this when my CDR/DVD drive went on my laptop and couldn't be replaced. I had to buy an external one, and my laptop only has 3 USB ports - one I use for my wireless mouse, one for my J-Lab B-Flex speaker (check that out here - Laptop Speakers - USB, Portable, Compact, Travel Speaker for PC and Mac - B-Flex 2 Hi-Fi Stereo USB Speaker (Black) - an EXCELLENT little laptop speaker, with BIG sound), and sometimes the other for my extended wifi device. I thought I'd like the design, but in actuality, it makes the area around my laptop too cluttered, so I've purchased another hub that keeps all the devices in the same area, and also has a retractable cord - most people complain the cord on this is too short, but for my purposes, it was too long.
Even though this is plug and play, it is powerful enough to play my new external dvd player, with my mouse plugged in, as well. It also worked fine for charging my iPod (one reviewer said they couldn't charge their iPod with it - I could). I DID notice that one of my laptop's USB ports power was weaker than the other two, so if I plugged it into that one, the power was much weaker, but that is my computer's fault - the USB hub works great in my other two.
So, if this is the design you're looking for, this is a great choice at a very good price - I should have thought more carefully about what design I wanted when I bought it. If things weren't spread out all over when using it, I'd definitely have given it 5 stars - and, as I said, that's really my own fault for not realizing how things would go together when using the hub. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants this design - I'm hoping the new one I purchased will work as well!