Kensington DomeHub 7-port USB 2.0 Hub with FlyLight
by Kensington
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List Price: Our Price: $31.25 You Save: $7.74 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $19.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Kensington DomeHub 7-port USB 2.0 Hub with FlyLight
Customer Review: It has its goods, it has its bads
Summary: 3 Stars
On the positive side this thing is weighted so it does not slide around on one's desk everytime one moves something plugged into it. In addition it has a fairly long USB cable to plug into computer and an adequate one (about 4 feet) to plug into extension cord.
On the negative side, the USB plugs are too bunched together and make more difficult than it should be to unplug and plug in devices when there are already many plugged in. In addition, the plugs are in the BACK of the unit instead of the front (another inconvenience factor). You need to rotate the unit around to plug in your devices. One would think common sense would dictate that the USB plugs be in the front with reasonable spacing between each other adjacent to the light that corresponds to each plug (indicating it is plugged in). For the person who has to perpetually plug and unplug devices (after all, is this not the reason one purchases something like this?) this device is not optimal.
With some minor design modifications this could be a five star but in its current state only a three.
Customer Review: Excellent hub, terrible light!
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this USB hub because I needed another hub and I liked the design of the DomeHub. The fact that it came with a flexible light accessory was secondary and didn't influence my decision away from other hubs. I just thought that the light would be a good little way to provide additional illumination, specifically on my keyboard, at night when I am working at my computer.
Unfortunately, the light beam it way to concentrated to really be useful. If the light passed through a convex lens or something similar to diffuse and disperse the light, it would be a lot more useful. As it is now, the light beam is no larger than a few inches in diameter and is is very bright, then quickly drops off until it is dark a foot or so from the center.
I can't complain about the USB hub though. It was easy to connect, it looks cool, and it provides 7 additional USB connections (including a top access port) that I desperately needed. I would buy another one or recommend this to anyone, but I would tell them to forget about the light unless improvements are made.
Customer Review: Cool Savvy Hub Appears Virtually Perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
As with everyone else, the weight and hemispherical design are great features. I don't mind the attached upload cable (one less loose part) but wish it were another foot or two long; seems to be cheap corner-cutting. Altho no deal breaker, I would've preferred the front LEDs corresponded front-to-back with the USB ports on the backside, rather than the too-cute radius motif where the leftmost LED corresponds to the rightmost backside port. For these reasons I give it 4 stars.
However, it appears to have solved the problem for which I bought it...for some reason my TiBook, after waking frmo sleep, would lose my Targus 7 port powered hub and everything in it. This required a restart. An intermittent problem, it was fairly annoying. With the DomeHub I can hot swap the keyboard in and out and not lose it.
As for fat power bricks: yes, always a drag. But in the 21st century computer users ought to now have dongle-style multi-port extension cords, or surge protectors/UPS units with inputs spaced widely for power brick use. They're out there!
Customer Review: Heavier is better
Summary: 4 Stars
I had narrowed my choices down to the Kensington brand, either this Weighted DomeHub (K33118) or the (non-weighted) Portable PocketHub (K33366). I absolutely recommend getting a WEIGHTED usb hub. This DomeHub has 7 usb ports, so if it wasn't weighted down then it'd probably be tipped over alot. It was a piece of cake to install the hub on my laptop. It plugs in to an outlet, so the devices I connect to it aren't sucking power from my computer. It came with a "free light" which is a light you plug into a usb port on the domehub, but I don't find it very useful.
KENSINGTON Dome Hub 7-Port USB 2.0 Hub
KMW33118 - 7-Port USB 2.0 Dome Hub
KENSINGTON Dome Hub 7-Port USB 2.0 Hub
Customer Review: THIS is the usb hub you want!
Summary: 5 Stars
The fact that I am willing to even write a review about something as mundane as a USB hub should pretty much speak for itself!
It's just a few bucks more than the other USB hubs, but you will not be disappointed. It works great, of course, but the real feature is the unique shape and weight of it, which is just perfect. It does not slide around my desk like the cheap hubs do, and it has an extra port on the top of the ball so that I can quickly jam a thumb drive or other temporary device in without having to pick the hub up and hunt around for a free port.
It comes with a power supply but I never even plugged it in, not sure why you'd need one as the hub itself us powered via your computers USB connection. It also comes with a little USB goosneck light than some people might find useful; I amused myself with it for about 8 seconds and haven't used it since.