Gadgets and Video Games

As you know you can never have too many USB ports, either your USB ports are really hard to get to, or they are already full, in my case they are full. So I decided to purchase the Belkin USB 2.0 Plus Hub (7 Port), this is a stackable powered hub that has two ports on top for easy access and five ports along the back side, and features a built in cable management system for the things that you frequently need to charge, such as an MP3 player or a cell phone. Belkin also has built weights into the hub so that it does not slide around on your workstation, which is a nice added feature.

Design:
The Belkin USB 2.0 Plus Hub (7 Port) has a very nice design. It measures 6″ x 3.5″ x 3/4″ and measures 1″ at the tallest point where the two ports are on top. Six inches in length is a bit long, but that is because you have five USB ports that line up horizontally, along with the power inlet and the data cable that attaches to your computer. As I stated earlier this hub has weights built into it, so as it will stay where you put it. Under the unit, it has four rubber feet for added stay-put protection.

This hub has a small rectangular hole next to the two ports on top of the unit, (this part is made up of rubber). This hole is so that you may stack another Belkin USB 2.0 Plus Hub (7 Port) on top if you should need more USB ports. If you should need to add another 7-port Plus hub, you will notice that it is a nice snug fit due to the rubber. If you only need one (7 Port) the hole in the center is not that attractive and looks a bit odd, but it doesn’t affect the performance. Belkin also makes a smaller 4-Port hub in this series, which is also stackable. Both the 4 and the 7 port hubs have the handy cable management system so that you don’t have to hunt for that cable to charge your MP3 player, cell phone, etc. And yes you can have a seven port and a 4 port hooked up together, and still be able to stack the two together.

On the front of the unit are seven hidden green lights, one for each port and one red light to let you know that the unit is receiving power. The green lights will only be lit if that particular port is in use; the red power light stays lit, as long as the power supply is plugged in. I might also add that the seven green lights are not numbered, nor are the ports, which will cause a problem if a device stops working.

Belkin makes the 7 and the 4 USB 2.0 Plus Hub in green and white, baby blue and white, brown and tan. As far as I know, these are the only color choices available.

Performance:
As many may have figured out by my previous product reviews or if you know me personally, I am quite the technology enthusiast, and love a cool gadget! I will be quite honest here, I am not the kind of guy that just looks at a gadget and assumes it to be a good or bad gadget. All gadgets are equal until proven otherwise. I like to see if a product can run at full capacity without any flaws, crashes, and without any dropped devices, and so forth.

So when I got home with my new Belkin USB 2.0 Plus Hub (7 Port), I proceeded to fill the ports up. I attached my 80 (GB) Zune, 30 (GB) Zune, V3 Motorola Razr, 2 (GB) thumb drive, cordless mouse infrared eye, Bluetooth headset, and a portable WD 200 (GB) hard drive. All ran smoothly for about the first six hours. Then my pc started giving me the dropped device (kurchunk) sound that your windows pc normally sounds when a device is dropped. This is normally a pretty easy fix, not with the Belkin USB 2.0 Plus Hub though. I started unplugging ports and plugging the devices in my pc’s provided USB port and all was ok with that device again. I did this with all seven ports, until finally I was left with seven empty ports, and the hub would not pick up a new device at all. Come to find out, in order to get the hub working again, I had to unplug both the power and the data cable and plug them back in again. Once I had the hub up and running again, I only plugged in my V3 Motorola Razr and my 80 (GB) Zune. Again the hub started dropping devices, only this time it had waited for about twelve hours. After about a week of the same results, I decided to return the hub for a full refund.

Final Thoughts:
When the hub was working, I really liked it, the design of the unit looked nice atop my workstation, but with the all the problems that I ran into, I am sorry but I can’t recommend the  Belkin USB 2.0 Plus Hub (7 Port) to anyone. Maybe it was just the particular unit that I had purchased. If you have one of these units and find that it operates flawlessly for you, let me know.

http://www.belkin.com/

Pros:

• Adds up to 7 USB devices to your computer
• Features 2 top-load USB ports for quick access
• Includes an internal weight and stay-put pads to keep Hub anchored to the desk
• Requires no external power supply (for most devices)
• Prevents damage to your computer and devices with over-current protection
• Comes with a Belkin Lifetime Warranty

Cons:

• Drops devices frequently
• You need to unplug the power & data cable, for it to work again
• Ports are not numbered
• Lights are not numbered

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