I have multiple peripherals and needed more USB ports than my new Dell Studio XPS 435MT provides (8). I looked at all the offerings, and looked for something simple that would allow me to connect at least 6 peripherals. It would be out of sight, behind the desktop, so appearance wasn't a factor. I ordered this gizmo with some trepidation due to the absurdly low price. I plugged it into an available USB port, hooked up 6 peripherals, and it works great. It runs well off bus power from the USB, but has a power supply included in case it is needed for older systems. The case seems well made, and the USB connectors and wire leads are solidly attached. There is a red LED to monitor "power-on." It may not last forever, but it did the job for me at an amazing price.
6-month follow-up: This gadget is working fine, and I am very happy with the purchase. 7 Port USB Squid Hub
In the Product Description area, you will see this item clearly states the following:
Product Description
Extend your high speed connections with this USB 2.0 Hub! Its seven USB 2.0 ports allows you to connect to a variety of USB devices including scanners, printers, digital cameras, camcorders, speakers, mice, keyboards, external drives, MP3 players and more! This hub features built-in USB cables and provides up to 480 Mbps data transfer rate. It supports bus powered mode or can be powered **with the included external power supply!**
Note the area of that description surrounded by asterisks. If you read that in the description, you would expect that it comes with the power supply .. right?
WRONG. Bait and switch, misleading description, differing product .. whatever you want to call it. What I call it is unacceptable, and now I am stuck without a refund for shipping, without a call-tag to send it back (have to pay that myself, too), AND a 15% restocking fee.
DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM unless you don't care about the power supply. For me, it is required since I am powering at least 2 external hard drives that get their power from the bus.
DO NOT BUY!!! Especially not from SuperMediaStore ... who goes out of their way to avoid taking responsibility for this bait and switch.
Thats the last time I buy from ANYONE but Amazon directly.
-----EDIT:---------
Hello All,
I would like to amend my review, above. After filing an A-to-Z Guarantee claim against SuperMediaStore through Amazon ... SuperMediaStore wised up and then offered me a full refund with the shipping labels. So overall, they did indeed right their wrong.
I hope they update the description to remove any misleading information. Otherwise-- beware this product will likely not come with the power supply!
Thank you Jessica P from SuperMediaStore for fulfilling my request and doing the right thing.
I've gone through several hubs and always manage to fill all seven ports and then some. Eventually they tend to become problematic, developing a port or two that's no longer operative or dependable. More in the "nuisance" category is practically every hub's tendency to flop around (even the vaunted heavy Kensington dome), never remaining in the position in which the user had planted it. So I recently picked up this unattractive, generic, reasonably-priced squid-like creature. A month later, it's maintaining contact with the items plugged into it (working off bus power) and, more importantly, it's opened up space behind my iMac, simply hanging down the backside of the screen, where it's all but invisible from the front side). As users frequently discover, it usually works best to plug the major players--the printer, the audio-recording or photo equipment--into the precious two USB ports on the computer itself and save the rest for the hub. Now comes the longevity test. To be continued . . .
The description says "or by external power supply" -- I think a reasonable reader would think it came with an external supply. IT DOES NOT COME WITH A POWER SUPPLY. If your devices have a large power draw, they will not work.
Also, the device is listed as "High Speed". However, on my laptop it shows up as a USB 1.1 device, not USB 2.0 device. This is at the BIOS level, and isn't an operating system problem. It *could* work with other motherboards (anyone with experiences can respond to this comment) but at least on the Toshiba T135 notebook, it is not a high speed device.
As for what it appears to be, a very inexpensive seven-port unpowered USB 1.1 hub, it's pretty good so far, although the cables have a problem of twisting themselves, as if there is some sort of spiral winding inside the cords. But I need a hub that will transfer quickly to my iPod and printer, stream video off a hard drive, and power some desk accessories, and bought this one thinking, from the description, that it would -- but it won't. One star. - 7-port Usb Hub - Computer Accessories - 7 Port Usb 2 Hub - Usb Hub'
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