Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Pocket Hub - hub - 4 ports

...hub in question was the Belkin USB 2.0 Pocket Hub. Bought for just 10p in the charity shop, these normally retail around £20.00 so a real bargain was gained here. What you get for your money is a small 3 port hub no bigger than an audio cassette tape. With this is a power adaptor.

The hub works by plugging into a USB port on your computer. This uses up a port of course but it creates an extra two for use with other devices. The hub ...
...you expect.

Belkin make a series of hubs and other devices for computers. The website is quite comprehensive but slow. They have good support through email and a telephone line and there is a good Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list to consult before contacting them.

Belkin offer a great free replacement service for their products if they are faulty or missing parts. The items must be registered first which you can ... more

I am afraid I am a bit of a gadget gangster. I may not understand the technology behind the gizmo’s and gadgets I have but, I know how to use them and I love them. These contraptions and devices I speak about are all for my hard working and much adored computer system. I had the usual printer and scanner attached but I wanted some more toys to play with.

I added and added to my stuff and now I have an external DVD writer, laser and inkjet printers, scanner, digital camera, bar code scanner etc. It may be nice to have these items but the problem that comes with them is having them connected to the computer. I could plug in the devices as I need them but, that is a pain as there is a ton of cables and I am way too lazy besides.

I have quite a generous amount of USB ports on my computer as I have 2 on front and 2 on back. The two on the back are used for my bar code reader and my ISDN connection for the internet. These are used the most so they have become permanent. The front ones were easy to access so I used to change about the devices as I needed them. Then of course as the devices got more and more so the need became more for USB Ports.

Now myself, I am as technically minded as a brick, so opening the back of the computer to install a card thing with more USB ports is a complete no. I opted for the external easy to use hub.

The hub in question was the Belkin USB 2.0 Pocket Hub. Bought for just 10p in the charity shop, these normally retail around £20.00 so a real bargain was gained here. What you get for your money is a small 3 port hub no bigger than an audio cassette tape. With this is a power adaptor.

The hub works by plugging into a USB port on your computer. This uses up a port of course but it creates an extra two for use with other devices. The hub has a very short lead which is a bit disappointing as it means it dangles from the computer instead of being kept neatly on top. With this in mind, the hub is very light. When not in use, the cord does store neatly away into the hub casing.

As mentioned. The hub comes with a power adaptor. It is actually self powered, drawing power from your computer system but, when using high powered devices you may need to use the adaptor. The plug on the adaptor is big but, well designed. It is not a square block plug like usual. Instead what they have done is case the workings into a long block which is much easier to use with extensions and sockets.

I usually find that the square blocks are a pain as they are usually too wide and they cover the socket switches. Although this sticks out a bit, you can at least get your fingers on the socket switch so I say well done to Belkin.

I would also point out that as yet, with 3 high powered devices plugged into the hub, I have not had to use the power adaptor.

The hub has been very reliable and has never caused any problems. All the devices have worked correctly and never failed through the hub. The hub is easily used, just plug in and go. There is no need for software and I don’t think any is provided. It was not supplied with the one I bought but at 10p what would you expect.

Belkin make a series of hubs and other devices for computers. The website is quite comprehensive but slow. They have good support through email and a telephone line and there is a good Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list to consult before contacting them.

Belkin offer a great free replacement service for their products if they are faulty or missing parts. The items must be registered first which you can do online or over the phone. I called to ask a few questions about the hub and explained how I bought it. They were happy enough to then register the hub in my name and they said I too was able to take advantage of the life time warranty. Again I was delighted with this considering this was second hand.

I fully recommend Belkin to all Ciao users and I would definitely consider buying their products again.

According to Belkin the hub works with any speed USB ports but when connected to USB 2.0 it works at 480Mbps, this means nothing to me but they say this is 40 times faster than USB 1.0 Quick then eh?

They also pointed out that the cord is short as this was designed for people on the go, using laptops. Makes sense as very lightweight.

Anyway the Techie bit: Any questions about what follows… Please contact some one else as most of this means nothing to me!

Device Type – Hub
Form Factor – External
Loc - United Kingdom
Interface - 3 Hi Speed USB 4 PIN Type A Connections – 1 Hi Speed USB 4 PIN Type A
Data Trans Rate - 480Mbps
Data Link Protocol – Hi Speed USB
System Req – Apple Mac OS, MS Win 98/ ME/ 2000/ XP
Man Warranty: Life Time
Install – Plug & Play
Compliant – OHCI/ EHCI

www.belkin.co.uk

email: eurosupport@belkin.com

Phone: 00800 223 55 460

Regards from Jacqui, the technical brick!

* * * For the sake of this opinion I have selected satisfactory the instruction manual as this item was bought second hand with no manual supplied * * *

Jacqui

 

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