JediKermit's Full Review: Belkin 4-Port Lighted Hub, USB 2.0; Black
Sometime next year we're going to get a new desktop. Ours is a few years old and already looking long in the tooth, but we're not quite ready to pony up for a new machine yet. One of the ways we're trying to expand the capability of our old PC is by adding more USB ports. The cheapest and easiest way to do that was by purchasing the Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 4-Port Lighted Hub.
Our old desktop had a limited number of USB ports--two in the rear of the CPU, and two in the front. When you consider all of the devices that we were trying to plug into the USB ports: keyboard, mouse, scanner, printer, digital camera, MP3 players...it was getting to be a bottleneck. We put up with it for years, when I finally snapped and decided to do something about it. After doing some research online and talking to the techies in the family (obviously not me), I settled on the Belkin 4-Port Lighted Hub. They normally retail for about $20.00; I got one on sale at Office Max for $14.99.
The Belkin 4-Port Lighted Hub can be permanently plugged in to an existing USB port, turning that single port into four additional ports. This gives us a total of seven downstream USB ports for our desktop, and has alleviated the crunch we were facing before. It accepts both USB 1.1 and 2.0 devices, and does so quickly and conveniently. The Hub is about 7" by 4", and just under 2" thick. Shaped like a rounded brick, it's small enough to tuck in just about anywhere near your CPU. The USB cord included with the Hub is only two feet long (one of the few complaints I have about the device), but I wanted the Hub to be near my other USB ports anyway.
Set-up is just about the easiest thing I've ever done: you plug in the Hub to an AC power source, plug in the USB cord to the CPU USB port, and then connect the Hub to the other end of the USB cord. Within about fifteen seconds, the CPU recognized the Hub and made it a part of the happy little computer family, ready to accept more devices.
We've been using the Belkin 4-Port Lighted Hub since last summer, and haven't had any problems with it. We've used it as an access port for our MP3 players, digital camera, and scanners the most, and reserved the other USB ports on our CPU for the things we want to keep permanently attached to it--the printer, mouse and keyboard. I've read user reviews that have suggested that the Hub isn't up to higher levels of data transmission, but for everyday home use as I've described, it's perfect.
The two things I'd change about it if I could are the brightness of the light and the length of the cord; the blue light that shines when the Hub is on (which for us, is anytime the computer is on) is excessively bright. No one has come and asked us if aliens are landing in our home office, but the day is coming. The USB cord that comes with the Hub is only two feet long (addressed above); I think most users would want a six foot cord instead. For us it worked out fine, but keep that in mind if you're looking at a purchase.
The Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 4-Port Lighted Hub is a USB hub that features (4) downstream ports. This solution's small size makes it well suited for of...More at Adorama
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.