Review: Ultra 7-port buddy hub

[screwballl]

One thing that has become a standard and something we cannot live without in the computer world has been the USB connection. Everything from the basics like a mouse and keyboard to the exotic like digital cameras and sushi thumb drives, all sorts of devices have been created to use this USB connection. It is getting to the point where the standard 2-4 connections on the rear and 2-4 on the front is just not enough. Some users have opted to crack open their case and add in a card for another 2-6 ports. If you do not have the experience to do this or if you would like some USB ports away from the case, many companies have USB hub offerings, to allow 4 or more devices to connect to a singe host port.

Another arena that is barely explored and has its own niche in the USB market is the need to share multiple USB devices among multiple computers. What we had to do before was unplug the USB device from one PC and plug it into another. Usually this is a real PITA since, on some computers, the only available USB ports could be in a very hard to reach spot.

This is where the Ultra 7-port Buddy hub comes in very handy. Plug the 2 cords into the back of 2 different computers (marked as PC/A and PC/B) and the hub is now shared. Plug in your USB device, make sure the selector switch is set for the computer you are working on and it is ready to go. When it is time to use it on the other computer, press the button and it goes to the other computer.

Windows XP detects it automatically and no hassles swapping the device between PCs. Any OS Windows 2000 on up should pick it up automatically each time without any trouble. This is where a possible bug comes in. During my usage, there was a random occurrence where Windows would not pick it up after a minute or so. I would switch it back to B, wait until the windows sound plays (indicating it was disconnected) and then switch it back to A. I did however, try the A slot on a different PC and it worked perfect. So, at this point I have been unable to determine if it's a PC problem, a hub problem or compatibility issue involving both. For now I will give the hub the benefit of the doubt.

With my setup, I needed to share a keyboard and mouse between 2 computers, I just used a standard KVM switch for the video (which also has PS/2 ports but not being used). So when I need to switch to the other computer I hit 3 different buttons, Port 1 with the keyboard, Port 2 with the mouse and the KVM for video. Pretty simple, although it would be nice to have a "switch all" button. But this is a minor complaint since I don't have to hassle with unplugging and plugging in all three devices.

I have used a 512MB flash drive which seems to work well too. This is where another small issue comes into play. The hub is only USB1.1 compliant, not 2.0. So transferring large amounts of files over the 1.1 interface was much slower compared to 2.0. Copying a single 47.5MB file from the flash-based SanDisk Cruzer 512MB through the 1.1 hub took almost 54 seconds (53.74). Plugging the same thumb drive into a USB 2.0 port on the front of this computer, copying the same file took less than 4 seconds (3.85). On a side note, I did hook up my HP Photosmart 7350 printer to the hub as well and had no issues with several small and large printing jobs, testing the same prints from both computers. This is a bit older printer so it may be 1.1 based anyways. With newer 2.0 based printers you may see a bit slower transfer time.

After several days, this has worked very well for me: 2 towers, one monitor, keyboard and mouse. I play my Counter Strike: Source with this keyboard and mouse and do not have any problems compared to the items being plugged in directly into the USB2.0 ports (most are likely 1.1 spec items anyway). Any file transfers I have done have been fairly small so typically less than a minute transfer time. If I need that extra speed or larger file transfer, I can reach down and plug it directly into the front of the case. As long as you do not continuously need the faster speeds for file transfer or transferring files from digital camera/memory card to the PC, it works beautifully. Normal items that are USB1.1 based should not pose any issues and even USB2.0 items that do not require the higher speed will work great.



I decided to score it similar to that of many HL reviews ( I hope you don't mind Capper):

Build Quality: 15/20 - All of the ports are easy to plug into and unplug. Casing is standard hard plastic which is fine for a desktop item, its like like you will be taking this with you everywhere you go.

Aesthetics: 18/20 - Great looking for a techie type with the red (PC/A) and green (PC/B) LEDs, may be a bit too many buttons for some (7 ports, 7 buttons). Very easy to tell which PC that device is currently switched to. It is also nice that the lights do not show until a device is plugged in.

Layout: 18/20 - Slim Design. All 7 ports are on the front, each corresponding button is right above the port along with the easy to see LEDs. The 2 rear ports are separated by some space which seems to balance it out on the tabletop, better than many devices that have all the weight on one side or another that causes it to be off balance. the only thing that may have helped would be offering some ports on the top instead of front.

Performance: 5/10 - USB1.1, enough said. Horrible file transfer times for data based devices but for anything that doesn't need the extra speed afforded by USB2.0, it works great. Mouse, keyboard and slightly older printers have no issues.

Bundle: 10/10 - This is a simple device, there is no need for extras here. What was very nice though is the slightly thicker than normal packaged USB cables that plug into the computers. The included power brick is small and doesn't take up much room so you can use the plugs on both sides with normal non-brick type power plugs.

Warranty & support: 10/10 - The package shows a 3 year limited warranty, inside there was a card that stated different items such as power supplies, cases, memory and "all other products" (which this falls under). Then they have listed "Standard" warranty and "Ultra Advantage" warranty for people that register their products. This product once registered has the 3 year limited Ultra Advantage warranty which I think is pretty good for a little plastic box with USB ports.

Price/Value: 8/10 - As of this writing, Zipzoomfly has this hub for $33.49 US. Decent price for those that need it but a bit high for the occasional user.

So OVERALL, I'm giving this Ultra 7-port buddy hub a 84/100.
I was going to give it 8/10 from my personal scoring but saw that the HL format allows me to explains some of the pros and cons of the device.

***********************************************

Update: A power surge or something strange took out the original reviewed Hub after 3 weeks of use. Since then I contacted the needed people and got a replacement. This time I got a USB 2.0 version. Any speed related issues that I may have mentioned above in this article can be scratched because with this hub, it performs the same as any natively installed USB2.0 item directly to the system.
I tested the speed of the exact same file mentioned above with exact same circumstances and after several different ports and locations, the speed was always 3.82-3.86 seconds through the hub.
Another thing is that the hub works fine without the power supply so for now I will be leaving it unplugged until I determine if it is a surge protector or a surge from the power company or some other related (or unrelated) issue.
When you have the packaging it is easy to tell exactly which one is the 2.0 versus 1.1 but without the packaging, it is completely impossible to tell which is which by any external appearances, numbers or anything.



Screwballl Mike

[PrOLifIC_onE]

Nice. Thanks for the review Mike. Silly me, but I didn't realize there were USB hubs out there that could connect to 2 PCs like that.

[screwballl]

The funny part is, I won this from HL in the "Post your Pet contest"

[RAID]

nice review Mike

[Yellowhello]

Great review Mike!

[One4yu2c]

Pending Mike's acceptance, we're calling this month's User Review/Guide Contest a week early, and will post a slightly altered version on our main page. So here's a pre-emptive CONGRATULATIONS Screwball!

[Death_blooms]

Thats a nice bit of hardware there. Is it possible to share USB devices such as scanners over a wired/wireless network?

[screwballl]

This hub acts like a normal USB hub... with the exception that you can press the button to computer #2 and use that device on the other computer. Since most USB items cannot be shared across the network (with the exceptions of USB printers and USB storage drives), this allows you to share the items between 2 computers. If you only have 2 computers and the windows printer sharing is not working on your network.... hook it up to this and at the press of a button, print directly to the printer. when you need it on the other computer, push the button.
This allows you to share up to 7 USB devices between 2 computers.

In your case, hook the scanner up to this and be able to scan from either computer individually. the only down side I see to this is that if you have a higher resolution scanner that is USB 2.0 then you may notice some slowdown transferring the scanned image to your imaging program on the computer.

[screwballl]

the story makes front page of HL....
then the story is mentioned on DailyTech...
very cool

[One4yu2c]

Give it a couple of days, you'll see other sites listing it as well. I sent out the news on your user review just like I would for any other published review on HL.