D-Link DUB-H7 High Speed USB 2.0 7-Port Hub
by DLite Press
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of D-Link DUB-H7 High Speed USB 2.0 7-Port Hub
Customer Review: This item is getting something of an undeserved rap here...
Summary: 5 Stars
*** Note: Several recent comments have stated that this product no longer comes with a worldwide voltage input (100-240V) power supply. That's a shame, and I'd definitely knock a star off the review if I could due to this change on D-Link's part -- I can only imagine it was part of a cost-cutting move. :-(
(Note that this review was originally posted in 2005, so it's been a LIFETIME for an electronic device and the DUB-H7's you buy today are likely quite dissimilar insofar as their physical construction goes compared to the ones from 2005.)
Original review:
I've had one for about six months now, and it's worked without problems. One of the things I particularly like with it is that it comes with one of the newer "slimline" power supplies that doesn't block other plugs, works anywhere in the world (100-240V), and is more efficient than the old "wall wart" power supplies.
Let me address some of the other comments here:
1) For the guy with the Lexar data card... it is a blight on D-Link's reputation that their technical support was clearly incompetent (this is sadly true of many companies today -- being pushed there in part by the relentless "drive to the bottom" by consumers who often care more about price than quality and support), but I doubt that even a really good company could have helped much. Although the hub may have somehow been at fault, it's also possible the Lexar card had problems -- even if it worked fine in other hubs. For the record, I've used a handful of USB drives with this hub without problems... although not a Lexar brand.
2) Regaridng plugging in a USB 1.0/1.1 device and slowing the hub down -- this doesn't actually happen, at least in the hub I received, but what D-Link is doing is hedging their bets (hence the word "may" -- which unfortunately these days many manufacturers use when the word "will" is more correct!): Inside the hub you'll find a VERY generic hub IC (actually, two of them), and D-Link has a lot of freedom to use different vendors' ICs based on price, availability, etc. All of them are USB 2.0 hubs, but ones without so-called "per port transaction translators" will drop to full speed (12Mbps) if any of the ports have such a device plugged into them. Happily, ICs like this are pretty much extinct today (when USB 2.0 first came out they were around). In any case, your solution of just getting two hubs certainly still applies. I agree this should be a little bit more prominently advertised, but so should a lot of things about USB, WiFi, etc. -- the oft-touted data routes of 480Mbps and 54Mbps (respectively) are pure fantasy, for instance, in real world applications.
Customer Review: Newer Review of fixed Issues - Works Great and best of top selections
Summary: 5 Stars
Several of these reviews rate this hub low for reasons that I have not experienced in any of the multiple hubs of this type I use. I then noticed that they are old reviews. I believe many of the issues described are from old machines and equipment as well as operating system issues etc from this being a new product. Now, in 2010, I have used 6 of these hubs most for more than two years. The only issue I have ever had is one that did not work out of the box, defective is all.
Here is a quick breakdown of what I have experienced. This is self powered, it will handle several powered devices both self and usb powered. My MP3 players, usb powered WD passport drives take up one entire hub and all work fine, transfering at top speed from one drive to another on the hub or even on another hub or over the network.
This device starts up and self installs without any work from the user in XP, Vista & Win 7 with no issues. I can hook several of these devices together daisy chained or on seperate USB ports with no issues, conflicts or surprises. I am sure their support stinks as most tech companies do nowadays, even the quality product companies have poor CS and outsourcing now. So, not something I care about if I do not ever have to contact customer support.
I can hook mice, keyboards (both of these wired and wireless), speakers, headphones, external drives (Again wired and wireless), Blue Ray burner (That's right and it burns flawless), PDA, Cell Phones, Blue Tooth Devices, Phone and bluetooth chargers and more to these hubs and have not ever had a single issue related to the hub other than the one defective device I got.
I buy these for friends and will buy more, they are on all of my systems and laptops and they also work well off my monitors USB plugs and on high quality USB extenhsion cords. I run some of these together off one USB 25' extension cord with no real noticeble loss of speed or issues.
In short, look for more recent reviews as I believe that the most part of the issues listed here or now obsolete or have been resolved. The power pack I do not believe is any longer worldwide but I know of no other review here that has any issue I have experienced.
Customer Review: Experiences on a MacBook Pro
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought a pair of these D-Link DUB-H7 USB hubs to go with my early 2009 MacBook Pro. With only 3 USB plugs on the MacBook Pro, that was far too few for my needs. So with a pair of these dubs, I went from 3 USB ports to 15.
SETUP
These are powered USB hubs. Setup is normal: plug in transformer, run the included USB cable back to the MacBook Pro, plug your external hardware in and you're up and going.
I currently have 4 external disk drives on one hub. On the other, I have an external Blu-Ray burner, the antenna for my wireless keyboard/mouse, and, on occasion, my WWAN modem for one of the telcos when my normal ISP links goes down.
I kept one USB port "native" for my iPhone. I keep it plugged in through that port plus do all my upgrades with it so connected. See the CONS section below for more details.
PROS
I have used these two hubs now for close to 2 years on my MacBook Pro. They have given me zero problems during that time. I don't know what else you could ask of a product such as this.
I was somewhat reluctant to purchase these for my Mac. Some of the reviews indicated that they caused problems on a Mac. However, I work in IT and have used D-Link products for many, many years with really good success. I do not know what the issues were with the other Mac users: perhaps older hardware or inexperience. I just know that, for me, these hubs have worked perfectly.
I have had connected 4 to 6 disk drives, external CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burners, wireless keyboard/mouse, WWAN modems, and a high-end scanner. These all have worked without a hitch.
CONS
I found through experience that I could not reliably upgrade my iPhone's firmware. I would get all kinds of weird errors that Apple said they had never seen before and didn't know how to handle or what to do. Connecting the iPhone directly to one of the USB ports remedied this problem. The issue has to do with USB signal retiming which really messes up timing sensitive microcode burning within the iPhone.
RECOMMENDATION
If you are looking for a decent USB hub for your Mac, this would be a good choice.
Customer Review: Simply Ideal
Summary: 5 Stars
A usb hub is a simple appliance, right? It either works or it doesn't. Well, there are a few differences among hubs, and I'll point them out. The H7 incorporates the preferred feature in the descriptions below.
1) Externally-powered beats usb-powered most of the time. Usb-powered units divide the available power across all the ports that are in use, so the more plugged in, the less power for each. I have a 4-port usb-powered hub that is only good for products that do not need much power. Things that work well in it are powered external hard drives (or other powered devices), a mouse, or a solid state memory device. High capacity/fast portable hard drives without their own power supply don't work well. They need a lot of juice.
2) Vertical slots almost always beat horizontal ones.
For example:
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With the slots positioned vertically, I can use all 7 slots without a problem. If they were horizontal, and close together, some of the wider cables would not fit side-by-side. This is especually true with memory card devices. My sd card adapter is so wide, it would prevent another input on either side of it if they were horizontally oriented. I also like that all the slots are on one side of the unit. It's easier to organize cables when they are all plugged into the same area, rather than into several sides of the unit.
3) Smaller and lighter is better. This unit is small and light, but not flimsy. It's the smallest 7-port device I have seen. It can be tucked into any number of spaces, so it fits well into your work space. One feature that would be nice would be a couple mounting slots so I could anchor it to a desk or wall using screws. The only downside of its weight is it can move around the desk, especially if there are several cables plugged in to it. On the plus side, the device is easy to pack and bring on trips.
Overall, I can't think of a 7-port powered usb hub that offers more for less money than the H7.
Customer Review: Meets all of my expectations.
Summary: 5 Stars
So far this product is wonderful. It lets me use many of my USB devices that I can't fit into my computer. (I just have way too many USB devices) I love it because it is right on top of my desk and I can pop in 4 or 5 flash drives and move files between each very easily. One slight problem is that I have one wide flash drive that when plugged in blocks use of the neighboring USB ports, but if I plug it into the last slot I am only losing the one neighboring port.
I have read a few reviews about the device not functioning properly or being slow. I have not seen any of these issues. I keep devices that are demanding of USB activity plugged into my PC such as my external hard drive. But I have had 5 flash drives and a webcam working on this hub without any problems at all, even when transferring data. I think that some people may not realize that even if this device gives us the ability to use 7 USB ports it will not provide the speed of 7 separate USB ports on a computer. This device takes 7 USB ports and basically funnels the data into one port, this means 7 devices running at the speed that one would in a computer. (Not exactly because a flash drive has much less demand than an external hard drive, but I think you get the point) You can use this hub without issues; just avoid using a whole bunch of devices that require massive amounts of activity through a USB connection.
I would strongly recommend this product if you are looking for a few extra USB slots, or you just want easy access to USB ports on your desk.