16 Port USB 2.0 Rack-Mountable Hub w/ Internal Power Supply, ESD Surge Protection, & Port Status LEDs

I needed a USB hub for our service room as our demands have grown and this is what I found. First Visual Observations: Outside of seeing the 16-Port USB Hub on Amazon I thought, this is BIG! Once I opened the hubs box I could see it wasn’t as big as I thought for this size hub. The Hub is jet black with a very light texture to its surface. The USB Ports on the rear of the hub are clearly marked with the ports designation 1-8 on the top row and 9-16 on the bottom rows and basically split into two groups of eight with the USB type “B” and terminal power plug off to the left. Seems to be a good heavy duty well constructed unit. It also has 4 feet on the bottom and the sides are vented for heat distribution. Packaging: The USB 2.0 16-Port Hub was packaged neatly with all separate components in their own compartment within the packaging, these included the: AC Power Cord Screw Lock USB cable (both type “A” and type “B”) 2-pin 5VDC Terminal Block connector (included screws for securing) Rack Mount screws with nylon washers and Rack Mount Brackets DIN Rail mounting screws and DIN Rail Brackets The hub was packaged in a thin white cardboard box, within the box the hub sat in a molded or shaped cardboard insert which had a separate compartment for the cable, cord, screws, etc… Product Operation: This is a Rack Mountable hub and is a good size piece of equipment, this hub functioned exceptionally well as far as connecting to USB peripheral devices that are being used, which was expected. The one thing I should point out is that the LED indicators for both power to the unit from AC and power to the devices at the USB connector of the hub were a big help. The red AC power LED and green USB port LED’s were illuminated to see port connections were made properly. The hub installation was easy; it may have been harder taking it out of the box than setting up the driver for it. I am running Windows 8.1 and didn’t have any issues with installation or recognition of the hub. Despite having 16 ports, the hub connection to the host system is established only as one “Generic USB Hub” and will not display 16 additional ports which is proper function for the USB and Hub controllers. The Hub’s operation includes a built-in internal switching power supply of 100V~240V and is somewhat different than the operation of the USB devices connected to it. Because this is a hub, it is basically an extension of your host system’s USB port and will read devices when they are physically connected to it but the devices themselves are treated individually. As an example if you connect a USB peripheral that designates itself as a removable device such as a mass storage device, Windows will activate the “safe to remove hardware” icon in the system tray allowing you to shut the device off before removing it. By the same token, if the device is not manufactured or produced as a removable device, the hub doesn’t make it one and you will not have the option to stop it before removing from the system. Pros: Uses USB 2.0 hi-speeds for data transfer across all 16 ports Built-in switching power supply of 100V~240V Has a metal case surrounding its components for reliable protection (well made) Incorporates screw lock ports into the hub for screw lock cables Works well in High Temperature environments Installs the driver without software (plug and play) LED indicators Mounting options for Din Rail or Rack Mount (I needed a 19” rack mount) At this point have found any cons with the item, it is rack mounted and working well. Final Comments: This USB hub was mounted into a 19 inch rack service room to handle multiple connections in the warehouse. In looking for the hub, I wanted something that would hold up well against where I was installing it and had some flexibility in the physical installation but also solid cable connection. I also didn’t want to mess with system configuration, I simply didn’t have time for that and this hub does the job well, which is why I chose it. I like the LED indicators as they can be seen from a distance (10 feet or so) when entering the service room and fit perfectly into the rack. I also found the screw lock cable it came with to be a great plus in making sure my initial connection was secure while moving around a bit.