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Rating: 
Summary: Great product
Review: I purchased this for a laptop running Windows 2000. The laptop has only 1 USB port. I plugged it into the port and attached my mouse and my flash drive and both instantly worked flawlessly.I also liked that the package includes a power adapter but the included manual (more about that in a moment) explains that you don't need the power adapter for low-power-use devices such as mice. The design is a bit peculiar but it also includes two additional easy-swappable covers so you can change from silver to gray to black. The manual (a 36-page booklet) includes information in 4 languages (English, French, Spanish, and Portugese). The English section was written by someone with a good grasp of English (unlike many manuals lately that have very peculiar translations). It includes clear diagrams and explanations (not that I really think anyone would really need this, but nonetheless, the manual was a nice feature.) I've always liked Belkin products and once again, I am very pleased.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Thumb-drive friendly
Review: I've used this hub for a year or so and have been disappointed. The connecting cord to the PC is very short and does not sit easily atop the mini-tower. I can plug my USB thumb-drive and printer into the hub without needing to use the power adaptor and this is a major plus. However, when I needed to use all four ports (and the power adaptor), the hub would cycle through the connections, causing WinXP to "drop" the thumb-drive every few minutes then re-connect a couple seconds later. Quite annoying.
Rating:
Summary: Works great -- recommended
Review: This is the only USB hub I've ever used (purchased around New Year's 2002), and I have no intention of finding a new one. (I have a P3-500 laptop and a docking station with 2 USB ports. I put my printer into one port, and the USB hub in the other; in the hub, I currently have a 3.5" floppy drive, a mouse, and a webcam.) While I have no idea what other hubs do better or worse, I can offer a few isolated observations about the Belkin. * The unit is reliable; every once in a while my laptop will flake out and not recognize some or all of the devices in the hub -- if I unplug the hub and plug it back in, it clears right up. * It's self-powered, so it doesn't draw power from the computer itself. That may not be a big deal to a desktop user, but if you have a laptop, my guess is you'll want it to get its own power. I guess if you have a presentation or something, you can bring it a long and plug in a pointer, a disk drive, or whatever other technological pyrotechnics you've dreamed up. (If you're merely working away from the desk, you will, of course, want to leave the Belkin behind and not play tech-wizard in public.) If, on the other hand, you have a desktop, you just unplug the hub's power cord and flip a switch from "BUS" to "SELF," and you don't have to screw with the extra cord. * Moving on, it's laid out kind of strange. The cord to the CPU goes in one end of the rectangular body, and four outlets come out the other. I bet it's great if your USB port faces you from about two feet away (?), but I don't have a lot of room between my docking station and the wall, so it ends up very inelegantly laying on top of the other cables. * It has LEDs to let you know that your ports are powered. I suppose this is a dummy check measure if you happen to have your USB hub hooked up to a different power supply; I rarely see the thing, so I don't care about the lights. All in all, I've had no frustrations at all with the Belkin; since that's about the most you could ever ask from a piece of electronics, it gets a big thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: Works great -- recommended
Review: This is the only USB hub I've ever used (purchased around New Year's 2002), and I have no intention of finding a new one. (I have a P3-500 laptop and a docking station with 2 USB ports. I put my printer into one port, and the USB hub in the other; in the hub, I currently have a 3.5" floppy drive, a mouse, and a webcam.) While I have no idea what other hubs do better or worse, I can offer a few isolated observations about the Belkin. * The unit is reliable; every once in a while my laptop will flake out and not recognize some or all of the devices in the hub -- if I unplug the hub and plug it back in, it clears right up. * It's self-powered, so it doesn't draw power from the computer itself. That may not be a big deal to a desktop user, but if you have a laptop, my guess is you'll want it to get its own power. I guess if you have a presentation or something, you can bring it a long and plug in a pointer, a disk drive, or whatever other technological pyrotechnics you've dreamed up. (If you're merely working away from the desk, you will, of course, want to leave the Belkin behind and not play tech-wizard in public.) If, on the other hand, you have a desktop, you just unplug the hub's power cord and flip a switch from "BUS" to "SELF," and you don't have to screw with the extra cord. * Moving on, it's laid out kind of strange. The cord to the CPU goes in one end of the rectangular body, and four outlets come out the other. I bet it's great if your USB port faces you from about two feet away (?), but I don't have a lot of room between my docking station and the wall, so it ends up very inelegantly laying on top of the other cables. * It has LEDs to let you know that your ports are powered. I suppose this is a dummy check measure if you happen to have your USB hub hooked up to a different power supply; I rarely see the thing, so I don't care about the lights. All in all, I've had no frustrations at all with the Belkin; since that's about the most you could ever ask from a piece of electronics, it gets a big thumbs up.
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