Hawke84's Tech Reviews: Inateck 4 Port USB Hub HB5001

Inateck 4 Port USB Hub HB5001

Overview

Hi all. So i’ve got my hands on another product from Inateck, one of the new up and coming tech firms that seem to do a little bit of everything. Im quite excited about this product, its something i’ve been in the market for a little while as im getting more USB3.0 gadgets and I couldnt wait to open it! My Review today is on one of the new products which is a 4 port USB3.0 hub with an additional 2A charging port for phones / tablets etc.

Unboxing

The hub arrived in a small black, fairly solid feeling box with a brief description and small picture of the product on the front. On the back there are a lot of features and specs listed.

The features listed on the back are:

Superspeed (5Gbps)/high speed(480Mbps)/full speed (12Mbps)
Status led indicates the operation mode of each USB port
The 5V/2A port is equipped with intelligent charging chip to support battery charging for Samsung tablets, iPad and smart phones.
Compliant with USB2.0 and lower version
Compliant with large capacity hard disk
Plug&Play, Hot Swappable.

The Specifications listed are:

Product Model: Inateck HB5001
Product Name: 4 Port USB3.0 HUB with 1 Port Charging
Product Interface: USB3.0x3 + 5V/2A Charging
Product Dimensions: 125x63x15mm
Product Weight: 80g
OS Support: Windows XP/ Vista / 7/8/8.1, Mac OS
Certificate: CE&FCC Approval

So a lot of info on the outer box. Without further waiting im going to open it up and its time to finally play with the device ive been looking forward to for the past week!

So opening up the box im greeted with a very well packed, plastic wrapped hub, sitting in a protective plastic tray, under which is an adaptor plug with a 1.5m lead and a USB3.0 which is 1.2m long.

Lead Length

I just want to highlight this fact, i really like the lead length, I know it sounds like a silly thing to highlight and people are probably wanting me to get on with reviewing the actual hub but lead length is important. Keep in mind that to keep USB3.0 speeds if you want to use an extension lead you it will need to be USB3.0 compliant and honestly thats a pain. My home PC case is almost up to my waist and I wanted a hub that would plug in down the depths of the back of the PC and I could put the hub on my desk to plug in devices. I know its very much personal preference but this has a nice lead length to reach down the back of a tower and sit on my desk without much messing around so im really please about this. The USB3.0 lead is a standard lead with the normal USB micro B plug to go into the hub so the lead is interchangeable if you do want something different.

Hands on

Ok so the plastic wrap has been removed and its time to place with the device. Can I just pause to say though that its nice to hold a product that the manufacturer cares enough about to add plastic wrap on the top and bottom to protect the device. makes it feel very premium and new!

The hub is nice and light and feels fairly hollow as you would expect. On the top is black and silver plastic that is about half and half the device. The black is on the back end and houses the power button on the top in the middle. The power button doubles as a power LED which is only illuminated when the hub is turned on and is not always on when plugged in. There are green connection LEDs for each USB port which light up on connection.

On the bottom side are 4 small rubber feet to stop the hub from sliding about the place while its in use / in place. Moving round to the front of the device is the 4 USB3.0 ports with a good spacing between each to allow bigger devices such as USB memory sticks to be plugged in without taking up 2 slots. On the right hand side is the USB 5v / 2.0A charging port for charging phones / tablets etc. Finally round the back is the USB 3.0 micro B input and power input.

Overall the device feels fairly solid in my hands and not like its about to come apart.

Testing

Playing around with the hub on my HP Elitebook 9470m, the first thing I tried was to see if the hub can be used without plugging it into the mains. To you use hub you plug is in (obviously!) and you need to press the button on top to turn the hub on, good news is that it can be used for USB devices without plugging into the mains but with the caveat (as usual with hubs) that if you are plugging in multiple high power devices not all will work e.g. more than 1 portable hard drive. My PC detected the hub as a USB2.0 and USB3.0 hub, no information on the driver chip in use.

One thing I noted is that unplugging and re-plugging the hub means you have to turn it on again in order to use any connected devices. Its the same upon reboot, even if the hub is on when the PC powers off, it will need to be turned on to be used. I can see plus and minus points for this and it really depends on how you want to use if. Me for example, I have several USB3.0 drives that I dont use every day but its nice to have them all plugged into my PC ready to go if and want and when I can just hit the button to power the hub and allow me access to the devices. If you are planning on using this as a hub on your desktop do keep in mind that you have to plug in your device and perform a button press to access a device. Not sure how I feel about this, I think I would rather have a switch so I have the choice of hub on or off and my preference will save, im tempted to perform a teardown and change the button to a switch.

Plugging in my Western digital portable hard drive, the green light above the port comes on and its detected no problem without the power adaptor being used. I’ve performed several speed tests with my Jetflash USB stick and my USB3 western digital hard drives and performing speed tests side by side showed no slowdown suggesting that this hub used a good chip to manage data flow and not bottleneck at any point during transfer. My tests were transferring large data files to several devices at once, which is a worst case scenario, and even under this stress the hub performed admirably not showing any slow-downs or dips during transfer. Plugging another device in during the speed tests also had no effect.

So onto the phone charging feature that this hub offers. I tested this on my good trusty Samsung Galaxy S4 and measured the amperage going into the phone under various scenarios e.g when a new device is plugged into the hub to test the robustness under everyday use.

Pricing

Currently the hub is on offer on Amazon UK, and its a really good price, especially after playing with it im really pleased with the build quality and host of features for the very low / competitive price. It is currently on a 60% reduction so £20 for a charger and premium hub is a good deal in my eyes so im happy! :)

Positive points

+Good cable length, both the adaptor and USB3.0 cable

+Sleek looking design

+Connectivity LEDs for each USB port.

+Switch to turn on and off

+5v 2A USB phone / tablet charging port

+Can use as a USB hub without plugging into the mains

+High quality build

+very low competitive price

+Good performance, no slowdowns during stress testing

+USB2.0 compatible

+Rubber feed to stop it slipping (you wont believe how many hubs ive had that dont have this!)