Review: Belkin Travel USB Hub

Did someone order (USB) Port(s)?

The Travel is a small red (other colours available) hub that fits right into the palm of your hand. It’s made of a light plastic that feels the same as the Swivel, but the build quality doesn’t feel quite as good. A slight tug on the casing does show a bit of give, but it’s your USB hub will get snagged on anything that would rip it apart. My minor nit-picky complaint about the Travel is that it is really suited to USB ports located along the right end of a laptop thanks to the orientation of the plug when fully unraveled. On my MacBook it ends up curling up behind the laptop and is impeded by my FireWire hard drive and Magsafe AC adapter. If the plug could rotate in place, the Travel would be a lot more useful, regardless of which side it was on.

There are no moving parts on the Travel, but it does have one really cool trick up its sleeve: puling on the main USB plug and unraveling the wire will reveal four USB 2.0 ports. It’s a lot like a USB snake chasing its tail. The ports look like they’re recessed, but I didn’t have trouble with any of the fat USB drives I have around the house.

In terms of portability, the Travel is even easier to throw into a gear bag than the Swivel. It’s smaller, and once you wind it up, it has no parts sticking out. It’s just a cool, crimson circle. Winding the Travel up can take a little getting used to, though. You’ve got to start from where the wire comes originates within the hub and then press it against the case, following the curve, until you run out of room. Only then can you plug the USB head into the hub to seal the deal — otherwise there just isn’t enough room and you’ll be stretching the wire.

I really like the Travel Hub — I think it’s a novel design that just needs one small adjustment (adding rotation to the plug) to make it perfect. Otherwise, for $15, the Belkin Travel hub is an affordable mobile accessory and is a good way to add some extra USB’ness to your mobile setup.

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You can find the Belkin Travel Hub for $15 on Belkin.com. It’s also available in Black and Plum if Red isn’t your style.