Anker 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub With Power Adapter

I needed a powered USB hub for my flight sim hardware (logitech HOTAS), this hub feels premium and supplies the power I needed. Bottom line, I’d buy it again.

I have had this unit since July 2017. While it works, I have problems from time to time where it just drops the connection – not helpful and frustrating during back ups or transferring large files to it. I have to disconnect the power to the unit, wait a couple seconds and plug it back in to regain the connection (or restart the computer with the unit on). Disconnecting the USB cable and plugging it back in doesn’t help. When I plug the unit back in, I sometimes notice a spark – still works though. Also not happy that even though the computer is shut off, ALL of the USB ports still get power. I have a couple external drives connected to it but when the computer is off, they keep running. I would have thought that the only port that needs this power is the charging port. All in all, the unit works and when it is working, I have no issues with the transfer rates, printing or charging from the charging port. The unit is small enough that it sits on my desk and I have gotten into the habit of disconnecting the power adapter when I shut the computer off. I have a separate unit for USB charging so this is not an essential unit to have on all the time.

Having said that, I am currently looking into a unit that I can turn the power on and off for each port, this way I can just turn off the external drives when I want and leave the printers and charging ports working.

Ariel from Anker contacted me and I have to say that I was quite impressed with their Customer Service. She arranged for me to get a replacement unit within a couple of days and the replacement has been working fine since I received the unit. She followed up with me throughout the process in making sure that I got the unit and that the replacement was working without problems. I upgraded them to 4 stars because of their Customer Service. I would have given them 5 stars but I still would prefer to have the ability to turn off the different ports so that my external devices did not run all the time.

UPDATE/NEW REVIEW (3-Port + 1 Ethernet Port)
Since Amazon combined the two products I’m reviewing, I have no option but to add my new review to my existing review.

I recently bought a Winbook (TW801) which amazingly has one USB 3.0 port, the only high-bandwidth port on the tablet. Due to this and the fact that I planned to leave this as an HTPC running Plex and for Steam streaming, I needed more USB ports and a gigabit ethernet port. This Anker device is perfect and due to their amazing reputation (my house is quickly becoming an Anker home catalog). I get full gigabit speeds for file transfers (up to 120MB/s to my Synology 1812+) and the USB 3.0 ports also give me full speeds on my ultra-fast Sandisk Extreme USB drives. I love performance with no compromises and this product works perfectly.

FOR USB TRANSCEIVERS (like the Logitech K400 I’m using):
USB 3.0 emits 2.4GHz interference that reduces 2.4GHz transceiver range significantly. My K400 keyboard/trackpad’s range dropped from around 10-12ft to around 1ft or less when plugged directly into this plastic ethernet/usb hub so I had to get a USB extension cable to move the USB transceiver further away. THIS IS NOT ANKER’S FAULT. The USB 3.0 standard simply did not plan ahead with proper shielding and plenty of new AC wireless routers with USB 3.0 ports have had issues due to this as well. Perhaps the newer version of the aluminum unibody hub fixes this but I still preferred this black/white plastic look since I’m not using a Macbook or other aluminum-trim products.

ORIGINAL POST (6-Port + 1 BC 1.2 Charging Port Hub)
I had originally purchased the Anker 4 port bus-powered USB 3.0 hub but found that its connection wasn’t stable enough to allow HD Tune to run its read benchmark or error scan without failing on a Sandisk Extreme USB stick. I still needed a USB hub and Anker deserved another chance so I got this 7-port powered-version instead.

This version is much nicer for a few reasons:

– While still plastic, the casing is more attractive to me in the white/black shell. It also feels more substantial and planted, so it doesn’t seem to be as prone to tilting over. If this becomes an issue, I may stick some velcro tape to attach it to my desk.

– There are 7 lights that light up next to each corresponding port to indicate when it’s plugged in. The blue light is bright but not too distracting and lets me know that things are plugged in properly.

– The USB cable is longer on this version (the 4-port was definitely made for laptops) and is just the right length to go from the back of my PC to where I need it on my desk.

Both the power and USB cables plug into the body and have a snug fit, it doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall out even when I pull against it to the limits of the USB cable’s length.

By being a powered hub, I can also feel comfortable that each of the USB ports are being supplied enough power to charge/power my peripherals. I haven’t tried the fast 2.1A charging port since I charge my iPad upstairs with its included charger.

The same HD Tune error scan test on the same Sandisk USB stick passed on the first try on all 7 ports. I plugged 2x Silicon Power A80 1TB drives and the Sandisk Extreme USB stick and ran the HD Tune read test one at a time until all three were being benchmarked at the same time. This is where I found that the hub seems to max out at around 250MB/s for concurrent transfers. I don’t have a 2.5″ enclosure and a free SSD to try to see if a single connection can go any faster but this will restrict you to using only 2 (maybe 3) external USB 3.0 hard drives before they start to affect each other’s sequential read speeds. In practice, if you’re transferring small files, your hard drives won’t reach their max speeds and you should be able to have more drives connected concurrently. I’ll upload photos of the HD Tune benchmarks running at the same time to illustrate my point.

Overall though, despite seeing a bottleneck in transfer speeds, this hub works really well, gives me more ports, and lets me connect my drives, card reader, USB sticks on my desk instead of the front of my PC. Since I’ve accidentally turned around and kicked my USB drive before while it was connected, this hub definitely adds a lot of convenience in a compact package.

Update 3/11/14
Just wanted to update and say that I’m loving that this hub is long and skinny with ports facing upwards rather than short and wide with ports to the side like many other hubs. This hub saves me a ton of space width-wise on my desk which allows me to put more things within reach. A minor yet significant productivity booster!

This is a perfect solution if you use a laptop in the office.

The 7th USB port is the dedicated “charging port”. With a quick test on my Samsung Galaxy Note8 the 7th port does NOT provide “Fast Charging” per say (it simply says “Charging”), However, the charging speed’s are noticeably faster than traditional laptop USB hub charging. For example: Within about 10-20 Minutes of charging my Note8 went from 83% to 98%.

While charging quickly in the 7th USB hub the Note8 still connects to my laptop and I am able to transfer files like normal or even use SideSync to use the phone while working on my monitors.

The build quality is good, it has a nice matte texture/finish on the sides and bottom (a more rubbery feel) which ensures that this Hub will not slide around your desk or set up. The usb line is good enough for a laptop office set up but may be a bit on the short side for others. The power cable that is included as well is nice and long.

Total of 7 USB ports (7th being a charging port combo) is perfect for my needs.

Thank’s to the Hubs dedicated power outlet plug I don’t need to rely on my laptop’s power.
I work on a lot of media content: blogging, write ups, video edits via Adobe PP/AE,and also Photoshop. My razerblade laptop become’s quite hot during these sessions and so to have individually powered hubs helps me connect USB fan’s and laptop coolers that help with temperatures as well as connecting a USB Ethernet adapter, my USB SD Card reader, and to quickly charge my phone all at the same time.

I highly recommend this product.

This is a really nice. I’m still using an old Oculus CV1 and although I still love the headset, hooking it up is a nightmare. 2 sensors and a headset and they all require USB 3. I also have the wire on a pully system meaning I also need extension cables for all of this to reach my PC. I don’t know if was the length of the cables, or just not enough power coming from all of these USB ports on my PC, but I was constantly having issues. Sometimes the sensors would be seen as USB 2.0, or I’d get a blank screen all of a sudden, or sometimes my entire PC would just hard lock. Long story short this hub has solved all of these issues, it’s nothing but smooth VR gaming now. I plug the 2 sensors and the headset into this hub, with just 1 extension connecting the hub to the PC which is so much cleaner. It’s advised not to use a hub.. but idk this just works and fixed all my issues. Highly recommended. If I had any complaints it would just be that USB cable is pretty short, like less than 3ft long. Not a huge deal but something to note. It’s also pretty expensive but it is top quality. It was also WAY less expensive than buying a nice PCIE USB card

Never enough USB ports on a computer. I added this to my IMAC mini and filled the connections. Everything has worked perfectly. Very compact device.