Review of CNet 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub

CNet 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub

A low end piece of rubbish which has been unreliable since day one. You are better off getting no-name stuff on eBay

I got this hub over a year ago. It was the cheapest USB hub I could find at slightly over £10 if memory serves.

It is a chunky box with semi-transparent casing. It comes with a PSU and cable for connection to PC.

Whilst it does the core job it has three basic problems:

• The power connector is wobbly
• It gets incredibly hot and so should not be stacked
• It is unreliable, losing connectivity to daisy-chained hubs all the time.

I’ve just ordered a no-name 7-port hub off eBay for less than half of what I paid for this CNet. Avoid.

 

Rated 2/5 on Sep 03 2007 by Mr C
Review Tags: dabs, hub, usb, usb 2.0
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Review of VR3 VRFM8 FM Transmitter

VR3 VRFM8 FM Transmitter

I bought the precursor to this over three years ago on eBay. Whilst it worked ok, the range of channels was not good enough and I suffered constant interference with radio stations as I drove around.

I replaced it about two years ago with this updated model. Its purpose is to allow you to play back music/podcasts through your car stereo. It plugs into your cigarette lighter and provides a USB connection and 2.5mm jack. A simple LED display shows the transmit frequency and there are buttons for channel, song up/down, play/pause. Some of those are overloaded e.g. volume up/down.

The USB interface works fine with most thumbdrives but takes forever to scan anything big. The audio jack comes with an adapter cable for 2.5mm to 3.5mm. I have used it with various music players, PDAs and mobile phones and it works fine.

Biggest problem continues to be the lack of channel selection. I spend an inordinate amount of time changing channel as I drive to avoid interference. The quality is quite low and is better suited to voice podcasts than music. Also the volume is low too (and only adjustable for USB) so you really have to crank it up on the radio itself which increases the perceived noise.

I’ve just ordered a generic no-name replacement off eBay which has fewer features but 200 channels. I hope it works better. In an ideal world I’d have an aux-in on my car stereo!

Rated 3/5 on Sep 03 2007 by Mr C
Review Tags: car, ice, ipod, mp3, stereo, usb, vr3
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