Teardown: A Generic 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub That Wasn't

Post by matthewowen » Thu, Jul 16, 2026, 1:10 PM UTC

mrngld wrote: post #31

bayindirh wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I managed to get a couple of good ones. While they're more like docking stations, Kingston's, now discontinued, Nucleum and UGreen's wares are all good. If you go higher level, of course there's Thunderbolt docks, but you can't make them cheaply, so they're generally good.

I've yet to come across truly reliable Thunderbolt 3 and above stations. Seems like every brand has, like this 7 port wonder in the article, lots of 5 star reviews. When you dig deep into the weeds of the reviews, Reddit, user forums, etc., you find the undercurrent of people who actually bother to check the stats reported by their OS, or have disconnect issues, etc, etc. I'm somewhat sympathetic because from what I…

Post by namero999 » Thu, Jul 16, 2026, 1:26 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #25

avhception wrote: post #7

Well, of course there is the "buy cheap, get trash, duh!" talking point. But if I pay more, who's to say I'll get a better product? The OEM or some middleman or whoever might just pocket the difference and push crap anyway. Well-known brands have done this as well, either intentionally or because they got shafted by their supplier as well.

The other day my bicycle light gave out, so I took it apart - was not the most expensive option, but also not the cheapest. It was advertised as having a 2600mAh battery, but when I opened it up, inside there was a 1700mAh cell. Also no sign of purported weatherproofing, as the lens was not even glued in. I have a 2000mAh cell in the same form factor (approximately 500Wh/l, so believable) on its way from China, which…

Post by pixl97 » Thu, Jul 16, 2026, 1:52 PM UTC

namero999 wrote: post #53

Tade0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other day my bicycle light gave out, so I took it apart - was not the most expensive option, but also not the cheapest. It was advertised as having a 2600mAh battery, but when I opened it up, inside there was a 1700mAh cell. Also no sign of purported weatherproofing, as the lens was not even glued in. I have a 2000mAh cell in the same form factor (approximately 500Wh/l, so believable) on its way from China, which…

Because more is better. Seriously, the game they play is at this point ludicrous. I saw 18650 cell being advertised through the years as 2500mAh, to 3500mAh (still reasonable/credible), then suppliers started to one-up each other and you could see 5000mAh, 9000mAh, 9999mAh up to, I kid you not, 1.000.000mAh. If I had no clue, of course I would by the 1KAh single cell XD

Post by MegaDeKay » Thu, Jul 16, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

jamesnorden wrote: post #32

There's a lot of "USB 3.0 hubs" on the market that have only one 3.0 port, I went back and forth buying/returning a lot on Amazon before giving up on getting one that had all 3.0 ports.

Post by mixermachine » Thu, Jul 16, 2026, 2:01 PM UTC

muvlon wrote: post #29

avhception wrote: post #7

Well, of course there is the "buy cheap, get trash, duh!" talking point. But if I pay more, who's to say I'll get a better product? The OEM or some middleman or whoever might just pocket the difference and push crap anyway. Well-known brands have done this as well, either intentionally or because they got shafted by their supplier as well.

I've definitely realized this in a couple of markets: Buy cheap, get trash. Buy expensive, get expensive trash with better marketing. Working with power tools from various brands has made me realize they all cheap out in the same ways. Plastic gears where there used to be metal, undersized motor drivers that fry themselves under sustained load, trigger switches that start misbehaving or die completely after a few mon…