I’ve taken a look at many USB hubs big and small, but none quite like what I have today, it’s essentially a few short USB cables connected to a single cable, making it easy to attach your USB devices. It’s called the USB Octopus Cable 4-Port Hub but with the name Octopus you might think it has eight connections, but it doesn’t only four.. go figure…

Anyway, the idea behind it is to allow easy access to the connections for whatever you might want to connect to your USB ports and that it does. Normal hubs are usually square and hard, and with little space between the actual USB connections sometimes not allowing you to connect larger USB drives and other devices at the same time. This product though eliminates any space issues, and from my testing it’s very close to using a straight USB connection.

USB Octopus 2.0 Cable 4-Port Hub

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Sponsor: USBFever

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

USB Octopus 2.0 Cable 4-Port Hub from USBFever

Product Code#:AL164-A808

Price: $11.99

Highlights:

How should this product classified? basically it is an cable adapter, but it has 4 USB ports at one of the sides, So it is a Hub! If it is a Hub, is it a little bit out of norm that it is not bulky, it is so soft and flexible!

Definitely, it is a Hub, just that the extended ports are made of cable leaning out of the main body that made it more flexible when in use. Of course, if you would like to take it as a cable adapter, then it is! Just that it is more than a cable adapter.

Features:

– Flexible and soft, not longer bulky

– Plug and Play.

– An innovative design of Cable of USB Hub

– USB 2.0 specification compliant

– Giving altogether 4 ports (one USB A Jack to 4 USB A Plug)!

Supports:

– Windows 98 / 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP

Specifications:

– Total length: 24cm approx.

– Weight: 67g approx.

Package Contents:

– USB 2.0 Octopus Cable 4-Port Hub x 1

A Better Look at Things

:

For whatever reason the top portion of my samples packaging was chopped off. This happens sometimes when you get samples for review, but for the most part the retail package is intact and we can make out all of the important details.

There’s not much to really look at with this product, it has one male USB connection on one side, and four female USB connections on the other. It’s your basic black in color, and it feels sturdy and well made, so it should easy handle being tossed around and transported.

Installation, Testing and Comparison

There is virtually no installation, just plug it into an available USB port and then plug your stuff into the other end, simple easy to do, no drivers needed. There are no LEDs on it or anything to indicate it’s working, but then again simple is sometimes better right?

To test it out I took my OCZ 4Gb ATV Turbo USB drive and tested it using HDTach from SimpliSoftware:

Then to compare I tested the OCZ USB Drive while being connected to the USB Octopus Cable Hub to see if there was any difference in speeds while using and not:

As you can see from the two screenshots there is very little difference in the speeds of my OCZ drive, the hub is about one MB/s slower than not using it, in the real world you won’t notice the difference I would think.

And yes you can transfer data between each device hooked to the hub.

One thing I did notice about this product is that it’s fairly hard to connect and disconnect devices from the connectors, this could be considered a good thing or a bad thing, then again you don’t want things easily coming un-connected either…

Summary:

This product is one of the nicer products to review, it’s simple, well made and it does exactly what it’s supposed to do, what more could you ask for in any product?

The idea of the cable style USB connection is a nice added touch that I think some people out there will appreciate greatly. I know I have some hubs that won’t allow me to connect some USB drives while there are other things connected because the connectors are space so closely together, if you’ve ever experienced this problem then you’ll understand and appreciate this cool little gadget.

DragonSteelMods gives the USB Octopus 2.0 Cable 4-Port Hub a 5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.

Pros:

-Small, portable

-Easy to use

-Well made, durable

-Tight fitting connections

Cons:

-Tight fitting connections

I would like to thank USBFever for the chance to review the USB Octopus 2.0 Cable 4-Port Hub and for their continued support of DSM.

Also, if anyone wants this cool little gadget,

 just stop on over HERE and leave a message stating so,

at the end of February I’ll pick someone and send it to them.

Make sure you leave an email address in the contact form so I can get a hold of you!!!

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