Very nice, handy package featuring a USB Hub and Card Readers – Joe
SUMMARY: Very nice, handy package featuring a USB Hub and Card Readers.
The good guys at Vantec were nice enough to send a sample of their Vantec GO 2.0 Card Reader & USB Hub to try out. I have to admit I really like this product – it meets two needs I have for adding USB ports and reading Compact Flash cards for my laptop.
The Vantec GO 2.0 features:
- Compact Flash I & II – 8 MB to 1 G
- Smart Media Card8MB – 128 MB
- Multi Media Card8MB – 128 MB
- Secure Digital Card1 – 6 MB to 512 MB
- IBM Microdrive – 340 MB to 1 GB
- Memory stick Card – 4 MB to 128 MB and PRO Card – 256 MB to 1 GB
- USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports
- Power Transformer (5v, 13 watts) for extra USB power
- USB Cable
- LEDs for power and for each USB hub used
Each slot card slot is independent so you can transfer files from one memory card to another, making file transfers among different memory types a snap.
The USB hubs are fairly close together:
I had no problem with standard connectors, but if you have something larger, you may get interference with an adjacent port.
The back accommodates the power and USB cable:
The Vantec GO 2.0 ships with the power transformer and USB cable:
In additon, there is a small, printed instruction manual and an Install CD for Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Mac OS 9.X and above. One thing I do not like is with Windows ME/XP, the drive icons may be simply listed as “Removable Disk (X)” etc; it would be better if each card slot was identified by type, as in the other OS’s. However, for the cards I tried out, they were identified by name, so this may not be an issue.
This is an extremely worthwhile addition for those of us using flash memory cards and needing extra USB hubs. I used this one with a wireless mouse which uses a USB receiver and for transferring pictures and files from compact flash cards with absolutely no problems. It’s small enough to throw in your travel kit and useful enough to include. Overall, a very handy product.
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