Solid performer, good value, but be aware of what resolutions and displays it can support.
[Updated 2021/10/02 to reflect a possible product change:I bought another of this exact model for someone else to use. It works just as well as the original, but the ethernet adapter chip is now an ASIX AX88179. It works just fine, and neither I nor the user have noticed any problems with it, but I wanted to make that info available just in case it is important to a potential purchaser. I’m assuming the reason for the change was a lack of component availability, but I have no way of knowing for certain. ]I’m going to go into a fair bit of detail in this review. I get questions about Type C hubs generally, and about a UTechSmart 6-in-1 that I bought last year (when people see me using it with my Pocket 2). I use that hub just about every day and it has been very reliable. So like that one, I thought if I put everything into a review I can just point people to it in the future.TL;DR:This hub packs a lot of features into a small package. As a result this is a complex device composed of multiple chips from different vendors, and it may not behave as you initially expect. Any device like this is going to have this characteristic. If you need two separate 4k displays, or a 4k display and any other display, then you may want to consider the newer version of this item instead. It does dual (extended) 1080p60 well. If your needs fit within its capabilities, it is a good choice. Personally, I’m really happy with it, and will probably keep it connected in my office.Design and Use Philosophy:This is also a class of device that can be described as ‘jack of all trades, master of none.’ Whether you take it with you or leave it on a desk, it is very useful to have only one cable that handles everything. But the trade off for that capability is that a single cable has to handle all of the power and data requirements for those functions. Personally, I think this is a worthy trade-off for having all these features in a single device with a single (non proprietary!) cable. I also think it’s a good value at this price.Construction:It is of the same design as the previous 6 in 1 hub, though about 50% larger. It has a seamless extruded aluminum shell that has either been anodized or has some kind of light PVD coating. I’m not expert enough to be confident that I can tell the difference by feel. I can say that it doesn’t scratch easily. Over the last 8 months I haven’t exactly babied the previous hub from this manufacturer, and it still looks brand new. It comes with a simple fabric carry bag, which seems kinda pointless unless you really care about scratches. I doubt I’ll bother using the bag for the new hub. The aluminum shell seems to do a good job of conducting heat. It stays at about 38-40 C without any noticeable hot spots. I haven’t tried to open it. The cable insulation seems to strike a good balance between flexibility and stiffness. It bends well enough that cable tension doesn’t pull the hub around. I’m not worried that the cable will be damaged from kinking when I just toss it into a bag with other stuff. This was initially a concern since the cable is permanently attached.USB Type C has many optional features and interconnections with other standards (USB 3.2, Thunderbolt 3, Power Delivery, DisplayPort, upcoming USB 4) to the point that trying to figure out compatibility and capability can be intimidating. Many parts of the spec are optional. The extra hardware added to this device can have its own issues or interactions with the above-mentioned standards.A Type C connection has four high-speed serial links, or ‘lanes’ plus a legacy USB 2.0 connection. The lanes can be used for different functions. USB 3.1 Gen 1 requires two lanes. Faster modes (not supported by this hub) use all four. Some other video output devices use all four lanes, leaving only USB 2.0 for everything else. There are other pins in the connector for power, etc.This is a USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Via Labs VL817) device, so 5 Gb/s bandwidth is shared between the USB ports, the Ethernet port (Realtek RTL8153), and the SD card reader (USB 2.0). Some Type C hubs will use the dedicated USB 2.0 channel for the USB 2 ports instead of just hanging them off the internal USB 3.1 hub. I don’t know if this device does that, and if it can it may require host device support to do it.The device uses the remaining two lanes for video out via Multi-Stream Transport (MST). MST is a DisplayPort standard that allows multiple displays to be multiplexed into one DP data stream. So each display is driven by your GPU. There are no DisplayLink chips in this hub. Ignore the graphic on the product page showing the display chip is a LX9823. I contacted the manufacturer, and they told me that it uses a Synaptics VMM3332BJG. This chip takes in a DisplayPort 1.2a MST signal and can output one DP 1.2/DP++, one HDMI 1.4b, and one VGA port (mirrored). DP++ (aka dual-mode) is a DisplayPort mode that basically changes the output pins to match the HDMI spec. DP++ ver. 1.1 can output up to 4k30. So I think that this one chip is handling all three outputs without any other intermediaries. Only having two lanes for video means that the available bandwidth is half what it would normally be for a given data rate. DisplayPort has different data rates in the spec. When two DP devices are connected, they attempt to connect at the fastest speed they can both support over the cable between them, and fall back to slower ones if needed. The fastest data rate supported by DisplayPort 1.2 is HBR2.Testing:Laptops (year, cpu, gpu, os)(OS up to date, latest drivers, etc.):GPD Pocket 2 (2018, m3-8100y, uhd 615, Win10 LTSC 1809)LG Gram 15 (2016, i7-6500u, hd 520, Win 10 Home 1909)Lenovo Thinkpad E495 (2019, Ryzen 7 3700u, Vega 10, Win 10 Pro 1909)Displays (native res):Dell W3706MC (768p)Dell S2240L(1080p)Dell U2713HM (1440p)Samsung UN50NU6950 (4K)Display Testing (tl;dr:Cannot have two 4k30 displays in extend mode):According to the DisplayPort spec, MST allows the displays to have different resolutions. Testing with the above laptops on the above monitors, I could connect one display at 4k30, or one display at 1440p60, or two displays at 1080p60, or two displays with one 1080p60 and one 768p60. When I connected one display at 4k or 1440 and plugged in a second 1080 display, the first display dropped down to 1080p60. This behavior is consistent across all three laptops. This limitation is documented in both the product page and the manual where they state the it supports single or duplicate 4k30 on Macbooks but only a single 4k30 on Windows. While both HDMI ports can technically output 4k30, you will not be able to have a true dual 4k30 display (i.e. in extended mode).Warning, math:The DP alt-mode on this hub only has two lanes, since the hub reserves the other two high-speed lanes for USB 3.1.  So with HBR2 there is 8.64 Gb/s throughput after overhead is removed.  This is enough for one 4k30 (6.2 Gb/s), one 1440p60 (5.6 Gb/s) or two 1080p60 (2×3.2 Gb/s).  This matches the behavior I have observed: I can plug in one display and get full resolution, but as soon as I plug in the second (1080p) the first display drops to 1080p as well.  At least it falls back gracefully and doesn’t just stop working or something.One of the laptops I have tested it with is an AMD Ryzen with a Vega iGPU, and the AMD driver software reports the link speed as 5.4 Gbps x 2 lanes.  This matches HBR2’s raw data rate (incl. overhead). I don’t know how to see the DisplayPort link speed when using an intel iGPU (Intel Graphics Command Center, latest version), so I can’t check those.  I don’t have any computers with both a nvidia gpu and a Type C port.  Testing this is difficult, since I’m not sure how to monitor the link speed. The hub would need to be able to connect at HBR3 to support 2x4k30 displays in extended mode (12.96 Gb/s throughput to support 2×6.2 Gb/s displays). I assume that this link rate is only between the laptop’s type C port and the hub’s MST chip.  I’m assuming that once the chip demuxes the datastream and converts it to HDMI, the link rate is no longer a concern.  I’m making several assumptions here, and could easily be wrong.  I’m learning as I go. Another way one might generally get higher performance over DisplayPort is to use ver 1.4 or higher devices that support Display Stream Compression. Since this hub is a DP 1.2 device, it doesn’t support that.DisplayPort alt-mode over USB Type C is part of the 1.4 spec, so one might assume that it should support the HBR3 data rate.  But this is an optional part of the specification, and it not required.Everything else about the hub performs as advertised, and the various video capabilities are well documented for a device at this price point.VGA:VGA output was as good as can be expected when pushed to 1080p. It was crisp and readable, but not as sharp as a digital signal (it never is). If the vga cable housing is oversize it may block the Ethernet port, but most cables won’t do so.Ethernet (RTL8153):The latest drivers from Realtek really help with stability under max load. Don’t just use whatever driver Windows auto-installs for you. With the right drivers, this chip is a solid performer, saturating a gigabit connection under Windows.USB ports:It has two USB 3.1 gen 1 and two USB 2.0 ports. All testing was done while the hub was also connected to one or more displays.I ran speed tests on usb3 with a couple different sata3 ssds in a generic USB adapter. Each disk performed as fast when connected to the hub as when directly connected to a laptop’s usb port. Since the hub’s USB controller always has two lanes assigned to it, I’d expect full performance at all times, regardless of how many displays are also connected.SD card reader test (USB 2.0)I tested a Sandisk SDSQXA1-256G-GN6MA, which can do 161 MB/s read and 76 MB/s write when using a Sandisk Mobilemate reader. (Some Sandisk readers will run at a faster speed than the standard UHS104 if the card supports it.) I need not have bothered using my fastest card to test, as the reader seems to only use USB 2.0. It tested at 30MB/s write and 40 MB/s read. The reader reports that it is USB 3 capable, but doesn’t connect at that speed. I have another card that I like to test readers with, as for some reason half the card readers I own refuse to see it. It is a Sandisk Extreme 60MB/s SD card. The hub’s reader saw it every time.Documentation:The included manual is actually pretty good, and is up front about the hub’s capabilities and limitations incl. device incompatibilities.Triple display is kind of a stretch here, since the third output is a mirror. But I don’t consider it deceptive, since the Mfr. is very up front about this limitation and includes examples in the manual, product page, and product images for all different video output configurations.Power consumption:The manual states 8W is consumed by the hub, with a max of 87W input, leaving up to 75W for pass-through @14.5-20V. I couldn’t test this part, I don’t have a laptop that charges faster than 60w over USB C. I tested the hub’s consumption with a Type C in-line power meter while powering the hub from the laptop.1.8W with one display connected.3.3W with one display and ethernet.There was a negligible power increase with a second display or while transferring files over ethernet. So I think the 8W official power consumption is including the max power available to USB devices plugged into the hub. So be careful with how much you plug in at once, just as with a regular un-powered USB hub. Even while there is a power adapter plugged in to the hub.I also tested how much power it would pass through to the host laptop. I tested this using the Lenovo laptop listed above and the factory power adapter. When plugged directly into the laptop, it charged at 60W. When the hub was used, total power drawn from the adapter fell to 55W. Odd. Here’s the layout:AC adapter -> power meter -> hub -> laptop.I don’t have the equipment to test further, and a sample size of one isn’t exactly definitive.Conclusion (Congrats to you if you actually read this far!):It’s a good value for the price, if you need the features it provides. It can work well as a desk-bound docking station or as a travel adapter. Make sure that the feature set will match your needs, as there are other hubs out there with different capabilities. If you need fewer features and more portability, this manufacturer’s 6 in 1 hub is both smaller and cheaper. If you need more or higher resolution video output you may want to look for a device that uses a newer version of the DisplayPort spec, such as the updated version mentioned below.Updated version:Ironically, as I was writing this review I noticed that the manufacturer has just introduced an updated version (12-in-1) with 3 HDMI outputs. One of the graphics shows a VMM5310 and a VMM3332.  The VMM5310 is a newer Synaptics video interface chip that supports a DP 1.4 (HBR3) input, a DP 1.4/DP++ output, and two HDMI 2.0b outputs. I’m assuming the DP output is connected to the input of the VMM3332, and that chip just converts it to HDMI. That design could also work without the VMM3332 at all if the third HDMI port is run using the DP++ mode of the VMM5310. So there may be a limitation with designing it that way. If the laptop or other device that you plan to use with this hub only supports DP 1.2, there is less reason to buy the updated hub, since you won’t be able to use the higher data rates anyway. Your best bet at that point would be to buy a hub that uses all four lanes for video, instead of just two.

Versatile Docking Station
I purchased this docking station as a part of my new home office configuration. My criteria was functionality, versatility, durability and cost. After much research and reviews I decided on this product. My original goal was just to connect my basic hardware for home office work purposes. That was a laptop and monitor. After having used it and since this year (2020) and working from home, I’ve expanded my goals to configure a high productivity power home/work workstation. This includes connecting different devices (laptops, tablet, dual monitors, Bluetooth). The hub is working well with my configuration and no compatibility issues so far.My hardware:Laptop: Dell and Lenovo (USB 3.0)Monitors: Dell Ultrasharp 25″ (HDMI)Table: Samsung Galaxy (USB 3.0)Pros:1) Versatility and usability.2) Price.Cons:1) I didn’t have a need for the USB-C power port. At least not yet with the hardware that I have.2) I didn’t have need to the VGA port. Could use for additional USB.3) I don’t use SD that much any more. Could use for additional USB.4) Hub unit does get warm.What I haven’t tested yet.1) I haven’t tested Ultra-HD/4k action video or video gaming display performance.Wish List:1) Switchable USB ports.Overall, a good hub. I would recommend.

Came in a pretty beat up package that was put in an uncushioned envelope. Works for now, so that’s good, I guess. We’ll see how long it lasts.

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