Ultra Stackables - Expandable USB Peripherals - Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Ultra Stackables - Installation
Installation is pretty simple, if you can plug USB cables in, your overqualified for the job. As you can see there are a few cables at the back of the stack, but its a whole lot less than you'd have otherwise and they are quite manageable.
There isn't much else to say about the installation, its simple and its easy to add another device in the future.
Ultra Stackables - Final Thoughts
The idea of being able to stack all your external USB devices all together and eliminate clutter is something that anyone with more than one external device attached at the same time has probably dreamed about, and Ultra has done something to help you out.
The power distribution unit is a great idea, and really helps eliminate a ton of power cables and is really the core of the whole Ultra Stackables line of products.
The USB Card reader and USB hub is also very useful and helps eliminate even more cables. When I first received these products I thought the card reader and hub combo would probably be the least useful, but after having it all hooked up, I quickly realized how handy it was.
The Hard drive enclosures are pretty much your standard enclosure, and we were able to test both the IDE as well as the SATA enclosures. Both of these enclosures performed as I expected and both were easy to install the hard drive into, and throughout all the testing I experienced no problems whatsoever. The SATA drive enclosure that we tested has both USB 2.0 as well as eSATA connections, which is a nice feature to have as more and more motherboards have built-in eSATA connections on the back and its always nice to have options in the future if you don't need it right now.
Now the ability to stack all these external enclosures on top of each other to make a nice neat pile of USB devices is sure handy, but that also comes with a price and if you plan on making a USB device tower, its going to get expensive. The power distribution center is the most expensive unit, and retails in the 60-80 dollar range. The Hard drive enclosures and card reader retail in the 35-50 dollar range. Now you might be able to search around on the internet and find other hard drive enclosures for a lower price, but the extra couple dollars you will spend is well worth it to keep all your USB external devices in a nice neat stack.
At the end of the day I can very easily award the Ultra Stackables our Top Pick award, all 4 stackables we tested worked great and without any problems, and being able to stack all your external USB devices into a neat stack, is easily worth the pricetag.
Pros:
- Elimates Clutter
- Expandable
- Works together Flawlessly
Cons:
- None
I'd like to thank Ultra for allowing us to review the Ultra Stackables. If you have any questions, comments, or general feedback, please leave it at the "Comments" link below.
