Ostent 4 USB Port Hub External Splitter Expansion Adapter Stand

Hardware Type: USB Hub

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Review:

The Ostent 4 USB Port Hub External Splitter Expansion Adapter Stand, from here on out simply referred to as the Ostent USB Hub Stand because holy hell, that is a mouthful, is a USB hub for the Nintendo Switch whose main selling point is its form factor – it is designed so that the official Nintendo Switch Dock can be nestled inside it, in theory expanding the ports that the Switch Dock offers without taking up any significant additional space on your counter top. Especially for those worried about third-party Switch Docks damaging their Switch, this seems like an all-around great upgrade, right?

However, that’s not to say that the Ostent USB Hub Stand is small – compared to some other USB hubs on the market, it’s fairly sizeable, with a footprint of 7 7/8″ x 2 3/4″, with a height of 1 1/2″, not counting the cable coming out of one end of the thing. In other words, if you don’t plan on using this in conjunction with Nintendo’s official Switch Dock, there’s very little point to getting one.

However, if you’re fitting a Switch Dock into this hub stand, you’ll find it snuggles neatly into the hub stand, although not so much that they stay together when lifting them up. Also, the four rubberized pads at the corners of the device do a good job to stop the thing from sliding around, and the overall form factor when the two are together is such that one might not even notice this decide when a Switch Dock sits on top of it.

However, there are a few oddities to the Ostent USB Hub Stand. Firstly, the attached cable in question is only long enough to loop up into the port on the front of the dock, in a configuration that looks a tad ungainly. Also, while the Amazon page for the hub stand points out that an external USB power adapter can be used to charge powered devices, it fails to mention that there is no such power adapter in the box, meaning that if you’re looking to use something that requires a lot of power with this USB hub, you’ll need to look into getting an AC adapter with the right design and voltage. Not exactly convenient. Having said that, I found that even without the adapter, I was able to connect and charge multiple controllers just fine.

However, there is one problem that I noticed when I started using this device that I actually had to figure out through trial and error was an issue caused by the hub stand. I found that with this device plugged into the Nintendo Switch Dock, every now and then it would cause interference with my controllers, causing them to repeatedly cut in and out. This happened with multiple wireless controllers that weren’t even connected to the hub stand, and it required me to restart the Switch every time it happened to get the problem to stop happening.

I can put up with a somewhat inelegant design, and I don’t mind too terribly if this thing didn’t come with parts I evidently don’t need anyway, but I simply cannot use a device that repeatedly interferes with my gameplay like the Ostent USB Hub Stand does. As such, I simply cannot recommend this device. Do not buy it.

tl;dr – The Ostent 4 USB Port Hub External Splitter Expansion Adapter Stand is a USB hub that your official Nintendo Switch Dock nestles inside. Unfortunately, in addition to some other minor issues, having this device connected to your dock interferes with the operation of your controllers, making them repeatedly cut in and out. No USB hub should interfere with gameplay, and as such you should absolutely avoid this one.

Grade: D

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