> 2. Don’t expect to run any USB hubs behind any of the USB ports on this dock whatsoever... even if the downstream hub is only powering wimpy devices like wireless mouse dongles. You might not have this problem if you plug the hub into the dock’s extra Thunderbolt port...
I have this device and don't have this problem? I have a couple of self-powered hubs downstream of this thing and have plugged them into the USB-A-shaped ports on the back.
I don't have any downstream Thunderbolt devices plugged into this thing. Maybe that's the major difference between my setup and the author's? (Or maybe I'm running better firmware on this thing than he is?)
I haven't tried any hubs, but my problem was using a 2.5 Gbps USB Ethernet controller off of one of the Fresco Logic USB ports (the front 5 Gbps ones or the rear right-hand 3 USB-A ports), after a few hours it would drop. I thought the cheap USB adapter was bad, replaced it, same thing.
I found this blog post, switched to one of the ASMedia ports (the rear 10 Gbps USB-C port or the most left-hand USB-A port) and both of the Ethernet controllers are rock-solid now.
I now have it in the Thunderbolt port which ekes out another 100 Mbps or so compared to the ASMedia USB ports.
The blog post is probably a bit sensationalistic but I still can't recommend the dock to anyone when half the ports on it are flakey, especially at that price.
Sounds like I should plug the subset of the ports that are on that Fresco Logic controller so that I don't unwittingly use them at some point in the distant future.
> ...I still can't recommend the dock to anyone when half the ports on it are flakey, especially at that price.
This is understandable.
However, I'm pleased with my purchase and I'm only using the built-in Ethernet port, the built-in DisplayPort port, and a couple of USB ports. If it lasts me five years, I will have paid ~60 USD per year, which I think is a bargain when you compare it to fighting with something that's flaky no matter what you do, or just fails after a year or two... requiring you to go on the hunt for a new "dock".
Honestly, I think it's pretty damn stupid to have so many USB ports on the thing to begin with. Decent USB hubs are inexpensive; remove all but one or two of the USB ports and use now-spare bandwidth to put additional DisplayPort ports on the thing!
