Belkin V Caldigit thunderbolt dock

I'd take Caldigit dock solution over Belkin, why?

--Belkin was caught with bribed reviews on Amazon/NewEgg a few years back, I think twice before buying any products from them--this led to Amazon/NewEgg allowing customers to display "purchased on Amazon/NewEgg" to balance out the possible outside purchasers.
--Belkin has a mixed track record of product QA/QC, back during the Bondi iMac era they made stackable port replicators which could be stacked on top of their USB hubs... great concept, sloppy quality and their replicators would randomly drop dead for unknown power draw spikes even with wall powered devices(flatbed scanner, etc). Some of their modern USB 2.0 port replicators have suffered similar "stupid" flaws may it be power related or design/chipset flaws. I'd wait for a revision "B" model of the Thunderbolt Dock or wait a few days/weeks to see what type of customer reviews hit the net.
--Product warranty while better than other makers, it can be a life saver but if a model is problematic you could be in for a few RMAs.

Don't take this as an all out Belkin bashing, their cables, 7 port hubs and portable hubs are good, some of the attempts at port replicators have been disasters. I hope Belkin can prove me wrong this time, twice burned I'm not going to risk getting a 3rd headache... if that happened I'd end up quoting Mike Krukow

 

I didn't know that the Caldigit one was shipping - their website says "coming soon".

I guess it depends what is most important to you: Firewire and an extra USB3 (Belkin), or HDMI and a lower price (Caldigit).

Before going for the Caldigit, I'd want to see a review or tech spec that confirmed whether or not having the HDMI port prevents you from connecting a DP monitor or adapter to the second Thunderbolt port. I doubt that you'll be able to use both at the same time (if you can, that would be a great plus).

Personally, having waited this long, I'd wait a bit longer to see how the Sonnet turns out. That's much closer to my idea of what a Thunderbolt dock should be.

 

Get the Caldigit

I asked Caldigit and they say their USB ports are powered. I read that the Belkin unit does NOT have powered USB ports. So it is the Caldigit for me.

 

this caldigit hub looks interesting. i have a 2012 non retina, so one thunderbolt out.
could the caldigit allow me to plug in my current external monitor via mini dp, and another monitor via hdmi?

 

I've been using the Belkin for a couple of weeks & all is good.
Fortunately some OS X updates to the Thunderbolt drivers/ firmware in the past two weeks fixed some initial glitches.
As an audio pro the FW800 port is useful for my audio interface & potentially legacy FW HD's with archive data on.

 

Well first look at the differences:

1. Price: Caldigit $199 - Belkin $299
2. HDMI(Caldigit) or FireWire(Belkin) 800 port
3. Supported Sytems: Caldigit s all thunderbolt enabled computer. Belikn is listed as compatible with MacBook Airs and Pros only. MacBooks only.

If you don't need the FireWire port, why pay the Belkin tax? Also one of the USB ports on the Caldigit is front facing as is the audio in and out jacks.

Between those 2, I'd lean towards the Caldigit. However the Sonnet unit while more money than either, has features that I'd want and would actually get that when I need a thunderbolt dock.

For those that need an optical drive even if it's for occasional use and the ability to put a HD or SSD inside the Sonnet would mean that I have one box (and power cord) instead of three on my desk.

 

What about Sonnet's Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock? I see that it is not shipping until later in the summer but it does potentially offer some good features.



http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echo15thunderboltdock.html

 

Except it's so damn uglyyyyyyy.....

 

According the the Belkin website, the USB ports are powered.

 

huge, thats what you wanted to say

 

Size does matter....

 

thats what she said

 

There's also this from Sunix: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/thunderbolt-hdd-blu-ray-dock,15926.html

...big plusses over the Sonnet seem to be SPDIF sound, a blu-ray writer and a hot-swap hard drive. However, those pictures look like CG renders to me, and they're talking about Q4... I also suspect that the eSATA on the Sonnet could open up new possibilities if you want more external storage.

I'd say the Sunix is uglierer by a mile.

At least the Sonnet is fairly minimalist (maybe they'll decide to produce a silver/white version with neutral-coloured connectors for Mac users - although its quite nice to be able to see which is the headphone socket.

These obviously won't appeal to people who just want USB3, but given the price overhead of any Thunderbolt enclosure with daisy-chain socket, plus a TB cable, I think it makes sense to have a dock that includes the kitchen sink.

 

It's not ugly. And when you consider that for some people it will be a Thunderbolt dock, external hard drive and optical drive, it's down right pretty compared to having 3 devices and cables on your desk.

Also if there is no FireWire that will be a deal breaker for some people.

 

this will never get released , the company scraps projects all the time.

i emailed them and they had no idea when it will be released , just that i can add my name to the list when its released they will email me.

 

I have the Belkin and it s working fine, The USB ports are definitely powered. The problem with the Belkin is that the USB3 ports are only half-speed; 2.5Gbps instead of 5Gbps. This is a show stopper if you plan to connect USB3 RAID solutions or SATA III SSD's. If you are just using single or 2-drive HDD peripherals, it doesn't really matter.

The Caldigit is $100 cheaper, has 5Gbps USB ports according to Caldigit and trades the FW800 ports for an HDMI port. It seems a little unclear at this point what the HDMI ports can do simultaneously with a MDP display on the TB port (if it works at all in that case). I believe it may be an alternative port to connect a display, but you are still limited to a single display per TB channel.

Assuming you don't need FW, the Caldigit seems a better and cheaper solution, assuming it works as advertised.

 

Of course, if you are willing to end the thunderbolt chain, an apple thunderbolt to FireWire adapter could be added after the caldiget hub as well.

I preordered, mostly to add USB 3 support to my USB 2 2011 iMac.

 

That's a shame. This looked like a really good solution for what it claims to offer.

 

to answer the video question.

this dock can run TWO DISPLAYS(one hdmi + 1 thunderbolt) at a time, a very key feature.

its right in the FAQ

http://www.caldigit.com/thunderboltstation/faq.asp

 

I thought I had seen some back and forth on that somewhere, but that seems to answer it pretty definitively.

 

my dock should be arriving next week , i will post a mini review on it in case anyone is interested.

 

won't work with dvi and HDMI monitor...

It can take one thunderbolt display (like apple's display) AND a HDMI or a DVI with a mini display port adaptor, but NOT both. So, unless one of your monitors is the Apple Thunderbolt one, you can't have two monitors.

I was soooooooooooooooooooo bummed when I read this.

http://www.caldigit.com/thunderboltstation/faq.asp