USB-C is already a popular next-generation port, and its usefulness will increase in the future. One of the reasons that the latest iPad Pro earns the name “Pro” is that it uses a USB-C port instead of Apple’s proprietary Lightning port. Because USB-C is an industry standard, accessory manufacturers have a lot more freedom to come up with interesting and useful accessories that work with an iPad Pro. A perfect example of this is a jack-of-all-trades hub, one which turns the single USB-C port into something much more useful.
A few months ago, I reviewed the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub for iPad Pro, an $89 hub that gives you six ports: 3.5mm Audio Jack (for headphones), USB-A (for traditional USB devices), SD Memory Card and Micro SD Memory Card (useful for external storage and also for loading pictures taken when a camera), HDMI (for connecting to an external monitor) and another USB-C port (useful for charging). The Kanex 6-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station is a similar device, offering all of the same ports for $99.95.
Besides the minor price difference, the major difference between this Kanex hub and the HyperDrive hub is the design. Kanex sent me a free review unit for testing purposes, and I’ve been trying it out for about a month. If you are in the market for a device like this, there is a good chance that you are trying to decide between this product and the HyperDrive device, so I’m going to compare the two throughout this review.
Six ports
Let me start by saying that I really love using a hub like this with the iPad Pro. Whether you use the one from HyperDrive, Kanex, or some other manufacturer, it is incredibly useful to be able to carry around just a single device and have almost every port you are likely to need with an iPad Pro. The main omission from both of these devices is an Ethernet port, which you can find on some other hubs that are not made to stay attached to the iPad Pro, such as the $89.99 HyperDrive POWER 9-in-1 USB-C HUB. But given how easy it is to find Wi-Fi, tether to the cellular connection on an iPhone, or use an iPad Pro with built-in cellular, I have not yet been in a situation in which I actually would have used an Ethernet port, plus I like using a hub that stays attached to the iPad Pro instead of dangling off to the side.
The technical specifications of these six ports are very similar on both the Kanex and HyperDrive devices:
- 3.5 mm Audio Jack: same on both
- USB-A: both support high-speed USB 3.1 Gen 1, capable of 5GB/s transfer speed
- USB-C: both support USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 3.0, capable of 5GB/s transfer speed and PD 60W which is more than enough to charge your iPad Pro as fast as possible. I believe that 30W is the most that the current iPad Pro can handle, although you can also use this hub with laptop computers that support more power.
- SD and Micro SD Memory Cards: same on both
- HDMI: Both support 2K/60Hz on the iPad Pro and 4K/30Hz on MacBook. I believe that the HyperDrive also supports 4K/30Hz on the iPad Pro, but I’m not certain of that. The iPad Pro can actually support 4K/60Hz, but you need a dedicated connector to get that. For me, however, none of these specifications make a real difference. I frequently connect my iPad Pro to HDMI to give a presentation, and I’ve never been in a situation where I or anyone in the audience could really tell the difference. Indeed, if you are using a projector, the audience may not even be able to tell the difference between HDMI and VGA.
Having said that, I have noticed one difference. With both devices, I can use the USB-C port to provide power to my iPad Pro when I use a cord connected to the iPad Pro’s USB-C port on one end and a power source on the other end. For example, I might use a USB-to-USB-C cord and then plug the USB end into a traditional USB power adapter, or I might use a USB-C-to-USB-C cord and then use a USB-C power adapter.
However, if I use a USB-C-to-USB-C cord with one end connected to the Kanex device and the other end connected to my iMac, I get an error message telling me “Cannot Use Thunderbolt Accessory” and “Thunderbolt accessories are not supported on this iPad”.
I don’t get this error message when I use the HyperDrive device, and instead, the HyperDrive charges my iPad Pro from my iMac just like it does when I plug the USB-C cord directly into my iPad Pro without going through the HyperDrive. As I workaround with the Kanex hub, I can use a USB-to-USB-C cord and connect to the USB port on my iMac and the USB-C port on the Kanex device, and that lets me charge. But this is a minor annoyance when I am using my iPad Pro next to my iMac and I want to use the Kanex hub.
Other than this isolated issue when charging, I had a lot of success using the Kanex hub with my iPad Pro. I used the USB port to connect an external mouse, I used the Audio Jack to connect wired headphones when I was in a loud environment where my AirPods didn’t work as well (which I suppose would not have been an issue had I been using AirPods Pro with noise-canceling turned on), and I transferred lots of pictures from the SD card I use with my Nikon camera to my iPad Pro, where I could delete the bad ones and make the good ones even better using Photoshop for iPad.
Design
One of the things that I like the most about the HyperDrive hub is that it fits perfectly against the side of the iPad Pro and is essentially the same width. Thus, I can do just about anything with my iPad Pro with the HpeerDrive hub attached and it just works. The Kanex has a different method of attaching to the iPad Pro, and in some situations, I find it awkward to use.
The Kanex hub fits around the corner of the iPad Pro, and a cord comes off of the device which you wrap around and plug in to the USB-C port. The Kanex hub has a nice snug fit against a naked iPad Pro.
If your iPad Pro is in an Apple case — either the Smart Keyboard Folio (which I don’t use) or the regular Smart Folio without a keyboard (which I use every day), you simply remove an insert that attaches magnetically to give the Kanex Hub more space and then the hub has a nice snug fit against the iPad Pro in a case.
If you use a different case for the iPad Pro, these two sizes for the Kanex hub may or may not work for you, but with the Apple cases, it works great.
When you are facing the screen of your iPad Pro, the Kanex device looks good, perhaps even less conspicuous than the HyperDrive hub.
From the back, the Kanex device and its cord bulge out about a half-an-inch or so.
This means that you cannot lay your iPad Pro flat on a table when the Kanex hub is connected. If you do, the iPad Pro will rock back and forth at the two corners like a see-saw. It also means that while you can use the Kanex Hub connected to a Smart Folio when the iPad Pro is fully propped up, it doesn’t work when the iPad Pro is only slightly propped up — the angle that I use when I am writing on the screen with an Apple Pencil or typing on the software keyboard on the iPad Pro screen. The HyperDrive hub doesn’t have this problem.
Conclusion
The Kanex 6-in-1 Multiport works really well as long as you are not encountering any of the problems that I noted above — charging from an iMac using USB-C and placing the iPad Pro completely flat on a table or at a slight angle using the Apple Smart Folio case. My main critique of this device is that I don’t know why to recommend it over the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub for iPad Pro, which doesn’t have any of those issues and is $10 cheaper. I suppose one minor advantage is that the Kanex hub has a very snug fit on the corner of the iPad Pro, so it is slightly less likely to be accidentally pulled off of the iPad Pro, but it’s not like I have ever had a problem with the HyperDrive hub coming off by accident. And depending upon what you are doing with the hub, perhaps some folks would prefer the configuration of the Kanex hub with the HDMI port on the side and the USB port on the top, versus the HyperDrive which has the HDMI port on the top and the USB port on the side. In my uses, however, it has never really mattered where the ports are located.
Why spend $10 more for the Kanex device that, in a few situations, is awkward when you could instead save $10 and use the HyperDrive device without encountering those problems? I haven’t yet come up with an answer to that question. Thus, the Kanex 6-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station is a nice and useful accessory, but I think that most folks would prefer the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub for iPad Pro.
Click here to get the Kanex 6-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station from Kanex ($99.95)
Click here to get the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub for iPad Pro from Amazon ($89.99)