Thermaltake BlacX Urban Wi-Fi Edition Docking Station Review

TweakTown's Rating: 85%

The Bottom Line

Thermaltake's BlacX Urban is a great solution for those that want access to their data over USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi. In addition to that, the app is very simple and straightforward, but the other end of the deal is this solution will cost you if you don't get it on sale.

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Thermaltake has a long history of success with their BlacX line-up of storage docking solutions. Today, we have the very latest solution in this line-up, the BlacX Wi-Fi.

The BlacX Wi-Fi is the next generation in docking solutions from Thermaltake. With this the BlacX has undergone an aesthetic transition as well, moving away from the standard black box design to a design with a bit more flare with an LED ring around the bottom. Features of this solution include USB 3.0 capability, along with 802.11b/g/n connectivity for those wanting to move or stream data with their smartphones or tablets.

MSRP of the Thermaltake BlacX Urban Wi-Fi is listed at $79.99 with a one-year warranty.

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Scope of delivery for the BlacX Urban includes a power adapter, USB 3.0 cable, and reading materials.

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Looking at the dock, we can see the new design of this solution. As I stated before, we now have a LED rings around the bottom with BlacX logos centered on the device.

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The back of the unit houses the reset button, USB 3.0 connection, and power input.

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The top of the unit houses the power button to the left and eject to the right, and of course the center of the dock houses the disk bay.

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To test the performance of the BlacX Urban, we installed our Crucial M550 1TB SSD. As you can see, we ended up with 109 MB/s read and 271 MB/s write.

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To use the Wi-Fi setup on the Urban, we had to download the TtCloud app, which is freely available on the app store.

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Opening the settings menu within the app, we have the SSID listed at the top, followed by the firmware version of the dock. Further down, we have the IP settings listed, while the storage capacity of the installed drive is listed at the top.

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To upload files to the Urban, you simply select the drive you want to upload to.

The Thermaltake BlacX Urban is great solution for those that want to access your files on both your PC over USB 3.0 and your smartphones over Wi-Fi. The build quality is quite good as we have come to expect, and the new design is truly welcomed.

Performance of the Urban was decent, but could use a little more over USB 3.0 where we were only able to get 109 MB/s read and 271 MB/s write out of the unit, although it did do quite a bit better with large random files.

Using the TtCloud app was rather straightforward and I found the app to be well designed and easy to navigate. Uploading files from my iPhone to the Urban was accomplished a few clicks and the same can be said when moving files from the Urban to my phone.

PRICING: You can find the Thermaltake ST-001-D31COU-A1 2.5/3.5 inch SATA to USB 3.0 BlacX Urban Wi-Fi Edition HDD Docking Station for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Thermaltake ST-001-D31COU-A1 2.5/3.5 inch SATA to USB 3.0 BlacX Urban Wi-Fi Edition HDD Docking Station retails for $84.98 at Amazon.

Canada: The Thermaltake ST-001-D31COU-A1 2.5/3.5 inch SATA to USB 3.0 BlacX Urban Wi-Fi Edition HDD Docking Station retails for CDN$166.56 at Amazon Canada.

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