iClever IC-TCH001 USB-C and Gigabit Ethernet Hub Review

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It appears this may be the year of the USB-C hub and dock as over the last few months I have had quite a few review requests for these solutions. One of these devices that managed to make it over is from a vendor I for one have never heard of called iClever.

iClever appears to be an Amazon only vendor and from doing some research they have been around since 2010, primarily focusing on accessories and battery solutions for smart devices. With the launch of USB-C, they have chosen to launch a hub that offers an integrated Type-C cable with three ports of USB 3.0 connectivity along with Gigabit Ethernet. Compatibility details seem to be nonexistent so from experience I can say it works with Windows 10 and OS X Yosemite and El Capitan without any need for a driver.

MSRP for the iClever USB-C Hub is listed at $49.99 with a one-year warranty.

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Packaging for the USB-C hub isn't too bad. We have a sleeve that covers the underlying cardboard box, and it does give some info about the device.

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The scope of delivery does include a driver disk if needed along with warranty card and manual.

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A closer look gives us three USB 3.0 ports on the side of the hub with a bit of branding on the top of the device.

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On the end, we find the gigabit Ethernet port, entirely made of plastic.

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Mentioned in the opening statement, here we have the integrated Type-C cable that appears to be of decent quality.

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In testing the hub, we started with USB 3.0 where I found this solution to offer 312 MB/s read and 300 MB/s write with our Intel 730 SSD.

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Network throughput for the hub came in at 853 Mbps comparable to many other dock solutions.

The skinny with this USB-C hub is quite simple; it doesn't have the highest build quality, in fact, the exterior of this solution looks almost like they melted down some Pepsi cans and molded an enclosure. Internally, iClever is using a Genesys GL3520 four port controller to power all three USB 3.0 ports and the Realtek Ethernet controller. What that means for you is throughput will be limited anytime you have a USB device and Ethernet running at the same time. Plug in more USB 3.0 devices into this hub, the slower your networking performance gets.

As you seen in our charts even with this device sharing bandwidth across ports when using a single device, the network throughput was able to reach near 855 Mbps while USB performance hit 300 MB/s read and write.

Overall, this isn't a terrible solution by any means. But for the money, there are plenty of other solutions on the market that would fit your needs.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Z97-A - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 - Buy from Amazon
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage: Intel 730 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 750W - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon