StarTech.com 8-Port USB-to-Serial Adapter Hub

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

StarTech’s 8‑port USB-to-Serial hub is one of those “quietly dependable” tools that earns its keep in a lot of UK offices—especially where you need lots of serial connectivity but don’t want to mess about with internal expansion cards. In real life, it tends to be useful for things like label/industrial devices, UPS/AV control interfaces, routers/switch consoles (via serial), and any comms gear that still lives in the serial world. If you’ve got multiple devices that each need a stable COM port on the same Windows or server machine, this sort of adapter hub is often far less painful than juggling separate adapters, drivers, and port management.

That said, at **£235.19 ex‑VAT**, I’d only buy it if you genuinely need *eight* ports and you expect ongoing use—otherwise the cost jumps out compared to simpler single/dual USB-serial options. It’s also not a magic bullet: serial connections are sensitive to cable quality, device settings, and power/grounding quirks. If your devices are flaky already, you may end up debugging baud rates and cabling rather than “fixing it with hardware.”

**Who should buy:** IT teams supporting serial-based equipment in bulk, managed service providers, workshops/engineering teams standardising COM ports across multiple devices, and anyone who wants one tidy hub instead of a pile of adapters. **Who shouldn’t:** teams with only a couple of serial devices, or environments where you only occasionally need serial access—there are cheaper ways to get started.