Manufacturer: Venom
Where To Buy: Amazon
RRP: £12.99
If there’s one thing we can always use, it’s more USB ports. Especially in today’s gaming world, the more the merrier. Venom Gaming have therefore stepped in to help with this, releasing their USB hub for the Xbox Series X. While you can’t go far wrong with such a device, the Venom USB Hub brings a few extra neat touches that might make it worth a look, though it’s also not without a caveat or two.
Firstly, it looks pretty great. Coming in the same sleek black texture as the Series X itself, it slots onto the front of the console seamlessly. It comes equipped with two USB-A ports as well as a single USB-C port, each aligned vertically so as to help with cable management as it’s easier to tuck it around the side this way. The green Venom logo lights up when plugged in, and while I’m generally of the opinion that the fewer lights on my console the better, it’s not so bright that it distracts even when playing in a dark room (and certainly no brighter than the consoles power button already).
Connection is solid thanks to a small lip that hugs the bottom of the console, and even a rough removal of a cable didn’t threaten to pull the Hub out with it. If it wasn’t for the green light, you’d hardly know it was there; the form factor is small and discrete, and combined with the aesthetics it blends in very well.
The main use case for the USB hub is for charging controllers/accessories. For this purpose it works perfectly. It’ll handle a couple of charging docks no problem, as well as whatever else you need charging. It will also accept keyboard and mouse inputs too. I played COD: Black Ops Cold War using it, and it was less cable-management than having my current USB hub that itself has a short cable between it and the console. If you’re getting into K&M but also want to use any external HDD’s then this’ll suit your needs.
Speaking of external storage, the USB hub doesn’t seem to work here. I only have an older 1TB SSD plugged in via USB direct to console, but plugging it into this kept giving me an error stating it isn’t fast enough to work properly. It is advertised as a charging solution only, but it’s worth mentioning just in case.
It also won’t be of any use to Series S owners. The design of the lip and plug means it is supposed to fit snug to the Series X and as such won’t physically fit on a Series S. Perhaps down the line we might see a Series S only version as well, but if you’re after extra ports there you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Conclusion
Overall, the Venom USB Hub is a great way to expand the port offerings on a Series X. The added USB-A and USB-C ports will come in handy for those with charging docks or several play and charge kits, freeing up the consoles built in USB ports for external storage solutions. That it plugs directly in to the console is a nice touch to save yet more cables being thrown into the mix, though it is a shame it won’t also support the Series S as well. For £12.99 though, this is well worth a look.
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