Moshi iLynx Review

By David Klein
Moshi’s latest product, the iLynx, immediately caught my eye at January’s Macworld convention in San Francisco. When I saw Moshi’s booth I ran over to see what they had coming in the near future. My first question was: “What is that and when can I buy it?!” (Yes, I love cool looking products.) The Moshi employee told me it was a USB and Firewire hub. Somehow, they took a relatively dull concept and made it surprisingly sexy. Moshi demonstrated expertise in this style of design again.


Alone, it looks like a slick piece of hardware illuminated by the Moshi logo. Placed on top of an iMac stand, it’s perfection. The iLynx is designed with a downward slope approaching its front side allowing it to blend nicely with the front of your iMac’s stand. Built into the sides are 2 Firewire 400 ports and 4 USB 2.0 ports, which are all available to accessories. This is achieved by the the fixed-in-place USB and Firewire cables coming out of the iLynx’s rear. Since the ports are on the sides of the iLynx, I managed to de-clutter my desk by moving all of my cables behind my iMac. I always enjoy a little extra organization.

How does Moshi manage to make the iLynx innovative? Both the USB and Firewire cables draw power from the computer simultaneously so the iLynx does not require an extra power source. Genius.
My experience with the iLynx has been great. No problematic file transfers, no devices becoming lost, no crashes from hot swapping too quickly, no noise, etc. In the past I have owned a few hubs that exhibited such behavior, so I take hub performance seriously. Installation does not require any drivers; just connect the built-in USB and Firewire cables to your computer. Do you have a new computer that does not have a Firewire 400 port? No problem! The box includes the proper converter.
The iLynx comes with several cables to ensure your various accessories can be used. This includes:
USB 2.0 cable
Firewire 400 cable
Firewire 800 to 400 adapter cable
Honestly, I can’t wait to see what the minds behind Moshi come up with next. See my other Moshi reviews here:
iPhone cases roundup
Moshi Celesta keyboard