Combining both a mouse mat and 4x USB hub into one simple unit is a convenient prospect, and this is exactly what Trust’s affordable new offering provides.

Admittedly we’re not overly impressed with the green grass emblazoned front – no, really – as this is the only version available. Not to be too boring, but a simple gloss black sometimes does the job more elegantly.

However, initial looks aside, at only £12 this device does actually option a pretty darn good buy. In the past when plugging in various other USB hubs, the ability to commit power to multiple devices can been a struggle. Not so with the Trust though, as after plugging in two iPhones, an iPod and a multi-card reader everything had successfully mounted to the desktop, or synched up successfully. As there’s only a single USB 2.0 cable porting these four sockets, don’t expect simultaneous transfers to necessarily be hyper-fast, depending on device, but then that’s not really the point – this is all about providing connectivity without wasting valuable ports, plus a number of machines have hard-to-reach ports on the back of the machine. With a simple device such as this, that frustration is a thing of the past.  

It’s plug and play, so a breeze to connect, a USB extension cable is included and a harmless, small blue light illuminates to confirm connection.

The subtle up-slant also provides ergonomic comfort in use, so there’s little to moan about, bar that grass image!