TwelveSouth has a hub for those who remember the days when MacBooks came with USB-A, Ethernet, and video ports. This uses a single USB-C port to bring back six legacy ports.
On top of that, the StayGo comes with a 1-meter cable for use on your desktop, plus a short built-in cable for plugging in on the road.
Is this the hub your Mac needs? Read on to find out.
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Twelve South StayGo review
In some ways, the StayGo looks like a standard USB-C hub: it’s a black rectangle with some ports. Keep looking though and it will start to stand out from the crowd.
First off, it has a lot of ports: eight of them, to be exact. These are mostly arranged along one side so you can set this hub on the edge of your desk and let the cables fall down behind, out of sight.
Rather than trying to match the look of a MacBook, Twelve South’s designers went for inconspicuousness. The StayGo is black, with a pattern of grey dots that break up the blankness.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The hardware is 5.0 inches by 2.4 in. by 0.5 in. and 4.7 ounces (0.29 pounds). It’s pocketable, though probably a better fit in a bag of some type.
A unique feature of the StayGo is a slot along one edge that holds a 4.25 in. USB-C cable. This goes with you everywhere, so this hub can be plugged in at any time. No worries about forgetting the cable.
Twelve South also includes a 1 meter cable for use at your desk. It’s long enough that the hub can be placed a reasonable distance away from your computer, cutting down on visible clutter. Plus, the USB-C port on one end is set at a 90-degree angle, allowing the cable to be bent back behind the Mac.
Build quality seems good. The StayGo feels like a solid device, and its exterior is aluminum for heat dissipation. Both cables feel rugged enough to stand up to day-to-day use.
8 ports
The StayGo has no less than eight ports: two USB-C and six legacy ports.
There are three USB-A 3.0 ports that can transfer data at up to 5 Gbps. One of these offers 7.5W of power thanks to USB BC 1.2 , and the others support 900mA.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
There’s Gibabit Ethernet (10/100/1000Mbps) via an RJ45 connection for when Wi-Fi isn’t available, or is too slow or insecure.
Plus, the StayGo includes an HDMI port with 4K or 2K video at 30Hz.
On one end of this hub is a pair of UHS-I microSD and SD card readers, so there’s no need to carry around separate readers.
On the opposite end is the USB-C port used to connect the StayGo to the Mac. This supports 85W. And the second USB-C port located next to the Ethernet jack can take in 100W of power.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Twelve South StayGo performance
We tested all of the ports on our sample unit, both singly and when working together. We streamed a video stored on a thumbdrive to an HDMI TV. We copied files from a microSD card to a cloud server over an Ethernet connection. We charged our computer through USB-C pass-through ports.
There were no problems. All the ports operated as expected.
Twelve South StayGo final thoughts
To stand out from the crowd of other USB-C hubs, a product has to have something extra. The built-in travel cable helps separate the Twelve South StayGo from the ordinary. And its unusually large number of ports helps too. There aren’t many hubs with three USB-A ports, and Ethernet is relatively rare these days.
Pricing
The official list price for the Twelve South StayGo is $99.99. It’s available from Amazon as well.
Buy from: Amazon
Comparable products
There are certainly competing USB-C hubs that cost less — the Satechi Multi-Port Adapter V2 goes for $69.99, for example. But, as discussed, Twelve South’s offering has features not available in typical hubs. Anyone who needs these should expect to pay a bit extra for them.
Twelve South provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out more stuff we recommend.
