Pros: Great, when it works. 8 ports, very easy to use via front panel or hot heys. On screen display. Works with PS2 or USB via different cables.

Cons: Could not get it to work with PC with Nvidia GTS250, all other PC's were ok. Mouse sometimes eratic, drag and drop would result in lost files. Video went crazy after 14 days. Reset and lost all video from all 6 PC's hooked to it. RMA'd it today.

You need a Serial port in order to update the firmware. Must use USB keyboard and mouse.

Other Thoughts: Hope the replacement works better.

Manufacturer Response:

First, thank you for choosing IOGEAR and we apologize for your experience. The product should not behave as you described. We strive to ensure our customers are serviced with a properly working unit to exceed your satisfaction. If you have any further questions or comments, please feel to contact our customer support at 1-866-946-4327 or email us: support@iogear.com. Once again, thank you for choosing IOGEAR.

Pros: Works very solidly with constant uptime.

No issues with multiple operating systems.

Cons: USB stack is offensively miserable. Does not function in any sane way.

Keyboard and mouse must come in over separate USB ports to work. This precludes use with USB hubs, many other KVM products, etc, etc. Would assume this also cripples passing flash drives, etc through the device, but have not tested this.

Contacted support and was informed that this ridiculous weakness was as intended.

Sometimes the indicators of live systems can be a little flaky.

Other Thoughts: Video flicker as you'd expect with any KVM.

Managed to get it working daisy chained with another IOGEAR KVM. Feel a bit blackmailed into buying their product to maintain interoperability with a poorly engineered product.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you for choosing IOGEAR and we apologize any inconvenience. If you're looking for an 8 port KVMP switch with a USB peripheral port, you might want to take a look at our GCS1808. If any other detailed questions, please feel to contact our customer support at email: support@iogear.com. We'll be able to help you find the right KVM for your type of set up. Once again, thank you for choosing IOGEAR.

Pros: Nice mostly metal case. Got as part of a deal (now gone) that came with cables, Newegg shipped fast. LED's are a pretty color. Uses standard Iogear cables.

Cons: Gets really confused at high video resolutions. Probably fine if you are still stuck with a 15" monitor at 800x600. Randomly disconnects and reconnects. Problem worse with some video cards than others, but it's there on all of them.
Fails with Mac's, Win XP, Linux, and FreeBSD software. Fails with Nvidia, Intel, and ATI video. If you are using something other than that you might be ok.

Other Thoughts: I've owned dozzens of KVM's. A lot of them are Iogear product. This is the first one I've seen from Iogear that simply does not work right. The *exact* same combinations of monitor, software, resolution, and video cards work perfectly with their GCS634 4 port switches.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you for choosing IOGEAR and we apologize for your experience. The unit you received was probably defective.
Since this product is backed by IOGEAR's 3 year warranty, please feel free to contact our customer support at 1-866-946-4327 or email us: support@iogear.com. We will be glad to assist you and process an RMA for you. Once again, thank you for choosing IOGEAR.

Pros: none

Cons: My requirement is to have the Dev worksttion 25 ft from the rack. I bought 4@15ft Active USB extensions prior to buying KVM switch (2 for mouse, 2 for keyboard). When switch arrive, I hooked everything up, but no response from mouse or keyboard. IOGear tech support indicates that you must use GCE700, a $300 product that extends via CAT5e. Had I known this, I wouold have purchased the PS/2 KVM console, so that I could have daisy chained PS/2 extension cables together. Now I am stuck with having the console sitting next to the rack because of the short USB maximum.

Pros: Super easy to install, setup, and use. Fast switching between systems. Ability to label individual systems via overlay is sweet.

Cons: Some ghosting and video degradation. Blue power LED in front will blind you if you look directly at it.

Other Thoughts: Using this on 4 servers and 1 PC. Switching between systems is actually fun: Scroll lock twice, scroll to the system, hit enter, and away you go. No more fumbling around for a KVM button to push and trying to figure out what system you're on. Video issues are somewhat annoying but with this being used primarily for servers I'm okay with. If this was going to be used with my home PC(s) it would be unacceptable.

Pros: Responsive; versatile connectivity options; has the important configuration options expected; well built

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I will definitely purchase another. I have used many KVMs over the years and looked at the offerings from many manufacturers. It was better to spend ~$100 more on this one than the least expensive alternative as I have been completely satisfied.

Pros: Clean look. Great features. Very customizable.

Cons: Poor video compatability. I tried several different video cards and contacted iogear several times. My monitor is a Dell 2405FPW (24", 1920 x 1200).
Their conclusion: "We only support up to 21" monitors"!!!
Being an electronic engineer, I found this to be unbelievable.

Other Thoughts: I wish there was someone out their who could explain why the physical size of the monitor matters.

Pros: Intuitive OSD! Capabilities for up to 512 computers using a daisy-chain method! Smooth operation using either the OSD or the hotkeys on the unit. Has worked flawlessly for just over a month now. Supports both USB and PS/2 flawlessly. For extra security, it supports usernames and passwords to login to OSD before you can access the computers.

Cons: Documentation seemed a bit on the low side. If you have ever used a KVM before, you won't need it though. Doesn't come with cables, so you must purchase them seperately.

Other Thoughts: if using it in a rack, I recommend using 10' cables. I am controlling a couple of servers using this device, one of which was rack-mounted. The cable-management for the rack unit used all but 6" from my 3' cable. This would work extremely well in a desktop configuration as well as in a rack like mine. Using other accessories, you can setup your keyboard, mouse, and monitor up to 500' away using a Cat-5 cable. It's great for me since the server closet's a bit loud, and will get more so once I add in a couple more... I love this unit!

Pros: 8 input ports. Works great...when it works.

Cons: On my second one. Sent back the first one. The performance is good until it isn't--by that, I mean that certain ports will start to go skittish, and will respond only intermittently. First one port will go, then another. Sometimes, a hard reboot of the switch will fix the problem temporarily. Sometimes not. After two tries, I'm tempted to give up and try to get my money back. I may try one more time. Get another one if you can.

Pros: Using this KVM to switch 2 x64 boxes and also a OS X box running 10.4 and two virtual servers. To envoke the OSD and switch systems all you gotta do is hit scroll lock twice (this can be changed).

Plus, it'll do ~2000x1500. Also works with vertical monitor orientations. You can name the systems if you do co-location and also can password protect each port as well as the KVM itself, all with separate passwords.

You can use USB extensions with this and it will work fine. I'm using 4 6-foot extensions, two on the mouse and the other two on the keyboard. If you rackmount this thing there's not enough clearance for wires. You'll need USB extenders. Using a vp2030b at 1200x1600. The audio works fine. The blue LED is super bright.

If you need to you can cascade many of these on level two and level thee staging. But, that process seems complicated and you may want to get a KVM over IP if you're in a data room and have hundreds of systems. This is more of a small-business solution.

Cons: None. Guess it won't do HDCP. Very slight ghosting in x64. The OS X boxes look better and you can't see any ghosting.

Other Thoughts: Great KVM to do multi-os switching. Completely simplified my life.

To rack mount you'll need to remove a few screws and then attach the brackets.

Works as adcertised allowing the user to use a single K and M on pretty much any OS.

Consider this KVM if you need multi-os support and want no hassles.