Pros: Very high quality aluminum case. Easy to assemble. Blue LED is visible but not intrusive. High quality cables & power supply.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Wow! This is really a nice, high quality, solid aluminum case. I slid an old drive in, everything aligned perfectly. fastened the screws and plugged it in. Windows Vista recognized it immediately and I am running it with USB 3,0 speeds. A real bargain. Thanks, Newegg!

Pros: This case is cast aluminum and very strong. I bet you could drive a car over it and it would still work. The Electronic adaptor is bolted to the bottom of the Hard drive locking in place. Much better than just push on/friction. It transfere 16 GBites in less than 5 minutes running at about 50 MB per second. This equels 500 G Bits per second about 10 times faster than USB 2.0

Cons: It heavy, but strong

Other Thoughts: USB 3.0 speed factors on hard drives vary based on Sata 1,2,3. RPM, cash, how busy the computer is. Also don't confuse GB=Bites 10 verses Gb= Bit 1. 50 GB = 500 Gb so 50GB to 100 BG is very fast. USB 2.0 usually 5-10 GB in my experience in real world use...

Pros: I'll list the Pros in my own opinion of order of importance from 1 being the MOST important to whatever number being last.

1. LOVE THIS type of usb 3.0 end of a data cable. I HATE the typical " looks like it has been BENT in the center part of the metal connector end" type of typical usb 3.0 external cable that comes with most external hdd's. This "centerbent" typical type should be BANNED from the market and changed to be this enclosure's type by DEFAULT.

2. Overall product's quality feels right. There are no flimsy corners that I can find and it solidly built without being heavy.

3. Product allows the internal hdd that you install in it to function at correct USB 3.0 speeds. Yes I realize this should be an obvious pro that isn't anything special. You go with dealing with usb 2.0 transferring TB's of data and see how happy you are to have usb 3.0 speeds back. :P Success.

4. Power & data cable appear to plug in snugg with that good solid fit.

5. Product arrived in its entirety and undamaged ( although the retail box of the product arrived in big air bubble wrap, the product's retail box showed no signs of damage and INSIDE the retail box the product and ALL of its included accessories are completely surrounded in CLOSED-CELL-SOFT-foam :D \m/ GOOD JOB Vantec!!)

6. Product arrived FASTER than I anticipated, ( 1.5 days from clicking the Order confirmation button to seeing the item at my doorstep. Newegg AND UPS rock!!)

7. Decent price for what you get. ESPECIALLY the BETTER-ended usb 3.0 printer-like cable connection and not that flimsy ( bent in the middle) typical usb 3.0 cable.

8. Just as slim as in the newegg pictures, thus it doesn't take up a big footprint on my desk for it being an external hdd enclosure.

Cons: 1. There doesn't appear to be any foam or rubber dampening " pieces" anywhere inside the enclosure and there is not any between the hdd and where is mounts to as it is mounted to the inside " sled" with only screws. I"m hoping this won't cause any log term issues/damage to my hdd. Time will tell.
My WD My Book External usb 3.0 external enclosure that houses the WD GReen 3TB hdd ( comes stock inside of it) had four full corners of thick rubber pads that were formed to the corners of the hdd.

2. There are NO drilled holes for any form of ventilation. I HOPE that my drive doesn't overheat. ONce in a while I have a ton of movies that I build up that I transfer from my internal 3TB hdd in my pc to this external 3TB hdd, now in THIS enclosure, and that obviously puts the hdd under a load for a good while ( we're talking nothing but blurays here.).

3a. The stand that is included EASILY comes lose. It's as if Vantec/Nextar DIDN'T properly measure either the inside of the outside of the body housing where the stand " slides " into to try semi-locking in place, OR they didn't properly-completely measure the outer size of the little " ball-like" center piece that compliments the outer shell of the enclosure.
For this I am knocking an off an egg. It is asinine to have a stand that comes disconnected "TOO" easily. Thus what is the point of including the stand? Truth be told, so far, the stand is doing its job. I wouldn't dare bump the mess out of my desk it is standing the enclosure on though.

3b. The enclosure wobbles side to side by about a small amount VERY easily as a result of the NOT thoroughly thought out stand mounting parts in how it connects to the enclosure.

4. The usb data cable included is SHORT. Would it have killed NexStar or Vantec ( whoever the parent company is) to include a longer cable, such as 5 or 6 feet?
It's a good thing my pc is on top of my desk sitting right next to it, or I would have had to purchase a usb 3.0 extension cable HOPING the full usb 3.0 speeds work as they should. I've read reports of some external hdd's not working to function at full usb 3.0 speeds with extension cables that are still rated for usb 3.0 speeds.

Other Thoughts: ***NOTE***. I DID experience the " throttling" problem that another or other reviewers experienced. However, the ONLY times I experienced that speed throttling down to around 40% to half of the normal usb 3.0 speeds is when I was using mkvmerge to remux movies from .mp4 to .mkv container from the HDD I was transferring movies FROM to the hdd I put inside this enclosure. When the remuxing was finished, the speeds returned to normal after about 3.5 seconds of constant transfer time.
This issue could apply to ANY program that is putting the " reading" hdd at full load when trying to transfer movies from it to the "writing" drive aka the one in this enclosure. Keep this in mind before you give this product a low rating.

Overall, so far, I'm VERY satisfied with this product and would recommend it for those who are not clumsy-handed and actually take care of their pc gear.

I have a friendly **warning** for those new to dealing with transferring a hdd from one external enclosure to another one. I chose not to list this as a CON because there may be something I am misunderstanding or missing.

**When I first connected THEN powered on this enclosure, Windows 8.1 immediately recognized it as " ASMT1053". HOWEVER, what disappointed me was that I lost all my data on it as it needed to be reconfigured in Disk Management with either a MBR or GPT type and HAD to reformat it. I am unsure if this is a normal thing when transferring a hdd from one enclosure brand to another. I am not knocking an egg for this for now until I can confirm otherwise.** Just be forewarned NOT to count on your data being preserved AND BACK IT UP FIRST before transferring your hdd from your current enclosure to this one.

Ventilation? I feel a little bit of air coming out of the top of the unit ( I have it on the stand where the unit's company branding is easily readable from the side), but I am unsure if overheating will be an issue yet. I am transferring my entire movie collection, currently over 2TB's worth, as we speak and don't feel it even getting warm ( time that has elapsed is over 30 minutes straight now). Perhaps at least an hours worth of constant load on a hdd yields the warm feeling others report.

Newegg rocks with fast processing and shipping prep. UPS is still solid on delivery time. Even if I'm wrong and either company operating in normal speed, I guess i got lucky that one of newegg's TN warehouses had one of my products in stock there.

I'll post an updated review later.

Pros: Relatively inexpensive

Cons: I own 4 Vantek NexStar 3 enclosures, and they have been flawless. But this Nexstar CX is junk. Vantek cheapened the power supply and as a result large file transfers(500mb or greater) hang with USB 3.0. USB 2.0 transfers seem to be OK, but I bought it for USB 3.0 use, not 2.0. Unfortunately, the NexStar 3 enclosures don't seem to be available any more, otherwise I would have bought a NST-380S3-BK(NexStar 3). I already own several of these. Used one of them to test with the same WD hard drive and files to transfer, and it worked perfectly, but this CX enclosure choked on every large file I tried to transfer. The problem seems to be the single voltage power supply. The NexStar 3 enclosures used a dual voltage(+5 & +12volt) extremely rugged power supply - the CX series abandoned this supply in favor of a +12 volt one, drawing +5 volts through the USB port - technically not a dependable arrangement.

Other Thoughts: These CX series enclosures are a big disappointment. The Nexstar 3 enclosures were 100% dependable and I have recommended them to many other satisfied users over the years. Don't buy one.

Pros: Works just like I expected it would. Speeds are excellent especially for backups and large file transfers. Drive case gets warm but not overly hot, even when under high work loads for long periods of times.

Cons: Could maybe use a fan of some sort, but not worth losing an egg as I didn't want the bulk of a fan on the enclosure.

Other Thoughts: Bought this to use for a network accesable drive to watch movies on devices around the house and for household computers to perform backups too.

Pros: Price
Ease of use
Good look
USB 3.0

Cons: Disk didn't go to idle mode before firmware update.

Had some trouble with updating the firmware since the chip set was not the same as specified on the vendor's website. But once it was done everything is going great!

Other Thoughts: Like Bobwired pointed out, my chipset was not the JMedia chip like it it specified on the vendor's website. It was indeed ASMedia 1051. Since it wouldn't spin down into idle mode (even with my computer turned off) it was a hassle to manually turn off the disk everytime. Fortunately I stumble upon Bobwired's review and started doing research on the ASMedia chip set. I've found a page where you can find the update and some tools for the drive. Just Google station-drivers and ASMedia, it should be the first result at the top. Then the right firmware are the ones at the bottom of the page, Asmedia ASM 105x . Once updated, it now goes into idle mode as it should after 10 minutes, and I can even choose the time I want. Also it seems like it solves the problem of the disk not accepting HDD over 2TB. But I can't confirm that since I'm using a 1.5TB in it.

PROBLEM SOLVED !!

Pros: -Easy setup
-price
-build quality
-holding a 2TB HDD
-USB 3.0

Cons: Nothing really

Other Thoughts: instructions weren't clear after the step where you hook up the LEDs. When it asks you to shove it back into the enclosure, there are two holes that are pretty small. Look for the long black screws to hold the casing together, it doesn't just snap, must be held together with those two screws.

Pros: Unit works twice as fast with USB3 as it does with USB 2 (with an old ~320 GB eSATA drive.

Cons: Vantec web site could be more helpful in pointing out that SOME of these units (mine has a PC board PA-703 rev 1.1) don't use the JMedia chip, and don't need an update, and that the update firmware will give "No device found", because my unit uses a Asmedia 1051 chip rather than a Jmedia chip.

Other Thoughts: Don't know what chip set is shipping now.

Pros: Great build quality, the aluminum makes it feel like a premium product. USB 3.0 for speed and backwards compatibility.

Cons: Expensive, but you do at least get nice build quality.

Pros: Vantec has been generally good in the past.

Cons: After EXTENSIVE time wasted, this box will not work with a WD Green 3TB drive. (Drive works well in other enclosures).
Tested on 6 different (Old and New) computers, will only lock up the computer until unplugged, works FINE with drives of 2TB or less. (Also WD Green)
Vantec customer service bot denies this, but apparently this was tested to work with a different controller than this one has. (See other thoughts.)

Other Thoughts: After writing the previous review, I was notified that the unit was extensively tested with the WD 3T drive, and was found working.
HOWEVER, I also noticed that their firmware update (on Vantec's web site - See FAQ on their site), was for the JS539 chip.
This box now (at least the one I got), has the AS2105 controller, on which I can find very little (anywhere!) information, other than to an incompatability problem (1 link). Apparently, the Vantec-bots don't read the reviews well.)
I just hope that this is not indicative of other problems at Vantec. - They had very good other products for a long time.
Since Vantec insists this will work with 3TB drives, I've RMA'd it back to them to continue their "Extensive testing". (For refund)
I've bought a different model. Let's see what chip that one has.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,
We try hard to provide excellent customers service. If you have questions about our products, or anything that are not functioning the way it is advertised, please feel free to write to us for assistance at support@vantecusa.com . We will try our best to support and answer your questions. Thank you for looking into our products.
Best Regards, Vantec