BELKIN F1DS104L 4 Ports SOHO Desktop KVM Switch

Pros: Worked great at first. Set up and maintenance is easy.

Cons: One of the lights went and now both usb and ps2 plugs fail to redirect signal. It lasted about 2 years, but at this price, I was expecting more durability.

Other Thoughts: Great in a pinch but not for daily use over a long period of time.

Pros: Well built cables.

Cons: Does not support Windows 7 which needs full-time EDID.

Search for "windows 7 and KVM" in Google and you will find lots of people having grief with this issue.

Other Thoughts: I am sending it back and getting a IOGEAR GCS1804 which says:

*IOGEAR’s Display Emulation Technology provides the EDID support for Windows 7

I will review this item as well when it arrives.

Pros: Very nice when it works, but it seems to have a short life.

Cons: I use this switch extensively, switching from my "go to machine" 50 or 60 times a day to check on the progress of other computer jobs or to get data. For security reasons, my computers can not access the same networks.
I have now encountered the same failure that the keyboard function does not switch when the video does. The first switch lasted 10 months, and its replacement lasted a little over 2 months. Different computers, different ports, but the same outcome...a 4 port kvm turns into a 3 port kvm.

Other Thoughts: It seems to have a light use design, but not a light use price. One might consider other light use switches from Iomega that cost about 1/3 as much as this one.

Pros: The product itself works pretty decently. A nice mix of features including the ability to simultaneously connect audio from one computer and regular KVM from another. I use a keyboard-hub with mouse connected, and use the mouse port to connect a USB printer. You just have to make sure not to disconnect mid-large print job. Even if you do, things seem to pick up where you left off.
It works with a wide variety of operating systems.

Very thoughtful layout with an additional USB port on the side for whatever temp (e.g., flash drive) connections you want to make.

Cons: After a couple of weeks shy of a year, one of the keyboard ports stopped working.

Other Thoughts: After reaching tech support from Belkin, 5 minutes later I had approval for a return. They have an RMA option which allows you to return the switch after you have received the replacement. This only works if they have the replacement in stock. Their RMA website is nothing short of dreadful. It bounces around so that you can not tell if you have completed it or not. It does not inform you about why some options seem to not be available.

This is a shame because otherwise, their customer service was superb. I had the replacement 22 hours after I ultimately was able to file the RMA request (using their free shipping).

Pros: Amazing KVM switch. I had a cheap $25 2 in 1 out switch but it was buggy and slow to switch between video ports. Also no audio support. Basically a piece of junk.

The SOHO is great. It is very quick to switch between inputs. Worked right out of the box. The buttons light up to indicate which video/audio input are currently selected. You can select audio from a different input than the video. For example, its able to output the video from my desktop but the audio from my laptop at the same time.

The buttons beep when you press them, but if you hit the hot key twice and then B, it disables the sound.

Cons: A little pricey, but then again, it came with more features than I expected (like being able to select audio and video tracks from different inputs simultaneously). Great find.

Other Thoughts: Switches between a work laptop, two desktops, and a WHS Vail server.

Pros: Just works. Fast switching between channels. Front color coded buttons are great. Separate speaker / VGA output allows selection of speakers from one comp and work on another comp possible.

Cons: cannot think of any

Pros: Quick switching with dual outputs meaning sound of one while viewing another.

Cons: It is a bit finicky when installing for the first time, but for our use it works like a dream.

Other Thoughts: No drivers needed for us. We use almost all Microsoft peripherals, so maybe that's why they're such good bedfellows.

Pros: Colored cables, listen to audio on one PC while working on another, nice design, being able to disable the beep

Cons: Pain in the rear to install the drivers on a PC, buggy keyboard

Other Thoughts: Ive only had this KVM switch for a few days and so far Im not too happy with it. When I do any ctrl or shift commands some random letter gets stuck (usually not the letter i pressed) and continues till you hit another key. Sometimes it doesnt even register keystrokes. I know its not the keyboard since its new and it hasnt happened when i plugged directly into it. Also, when I go to plug the USB into the computer, the "add a new hardware" screen comes up but the mouse and keyboard doesnt work (the drivers for the mouse and keyboard are already on the PC) so I have to have at least a mouse plugged in before i plug in the KVM so I can install the KVM drivers. And for some reason my main PC didnt like the first slot with the mouse and keyboard but its fine on the last slot. OH and FYI to disable the annoying beep is Scroll lock, Scroll lock, B.

Beside all its flaws, its an OK KVM switch.

Pros: It basically works out of the box. Keyboard, mouse, monitor all seem to work on first blush.

Cons: The keyboard's keys, when connected through this KVM, often get "stuck". So the words you type often have repeat letters in them.

Holding down a key does not result in the typed letter being repeated indefinately. So if you are a gamer and use your keyboard to navigate, you will be very dissapointed.

Video quality is not very good. There is strange shadowing artifact around the higher spatial frequency display elements which makes reading smallish print (say, 8pt or less) difficult.

Pros: We've got two of these in different server closets. Wow. Beautiful design. Best KVM I've used hands down. It's got usb or ps2 connections for mouse/keyboard.. and mic and audio passthrough. I can't think of a great use for it yet... but you can choose to see/control the screen of one machine, and pull the audio from another, just by toggling the front switches.

Cons: DVI would be nice...