Sima Products "Hitch" USB transfer device reviewed

The intriguing Sima Products Hitch (USB-101) perked a lot of ears when it debuted at this year's CES, and this USB middleman has now been tested by iLounge, and certified to tackle all your USB On-The-Go needs. The most obvious attraction here is the unadulterated ability to transfer files (music, pictures, whatever) from iPod to iPod, a not-so-straightforward process usually requires at least a computer and a semi-technical guru to run the show. iLounge asserted that the no-nonsense approach to copying files from any USB device -- be it a hard drive, DAP, digital camera, memory card reader, etc. -- to another USB device by using its intuitive on-screen guide was fairly painless. It was deemed an answer to countless requests, but as with most newcomers, it isn't without flaw. Possibly the biggest shortcoming is its inability to work natively with HFS-formatted iPods (sorry Mac users), while it's also relatively slow (6 seconds for a 4MB song), and occasionally had trouble moving entire iPod databases using default settings. You can even power the Hitch with the built-in battery, but don't expect to flip too much data without resorting to the AC adapter. While Sima Products has a potential hit on its hands, the biggest turn-off is probably its price: at $150, only the heaviest of users would likely find value here. If you want to know everything about the Hitch and then some, be sure to hit the Read link for iLounge's in-depth review.

[Via TUAW]

[Jon B @ Jul 23rd 2006 4:13AM]

$150 is pretty steep - especially when for me it's main turn off is it's size - apple go to all the effort to shrink the ipod with every incarnation and yet if you want to transfer between devices you need to carry something that is bigger than the largest ipod in the range - not so good for a portable player. USB Host should be built in to any hard disk based DAP/PMP in my mind - if you've got the space chances are you will want to use it for more than music listening (backing up digital camera pics for example)

Lets hope 'zune' and the g6 ipod have taken note.

[hydrogen_wv @ Jul 23rd 2006 10:15AM]

You know, this seems pretty nifty, yet very impractical. I think that no one will PLAN to buy this, but that it will be more of a "Rich kid with an iPod, on the spot buy" because it's Neat. Without much thought into it...

Really, as far as it goes, for data transfer between usb devices, I think carrying an ultracompact laptop would be much more practical. I can not think of a situation where I'd want to transfer data that there is a plugin around. It's a nice idea, but there are too many Cons.... Size (although an ultracompact laptop is not smaller), For large data transfers it requires a plugin (What if im on a bus and I hear someone listening to an album I want... hey, can I have that album please... Lemme go find a plugin and i'll be right with you), and it'll likely run into problems with many devices. There are so many different standards when it comes to portable data storage that it's unlikely that it'll work with EVERYTHING.

[Ross@Sima @ Jul 24th 2006 12:43PM]

Truthfully, the iLounge review has some mistakes in it. The transfer times are way off, and it's possibly an incompatibility we had not encountered in our testing of the product. The battery life is quite sufficient to handle a bunch of large transfers and even charge a few iPods. As far as the size issue goes, this thing is a little thicker than the 4th gen iPod. It's not big by any means...unless you're comparing it to a nano. It's lightweight, portable, customizable, and can charge USB devices.

The draw here is iPod to iPod transfers - you can send a song and listen to it immediately. There's no other way to do that without being tethered to a PC.

visit www.gethitch.com for a demo and info.

[karlos @ Oct 20th 2006 9:55AM]

Really, as far as it goes, for data transfer between usb devices, I think carrying an ultracompact laptop would be much more practical. I can not think of a situation where I'd want to transfer data that there is a plugin around. It's a nice idea, but there are too many Cons.... Size (although an ultracompact laptop is not smaller), For large data transfers it requires a plugin (What if im on a bus and I hear someone listening to an album I want... hey, can I have that album please... Lemme go find a plugin and i'll be right with you), and it'll likely run into problems with many devices. There are so many different standards when it comes to portable data storage that it's unlikely that it'll work with EVERYTHING.

http://www.inverballonti.net/