Sonnet Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 SuperDock

Pros:• Number of USB ports. You will be hard pressed to find a dock with as many USB A and C ports as this one has.• SSD slot. Great for backups or added storage.• Size. As with most Thunderbolt docks, this is large and heavy. You will not want to travel with it. But that is where your manufacturer’s power supply and a cheap USB-C hub come it.Cons:• No MicroSD card slot. You can use the SD card slot with an adapter, but most people are using MicroSD cards these days for everything except for photos.• Price. At $300 MRP, this is in the upper-mid range for quality docks. I do think the SSD capability and number of USB (C and A) makes it worth the price.I have had USB-C-powered laptops (a 2019 and a 2023 HP Spectre x360 13.3” models) for 3-1/2 years. In that time, I have used several cheaper USB-C hubs. While these can be great for business trips, I wanted something more powerful to have at my office desk allowing me to leave my normal charger at home.And so, I spent a couple of months talking with respected IT friends and doing my research for the best Thunderbolt dock for my needs. I wanted at least one (possibly two) HDMI 2.1 ports. One or two Thunderbolt USB-C outputs. Three or more USB-A 10Gbps ports. Headset combo jack.The Echo 20 SuperDock more than met those needs. I have my Samsung 32” 4K monitor plugged into the HDMI 2.1 port. A KYY 15.6” 1080p portable monitor plugged into one of the USB-C Thunderbolt ports. A Logitech Unifying USB receiver is plugged into one of the rear USB-A ports. My headset for Zoom meetings and audio recording is plugged into the headphone jack.Many Thunderbolt docks sacrifice the number of Thunderbolt USB-C ports in exchange for adding another DisplayPort or HDMI port. I prefer more Thunderbolt ports and fewer HDMI or DisplayPorts because that allows more flexibility. It is easy enough to use a USB-C-to-HDMI or a USB-C-to-DisplayPort adapter or cable. And many newer monitors are coming with USB-C video input. My Samsung 32” can do either USB-C or HDMI 2.1 input so I chose HDMI so that it isn’t using up a Thunderbolt port unnecessarily. My KYY portable monitor can use either HDMI or USB-C so I chose one of the Thunderbolt ports as that will provide it with both video and power resulting in fewer cables on my desk.I now just take my laptop back and forth from the office rather than also needing to remember a charger, mouse, and cheap hub. And I don’t have to fumble around with lots of cables. Just plug in the Thunderbolt cable from the dock to my laptop’s USB-C power port and I and up and running.And the ability to have an SSD installed in the dock means I am more likely to remember to backup my files more regularly. I installed a WD Black 1TB SN770 NVME into the slot in the dock, mounted the drive on my computer (YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE THE SSD WILL SHOW UP ON YOUR COMPUTER), and then configured SyncBackPro to backup the desired folders onto the dock. I no longer need to plug an external drive into a USB port in order to do a backup. As long as I am connected to the dock, I just run the backup profile group.Some people have complained about not having drivers for Windows 11. You do not need any special drivers. Any drivers for the dock are included in Windows. If you are having issues with a specific device, it is not an issue with the Sonnet Echo but rather an issue with your device.

I've used the Sonnettech Echo 20 for a year now. This dock has worked flawlessly. I have not seen any of the issues described by other reviewers - maybe I was lucky.I am using this unit at home with 2 external displays plus a third display that I use when building servers. If you add my macbook screen and the iPad Pro, it's now a potentially 5 screen-setup. Not too shabby.I really like the USB port density (both front/back). And there's no on/off switch - the unit really switches off when the TB4 cable is disconnected.Added benefiting: it's a breeze when I need to travel: I just disconnect the TB4 cable, and reconnect when I'm back. In fact, the Apple power pack for my laptop has remained in my backpack since I purchased this docking station. This is true decluttering!

I wanted to replace my previoius docking station, because it was sometimes causing my Zoom meetings to disconnect, often when I was leading meetings of dozens of people.This one was recommended online as being the best in one review, so I decided to try it, even tho it's pricey. It hasn't disconnected a zoom call yet, but I did get an improper disk ejection message the most recent time I asked the computer to go to sleep. This device apparently also goes to sleep when the computer does, which may have caused this improper disk ejection message.Also this thing tends to run hot, which is not good for summer.I had a second instance where I put my laptop (MacBook Pro) to sleep. This device did not seem to wake up properly after the laptop woke up -- at least the second screen wouldn't come on. I had to eject the external hard drives (which weren't ejected improperly this time) and disconnect the dock then reconnect the dock, before the second screen came on. Irritating.I also had a weird issue with Zoom, where I was doing real time interpretation into a foreign language, and people could not hear me. I did not have this problem before. I don't know if it's due to the docking station.I had another issue one time, where I was starting up from a complete shut down, that I got about 10 messages indicating that my external hard drive had been improperly disconnected, even tho nothing was happening in terms of connections. I unplugged the Sonnet for about 15 minutes and then tried again. It seems to be working now, but I am *not* happyAlso, it does not seem to be successful in starting up my external screen. I tried connecting it directly and there is no problem

I love this dock. I tried a couple of different ones and this one just works. It allows me to plug my M2 macbook pro into my UA Apollo thunderbolt, NI Komplete Kontrol Keyboard, several hardrives, multiple monitors all with one included TB4 cable. It even powers the Komplete Kontrol keyboard via the single USB C cable and it powers the Macbook too so truly one cable is all you need to plug in. It makes it so easy to take the computer with me without dismantling the entire studio. The SD card slot is fast, and I have so many inputs that are not in use. I haven't even installed a hard drive in this beast and i still think it crushes the direct competition for a much cheaper price.

I've had some issues with the USB ports. If I plug an iphone or ipad into one of the type c ports, I'm assuming the power is overloaded... because the rest of the usb orts might start acting weird. I have a belkin dock which doesn't have that problem , so I use that. Aside from that its been stable