I added a picture in the cruise dinning room windows with the device to show that I am posting this review at sea; sharing the WiFi to 4 device currently!
Below is a review I wrote yesterday night In the sea..
I had my doubts but this is simply the best an amazing device.
I am typing this message in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean... while both of my kids are watching Netflix and my husband is watching all the stuff in the hard drive while my kid is also downloading in another tablet.
Yes this device works like a chime and can “share” the one cruise rip off WiFi you paid for ONE DEVICE... and share the connection to the whole family!
It can also share the content of whatever usb drive (in our case a 2 TB portable hardrive powered by the hootoo also) and streaming videos from the hard drive while 4 other devices are using the net!
It is very powerful and truly worth every single penny of it! Yes it works perfectly with the cruise so you don’t have to pay $200 each for 4 device (800)
It also has its own power so I carry it around me in the ship and the whole family also have internet as well as long as they are around me :)
Just a word of advice: once you get the device; go to their web and download the new firmware to a thumb drive and let it update itself first... otherwise the shared WiFi speed would be dramatically reduced to also on speed :( (I thought it was broken also until I updated it)
Power bank - Decent capacity for its size
Router -
Speed - Drops my connection to 11Mbps down and 20Mbps up (my source router runs at 150Mbps both ways) -1 star
Wifi repeater - Poor connection range, poor broadcast range. In fact, it dropped the incoming wifi connection so often that it became totally worthless. -1 star
Wifi access point with connected ethernet cable - Decent with the same broadcast range and speed reduction.
DLNA - works, but access and browsing was a bit confusing
USB ports - Only one USB out, eliminating the option to use DLNA while charging without another USB hub.
Overall, for the price, it's a decent piece of equipment. It's more secure than directly connecting to a public wifi, and I consider the speed reduction a price to pay for the added convenience.
Update.
I ended up returning the Tripmate Titan because it could not hold the host Wifi connection. The vendor reached out and sent me a replacement unit. +2 stars for excellent after sales service.
HooToo Wireless Travel Router, 10400mAh External Battery, USB Port, High Performance Travel Charger - TripMate Titan (Not a Hotspot)
I love my gadgets and this one is on my love list.
Setup was relatively easy. Granted, I read a lot of reviews, visited the HooToo website, downloaded and read their 'destructions', and then ordered. I felt quasi comfortable as I have setup a WiFi extender in the past and this was not unlike that. I think my OCD was triggered by the horrendous typos in their 'destructions' and the obvious translation errors. Still set it up in about ten minutes - not a land speed record but easy enough.
The firmware upgrade (available on their website) took a few attempts as the 'destructions' for updating are equally as poor as the setup. Also, discovered that after one upgrades the firmware, one has to go through the setup process - again.
Once setup, everything works great or as expected. I created a new SSID for the TripMate and connected it to several different WiFi connections without any problems. The WAN / Ethernet worked great as well. Everything is now setup for traveling and all I need to do is change my connection to the available WiFi connection. Easy to do in the app.
The 5v/2.1a charger was flawless. Charged my devices as fast as my 2.1 USB wall chargers. Charging the TripMate was a concern, at first, as the 'destructions' said only to use a 1.6a source. I've never seen a 1.6a USB wall charger and all the 1amp ones I've had, I've thrown away as they're basically worthless. However, I saw a sticker on the bottom in a review and it said "2amp". Dug around in my box of goodies and came across an Amazon 9W/1.8A charger that I received with my 7th Gen Fire HD10 tablet. Yes! Charging the TripMate takes slightly longer than charging my device as the input is lower than the output. That's to be expected.
The included USB cable, while rather short, is of good quality and the cable is thicker than most charger cables.
I had an extra Microfiber Sunglass / Gadget Pouch and the TripMate, USB cable, and charger fit nicely.
Other than the 'destructions' - I love it!
I travel a lot for work, and I was looking to build my own private WiFi network off the hotel WiFi, & to view movies wirelessly from a 4TB external hard drive. I did a lot of research & decided on the HooToo Tripmate Titan. I was a little concerned about how difficult it would be to configure everything the way I wanted, but it turned out to be so EASY.
I have the Tripmate connected wirelessly to the hotel's WiFi, & my own private network running. I have the external hard drive plugged into a USB hub with its own power adapter, & I plugged the USB hub into the Tripmate Titan. My laptop is logged into the Tripmate Titan network & has internet access ! I can also access all the files on the external hard drive !
I also have an Amazon Fire Stick plugged into an HDMI port on the hotel TV. I wirelessly connected the Fire Stick to the Tripmate Titan network, & with the VLC App on my Fire Stick I can view all the movies on the external hard disk ! Exactly what I wanted ! No more moving the laptop to the TV & connecting it with an HDMI cable to watch a movie.
I have everything (Tripmate Titan, USB hub & external hard disk) sitting in the cabinet underneath the TV in the living area. Even with the cabinet doors closed, I can use my laptop in the bedroom & still have full internet access, plus I can see the files on the hard drive. Love it !
The ONLY slight issue I have is that some of the Movie files are large. While the Fire Stick has no issue playing them, & I can use the Tripmate Titan's File Explorer to move files around on the external hard drive from my laptop, I CANNOT upload new files larger than 2.0 GB from my laptop thru the Tripmate Titan network to the external hard drive. To accomplish this, I just disconnect the external hard drive from the USB hub, plug the external hard drive into my laptop, transfer the files, then move the external hard drive back into the cabinet & reconnect it to the USB hub. A very small inconvenience which I only need to perform when I download new Movie files.
All said, the HooToo Tripmate Titan is a GREAT product. Easy to set up & use, & works perfectly. I really do love it !
I picked up this router for a cruise trip (the ship allows you to connect exactly one device at a time; we were traveling with six devices), and it worked VERY well indeed. I was able to log in to the ship's network and use the connection with all of the devices in the room, greatly reducing the hassle.
I did have a few glitches along the way - at times, the router fell off the ship's network and when I tried to reconnect, it showed a little warning triangle and I had no way to find out what it meant. One time, I had to turn the router off and on to reconnect. But that was the only problem on an 11-night trip.
Recommended!
Feature Product
- Storage backup: This Trip Mate Titan transfers files between multiple USB hard drives and your devices (phone/tablet/computer) to free much more space up for your devices.
- Wireless router: instantly convert a wired network to wireless network. And bridge and extend Wi-Fi, share internet securely with others (but it's not a hotspot and do not support VPN).
- Media Streamer & Sharer: seamlessly share with your families, friends and stream your videos, photos, and music on your connected smartphones, tablets, TVs, media players, Chromecast, Roku, and other DLNA devices, via app HooToo Trip Mate Plus.
- New USB reader technology: wirelessly recognize USB Flash Drive, hard disk, SDHC, SDXC cards with your devices (phone/tablet/computer) via Trip Mate app, even more support with a USB hub.
- Upgraded chip & external battery packs: built-in 10400mAh power bank (5V/2. 1a) enables you to charge your iPhone or smartphone up to 3 times. Please use the latest app: HooToo Trip Mate Plus. Note: it cannot be compatible with hot spot.
Description
New update for HooToo wireless travel router1) we have shut up Telnet and SSH on Feb 2015, fw-7620-wifidgrj-hootoo-ht-tm05-2. 000. 034. 2)the engineering team has updated our app and improve product quality for years, thanks for the advice from every customer to make this product more and more stable. 3)please feel free to email us if you have questions with our travel router series. what can Trip Mate TITAN do for you?1)be a wireless travel router instantly convert a wired network to wireless to create your own secure Wi-Fi network. 2)be a powerful file hub. trip mate TITAN transfers files between multiple USB hard drives and your devices (phone/tablet/computer) to free much more space up for your devices. It can support USB card reader, USD flash drive, HDD and so on which means you can use this USB hard drives to transfer your document/photos/videos between SD card, HDD, and your devices (phone/tablet/computer). you don't need to take your computer anymore when traveling. 3)be a power bank built-in 10400mAh power bank (5V/2. 1a) enables you to charge your iPhone or smartphone up to 3 times. Please use the latest app: HooToo Trip Mate Plus. Note: it cannot be compatible with affinity hot spot. trip mate is powerful, but: 1 ) cannot be used for IP camera FTP Path; 2 ) cannot work as a proxy server; do not support vpn3 ) The Ethernet port can only be used as a WAN input port; 4 ) no app for Windows phone OS; 5 ) It supports NTFS/FAT16/FAT32 formatted disk; 6 ) cannot bridge an iPhone hotspot. 7 ) cannot stream The media purchased from iTunes except DRM free medias due to digital rights Management policy. 8 ) Due to the limitation of the Apple iOS system, you can only access the photos folder on your iPad/iPhone; file hub is currently unstable to sync with media files stored in iTunes to USB storage devices due to digital rights Management (DRM). 9 ) Does not work with Mac formatted hard drive. 10）up to 5 mobile devices can connect simultaneously allowing you to stream media from the SD or USB drives, or you can directly share files between two different storage devices. 11）as a portable router, you can turn any wired network and make it wireless, or connect it via a DSL or cable modem and it will act as a regular router.
This is my third power bank and I couldn’t be happier with it. I tried the router feature last week when I was traveling in Japan and it worked, although slightly slow. This device is really handy when traveling because it fits conveniently in your pocket while charging your phone. I used it a couple of times while walking around due to its small size, it didn’t bother me much. So far, so good.
The HooToo TravelMate TM05 is a compact battery + WiFi router and USB storage manager. From the description, I assumed incorrectly that it has memory for backup of files while traveling. It doesn't, but it has a lot of other useful features.
The first is a powerful portable recharging battery, useful for all devices that recharge by plugging in to USB.(It has a USB micro-B port with no data capabilities - only for recharging the TM05's battery. The USB-A (larger) port actually serves two functions: in addition to recharging, it can attach USB storage devices, including drives that require a power boost to operate. These devices can then be accessed by WiFi from a smart phone or computer. Up to four devices can be attached by using a 4-port USB hub, though when I tried to use it with a power-hungry 2TB drive, it wasn't able to supply the juice without plugging the hub in separately to line power.
The TM05's WiFi can in used in three ways. The first I already mentioned: allowing access to USB storage devices. The second is as a router. For this, you need to plug the TM05 into an Internet-connected ethernet network. Connecting by WiFi to your phone or computer then gives you access to the Internet. The third way is to use the device as a "bridge", but the usefulness of this is limited. What it does is to connect your computer WiFi to the TM05, then re-transmit your signal to a second WiFi. Since all your signals are sent twice through the TM05, they take twice as long to get where they're going. The primary purpose of a "bridge" I suppose is boost a faint WiFi signal by putting the TM05 half-way between you and the WiFi you're trying to reach.
The TM05's WiFi signal is actually pretty respectable. On the 2nd floor of my house, with the NT05 in the basement, the signal registers as -64dB (3 bars). Compare this to my NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless Router (WNR1000-100NAS (G54/N150)) located in the same part of the basement, reading -70dB (1 bar).
OK, that's the good part. The bad part is the documentation and the user interface. It looks great superficially, lots of screen shots and a graphic interface on the Web. The drawback in the documentation is lack of basic information like how you would use the device, what the features are good for, and the fact the its internal memory is for its own operations only, not for YOU to use. I looked in vain for days trying to find the storage I *thought* was on the device. Troubleshooting information is also very weak.
The Web interface is all about "making it easy to use". Big, colorful buttons - and very few of them. Once you've attached your own storage devices, you can see the files there. The HooToo automatically creates four empty folders on every device you plug in, for Music Pictures, Videos, and Share. But trying to move files is not at all easy. How do you transfer files from one device to another? Not clear. How do you upload and download files? Not clear.
I was very eager to learn how tp access the TM05 using a standard file-transfer method, like Windows (File) Explorer, FTP, or even command line... Not documented.
Note: I didn't download HooToo's Android app. If you're like me, you don't want to clog memory on your phone with yet another single-purpose app.
Finally, I figured it out: If you enable Samba (which is under TM05's Settings > Services Settings > Samba Service), your computer will be able to see the TM05 if you're on its WiFi network. You can then use File Explorer to open any of the devices you've plugged in to TM05 and manage files in the usual ways. On my Android, I joined the TM05's WiFi net and used ES File Explorer to access it. Under ES's Network > LAN, I put in the TM05's IP address (10.10.10.254 by default), user "admin" and my password (blank by default! - you should change it ASAP!) which quickly brought up the file listing on the USB device I had plugged in to TM05.
So with just a little extra documentation, this can be a relatively easy and powerful little helper, both for travel and around the house!
I purchased this device a few weeks ago. I needed a portable router for the devices in my car. Worked great as far as that goes My only problem was that it doesn't connect to ad-hoc networks or the Hotspot on my iphones. Still I didn't purchase it for that reason so was not a big issue.
After about 2 weeks of moderate use an hour or two a day the wifi speed dropped to pretty much unusable speeds and the range decreased on the device to about 5 feet. I assume an antennae was defective or something. The reason for the 1 star review is I contacted support 5 times I address the issue. The first they sent me a standardized instructions on how to update the firmware which I completed to no better results. The following time I contacted support Via Phone and they started an RMA and promised to send an email. It has yet to appear. I contacted via email 3 more times to no responses. Tried the phone again waited 40 minutes and gave up. Thankfully Amazon has a very gracious return policy. It is listed that this item and others from Sunvalley have a 1 year warranty. I would think twice before buying as it seems likely there will be no warranty support.'
Update 12-12-17
I have been contacted by SunValley They were very apologetic and professional about missing my emails. Apparently they had been filtered out somehow. They have shipped a replacement which will hopefully arrive soon. Changing my review based on new experiences.
Awesome. Hotel life saver.
Have tried all features love it.
Cant stand hotel WiFi. Plug this in to ethernet set it up and Bam better WiFi just for me.
Back up batter is a nice touch and device is a nice size. Interface is not difficult to use and was easy to set up.
Background in pc repair.
Used this in Mexico at a hotel that charges $60/device/week for WiFi. The HooToo Wireless Travel Router counted as one device on the hotels WiFi, then all the other devices we had connected to the HooToo router, we had 2 smart phones, a tablet and laptop that all connected quickly and without any problems to the HooToo router. Highly recommended for this purpose, especially for around $40! Battery is great as well.
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