Packaging & First Impressions

The Zip-linq deluxe road warrior kit comes in the traditional plastic wrapping that takes a small army and a case of C4 to get through. Once in, the actual kit is in a nice leader folder with everything snug inside in semi-hard foam.

There are a lot of parts and the whole thing had us a little giddy at just the mere sight of all the fun parts. From USB lights to earphones this kit has it all and if it doesn't have it, you probably don't need it.

WARRIORS!!!!

We don't know if you should read too much into the "warrior" marketing name, you might not be able to fend off any hoards with this kit, but you will be able to connect up just about anything. Inside the kit is the following:

• 1 USB Light
• 1 USB Optical Mouse with Retractable Mini 5 Pin USB Cable
• One Retractable Cat5e Cable with Crossover Adapter
• 1 Retractable USB2 A Male to A Female Extension with 3 USB Adapters
• 1 Stereo headset with microphone & a handy zipper pouch

We got to testing first by taking using the USB connector to take some photos off our Canon digital camera. As it expected, it worked like a charm. The blue USB light is pretty cool and all of the connectors seem to work as advertised, meaning they plug in and work. It is a nice design feature to have the mouse work off the retractable cords. We also appreciated the USB 2.0 and Gigabit ethernet capability as well as the crossover adapter.

The earphones were a little strange as they have a built in mic which means that heave another connector at the end. For the road warrior this would be a great thing, but probably not for the road wanderer or road kill that we are.

One thing to note with this and any retractable cords is that you must pull from both sides at once. This makes it a little harder when the back is connected to something like a monitor, but if you pull slowly it will come out just fine.

Pros, Cons & Rating

Pros A lot of stuff in a little container USB 2.0 Crossover cable Nice mouse Cons Case is a little bulky Doesn't include Palm/Treo connectors

Conclusion

The Zip-linq deluxe road warrior kit is a must have for anyone that is out there in the midst of dead batteries and strange USB ports. Tuck this into your travel bag and forget about your "do I have it packed" worries.

Specs

• Leather case
• Lots of parts

Available at Amazon.com (www.amazon.com)