Reviewer: Gizmo • Date: August 2006 • Price: £35 • Link: widget.co.uk

As the unstoppable express train that is the digital age hurtles towards Deejayville, we're having to think a little less about XLRs, RCAs and jacks and rather more about Ethernet and USB and where the nearest damned wifi hot spot is. And when you're out and about, isn't it a pain to be without a modem cable and USB connectors? If so (and I know this applies to me), the ZIP-LINQ Deluxe Road Warrior kit could well be the life saver you always wished you had.



Coming in a handy zip up case, the ZIP-LINQ Deluxe Road Warrior Kit has almost every bit of digital gadgetry a digital and travelling DJ could want - in fact anyone who travels with a computer or indeed works in a support role would like this.

The full contents

USB 2.0 Male to mini 5 Pin USB Cable
USB Light
USB Optical Mouse with removable cable
USB 2.0 A Male to A Female
CAT6 crossover adapter
CAT5E Twisted Pair patch cable
3 x Male to Male USB adapters
Stereo Ear Buds with a microphone

Quite a selection and on the face of it, you might not need everything in the kit but that's not the point - you carry most of this as a "just in case" backup, should you forget to pack a particular cable or should something suddenly break.



The key feature of much of this ZIP-LINQ kit is the way that the cables are contained within a retractable holder. Pull at both ends and the cable expands in your hands. There's obviously a tradeoff - it's a flat 3 core ribbon cable rather than a rough and rugged normal USB but it certainly does the job. At full stretch the USB cables are 1.5m, but with the extender, this becomes 3m.



The extender also doubles as a "fits anything" USB adaptor. Supplied in the kit are all the familiar USB connections - type A, B, mini USB and mini USB2 connectors means you have little chance of being able to connect to or from every USB device that comes your way.

The mouse is OK, but the design means it doesn't stay very flat on a surface. The underside curves up to the removable USB port and makes it a little unstable. I used it for 10 minutes and got somewhat frustrated. But it's small, comfortable and works just fine as a backup when you're out and about.

The Ethernet options are a nice surprise and something I'd have killed for when I worked - the crossover adaptor would have been especially helpful on several occasions so top marks to ZIP-LINQ for this. The light is an interesting addition and one that struck me as perfect for DJs. Plug this into your laptop and suddenly fumbling around with Serato in a dark club is a thing of the past.

The inclusion of the combined bud earphones and microphone is aimed way more at the traveller than the DJ but is a very welcome addition to the kit and in an absolute emergency could be used for DJing.

Summing up

The target market for this is the roving type - probably with laptop, mobile phone, PDA etc needing to be sure that wherever they turn up, they'll still be able to communicate with the rest of the electronic planet.

Quality wise, It's fair to say that the quality of this gear won't suffice for everyday DJ use it's simply not rugged enough, but can easily be slipped into your luggage as a backup. Value for money is high - were you to buy all of this individually, it would cost you considerably more that the £35 being asked for it and it comes in a compact case to keep it all safe.

You might not need all of it but buying this kit will make sure you're never caught out again.

Big Thanks to Ranieri PR for supplying the kit.