CalDigit

The support team is quick and reliable, and my issue was sorted within minutes over the phone.

For me buying CalDigit TS+ dock became one of the worst hardware experiences I've ever had in my life. This is a beautiful, shiny piece of hardware targeting hipsters with MacBooks who occasionally also need to do some real work. So naturally I had to buy it. I got it together with my MacBook directly from Apple Netherlands. The happiness ended as soon as I started using it. Since day one I've had random disconnects, power cycles and so on, just endless problems. It happened very irregularly, maybe 1-5x per week For example, you insert a USB device (e.g. webcam) and this sad thing power cycles. Or just restarts out of the blue for no obvious reason. I talked to Caldigit support twice. They are polite until you need actual help. Then the reality check ... first of all it turns out the support is (only) in UK. Then they tell you they really don't like replacing their products because of the chip crisis. So if they turn it on and can't see the problem well they'll just send it back to you. I had to pay for the postage myself of course, filled out the customs declarations. They had it for weeks, promised to get back to me before Easter, then forgot about it. In the end they found nothing and decided to send it back to me, as defective as it was when I sent it to them.

In the meantime I bought a cheap used Dell dock. I paid 4x less than for CalDigit and have not had problems since. Everything just works! I have not had one single disconnect! So my 2 cents ... CalDigit is basically a scam for people who want a good looking dock. This is not a mature product. This is not a mature company. You will regret it as soon as something goes wrong. And something it will go wrong since this is a poorly designed piece of hardware. I regret buying it and I will stick to my cheap used Dell dock. I will sell this one for whatever I get or I'll use it as an overpriced doorstop. Hopefully a job it can handle.