Hub brand recommendations for observing boot-up traffic

I would like to hub-out and observe boot-up networking traffic but I'm unsure
of what brand of hub to buy. Linda Chappell, in her Technet webcast, said
that one manufacturer makes their hubs basically the same as their switches
which makes them unsuitable for hubbing-out. Anyway, I'm living in Asia and
it's not easy to return things here, so I'm soliciting brand recommendations.
Linksys, D-Link and NetGear are all available here. Thanks in advance.
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Happy Computing! Big Joe
http://www.bcco.biz