Tag: Charger

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Searching for the perfect 3-in-1 Wireless Travel Charger

I have three devices that I charge every night. My iPhone 12 Pro Max, my AirPods Pro and my Apple Watch. Each one of these devices can charge wirelessly. At night I simply want to set all three devices on a single charger and wake up fully charged. This is easy at home. As a matter of fact I have two favorites:

Logitech Powered 3-in-1 Wireless Charger

The best all around 3-in-1 Wireless Charger is the Logitech Powered 3-in-1 Dock and the Belkin Magsafe 3-in-1 Charger (for iPhones with Magsafe).

Belkin Magsafe 3-in-1 Wireless Charger

I would have no problem recommending either of these two chargers because they work. However, both are designed to be stationary on a nightstand or a desk. They are NOT designed for travel and frankly they are just too big and bulky for travel.

What makes a perfect 3-in-1 Wireless Travel Charger?

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SliceCharge Pro – the wireless charger you’ve been waiting for

Apple’s AirPower was supposed to be the only wireless charger you would need. One charging mat that lets you charge an iPhone (or Android), Apple Watch and AirPods. Apple decided to cancel the AirPower before it ever shipped. They sited quality/technical difficulties. I can only imagine that this was because you would have been able to put your phone, watch or AirPods anywhere on the mat. Since the Apple Watch doesn’t use a standard Qi charger I’m sure it was hard to make it work when placed anywhere on the mat.

There are lots of Qi wireless chargers on the market. Some are designed just to charge a phone while other bigger mats are designed to charge two to three devices. I originally went with the Nomad Wireless Charger as it was one of the first to have an integrated Apple Watch charger. The Nomad solution works fine, but what I didn’t like about it was that it was one configuration. You lay your phone on it either vertically or horizontally and you put your watch on the dedicated spot. If you want to charge a third device then you put the phone vertically in the middle. What I don’t like about this is that you have to put the phone on it just right (not to far forward and not too far towards the front) or it won’t be on one of the three charging coils and therefore it won’t charge. I have woke up on occasion only to realize that my phone didn’t charge because it wasn’t sitting on it just right.

SliceCharge Pro offers six high speed charging coils instead of three or four

inside view of the 6 total charging coils

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4 Ways To Keep Your Mobile Devices Charged on the Go

If you are out and about these days then chances are you in need of charging your smartphone, tablet and other mobile devices. I travel for a living so I figured I would share the four ways that I keep everything charged when I’m on the go:

The external battery that’s in my pocket

anker-astro-2nd-gen

The 2nd Gen Anker Astro 6400 mAh is a great external battery to keep on your person. I love it because it has a smooth surface with no buttons to accidentally get pressed while it’s on my pocket. It change charge my iPhone 6 Plus up to 1.5 times.

Get it here.

The mother of all batteries that’s in my laptop bag

anker-astro-e7-web

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Charge 4 Mobile Devices At Once!

 

bolse

I travel with an iPhone, and iPad, a Jambox, a Nike FuelBand, etc. All of these devices charge via USB and all of course came with their own chargers. Rather than bring all those separate chargers with me I tend to look for multiple port USB charges that I can plug into one AC outlet and charge at least two devices. I was looking for one that could charge four devices including the iPad/tablets that need more power. I found one!

The Bolse 4 Port Premium High Output Wall Travel Charger has 4 Amps /20 Watts of output. That’s good enough to charge 4 devices at the same time including a tablet. I bought a couple of these and so far so good. As we speak it’s charging my iPad Air, iPod touch, external battery, and Jawbone headset. My only problem with it is the ultra bright blue LED status light. It’s blinding at night in a hotel room. Nothing a piece of gaffers tape or a Light Dim won’t cure, but I would love it if manufacturers either used lower power LEDs or allowed you to turn them off. Otherwise, this charger rocks and lets me easily charge 4 mobile devices at once!

You can order one here in white or black.

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Another Dual USB Charger that does Even More!

 

Last month I reviewed this dual USB charger that not only let's you charge two USB devices at once, but it has the higher 2.1Amp output on one of the ports for your more demanding USB devices such as the iPad. Well leave to to blog reader Mike to show me one that he insisted I would like even better. I took him up on his challenge and checked out the ReTrak dual USB charger. The one advantage that this one has over the others I've reviewed here in the past is that it works both as an in home AC charger as well as a Car charger too. That's right. Once charger that charges the iPad and one other device such as your iPhone, Android phone or other USB device and it works in either a standard home/office outlet or the cigarette lighter in your car.

That makes this the one to have for travel. I had been carrying separate chargers. One for the hotel room and another car charger for those times I get a rental car. Now I can carry just one and charge any USB powered device I carry. As an added bonus the ReTrak comes with a retractable iDevice sync cable. Cool! Thanks Mike

You can get the ReTrak Charger for $19.99 from B&H or here for $19.99 from Amazon.

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Charge your iPad and Phone at the Same Time

I'm always on the look out for ways to reduce the number of chargers I travel with and while I have found some great 4 Port USB Chargers in the past the one thing they all seem to lack is the 5V 2 AMP (10W) power requirement for the iPad. Granted the iPad will still charge on the lesser current, but it will take longer. Recently I found a dual USB charger that has one port that operates at the higher voltage. The other USB port is a standard 5V 1 Amp port for your other USB devices such as your cellphone. This is GREAT! This means that I can charge my iPad 2 at full speed and still have a port to charge my phone. The other requirement I have is that any charger I buy has to also work on the higher powered International plugs and this one does (with an appropriate wall plug adapter).

I have replaced my standard iPad white chargers with these for on the road. Yes it comes with a sync cable too. The only annoyance is the bright blue LED that lets you know it's plugged in. You know how I feel about LEDs 🙂

You can get the Dual Port USB Charger here for about $12 or here on eBay for about $12.

A standard Apple iPad charger retails for $29 (granted it does come with a long cord too).

 

Here's one for the Car too:

Order it here.