My friends from Bowden Design sent me these two gadgets for
test and review. At first I wasn't too excited for a charging cable and another
USB Car Charger. But after I received them, I changed my tune!
Lightening Cable:
This cable is nice. It is built very well, and can see where
they added extra support into the areas of the cable that tend to get stressed
(near both plugs). I have tosses so many of these cables because they fray in
those two spots. I can see this cable lasting a long time with daily use. What’s
great is that they are offering an amazing 2 Year Warranty! So if it does go
bad, you get a new one within two years of purchase! This cable is really just like the factory
cable… very hard to tell the difference.
The cable is MiFi Certified! So there will be zero
compatibility issues with your newer Apple "i" devices. You WILL NOT
get the annoying on screen pop-ups.
The cable works as designed and expected: It fit my phone
perfectly. Charges great. And I was able to sync to the iTunes Store with no
problem.
Car Charger:
This car charger REALLY IMPRESSED me... a lot! Why? Because
it's milled from aluminum. This thing is SOLID! You can easily feel the
quality.
But more importantly... this car charger has a 3.1A 5V
output! Why should you care? Because how many time have you plugged your phone
into your "Car charger" only to not have it charge? Especially if you
are using your phone as a GPS navigational device? GPS and having the screen on
for a whole trip will kill your phone fast. And a cheap 1 amp charger usually
cannot keep up with the power demands of the phone. So it is rendered useless.
With this charger... it will not only keep your phone
running, but it will charge your device quickly.
It has two USB outputs... so if you are charging two devices
at once, it will split the 3.1A to the two devices.
This is a nice device. It is easily worth the $16 dollars on
Amazon. For both the quality of the build (aluminum) and the superior charging
ability. They sell crappy car charges for $10 at Walgreens. Pay the few extra
bucks and get a good one like this.
The folks at Hisgadget sent me this Intocircuit to test and
review. And I really, really like this device!
When I pulled this out at work, I had several people
immediately ask me how to get one of their own. Everyone instantly recognized a
personal use for having a portable solar charger. I can count the number of
times (sporting event, by the pool) that I needed to charge up the phone,
without access to an outlet. I used this on my sailboat this past weekend, and
was able to run my phone and my tablet that I was using as my chart plotter.
Both devices stayed at 100% charged with constant use.
This solar charge is very well built. It has a rugged
exterior case, and the solar panels are well made. Just be careful not to
scratch it. It has an amazing 16 watt mono-crystalline solar array provides up
to 5V/2.9A output!!
There are three carbiner clips included and a micro usb
cable.
PROS:
- Unlimited FREE recharging!
- Charge your device anywhere there is sun.
- Great construction. It should last a long time.
- Compact and portable. Lightweight.
CONS:
- You need sun light. If its cloudy or rainy, you are
screwed.
My friends at Satechi asked me to try out this 7 Port
charging dock in exchange for a fair review. As I am a really big fan of
Satechi products, I was excited to get this new gadget.
In my household, we have about 20 devices that need daily
charging. Each nightstand, desk, and coffee table have external chargers
covering them. My house is starting to resemble the airport where I am
scrambling to find an open outlet! :)
So this 7 port charging dock appeared to be a great solution
to this problem that many modern families contend with everyday.
The charging dock is very well made. It has a large power
adapter (similar to a laptops) that you use to charge the dock. You then attach
your individual USB cables (not included), plug in your device, set it in its individual
slot, turn on the docks master power button... and your devices are charging.
There are three 2.4 amp slots for tablets or rapid charging cell phones (Note
4), and four 1 amp slots for pretty much anything else.
I had 2 tablets, 1 phone, and 2 external batteries charging
off this thing with absolutely no issues. It does not get hot. There is surge
protection on each port, so each device is protected individually. This is
important.
Pay attention to the footprint though... it does take up
some space. Also, in the images above from the vendor, they show this with dock
in use with very small USB cables. I do not have any of those. I did use the
included Velcro straps. But even then, it was still a LOT of cable strewn
about. It did look messy. I would like to see a purchase option that includes
the correct cables. Also the Velcro straps are a little fragile. I pulled on
one to tighten around a cable and it easily broke.
All in all... a very good product. Super helpful to charge a
variety of devices all at once.
Satechi Charging 7 Port Dock Review and Unboxing
PROS:
- Nice construction.
- Easy to charge 7 devices at once.
- 7 Powered USB Ports (3 x 2.4A and 4 x 1A )
- Each port has it's own surge protection.
- Large slots for each device.
CONS:
- If you do not have short USB cables, it can get messy. Even
with the included Velcro straps.
- This device has a semi-large footprint. Make sure you have
the room for it.
- I had a Velcro strap break while trying to use it on a USB
cable.
My friends at PowerAdd sent me their new and improved iPhone/iPad 8 Pin Lightening cable to review. And I like it! It's a well made lightening cable that I anticipate getting a lot of use from. The box it comes in is small and sturdy. There are no included instructions, but you really do not need them.
This cable is MiFi Certified by Apple. It is 3.3 (1 meter) long. This cable should work with the following Apple devices... iPhone 6 plus/6/5s/5c/5, iPad Air 2/iPad Air/mini3/mini2/mini/4th generation, iPod touch 5th generation and iPod nano 7th generation.
The cable costs $9.99 over on Amazon.com. It's well worth the money for a quality cable. And you and I both know you can never have enough of these!
