Since everyone nowadays seems to have a USB powered device like an iPhone or Blackberry or Droid or iPod, being away from an accessible source of power is a big pain in the butt. As many of us spend time in our cars, it’s only natural to have some way to easily charge your devices there. Many new cars already have USB ports or other types of power supplies, but what about those of us that are in older vehicles?
Well, iLuv has a few options available for those types of situations: the iLuv Micro-sized USB Car Charger and the iLuv Dual USB Car Charger are two of these.
First a little information about the Micro-sized charger. This is the one that I’m actually using in my car currently.
It is quite small and fits almost flush within a cigarette or power adapter within your car. When it is plugged in and powered, a small blue light is shown. It is not a distractive blue but it is good to have so that you know that the power adapter is fully plugged into the socket. It handles 12-24V DC input and will output 5V, 500mA DC. It has a power consumption of 3.3W and weighs about 0.3 oz (not that weight really matters). Remember, you do have to supply your own USB cable.
The retail price on this is $14.99.
The Dual USB Car Charger (shown above) is slightly larger but works pretty much the same way as the Micro charger. However, instead of the USB slot being on the front, the Dual Car Charger has two on the top. Instead of a small blue light, the Dual charger sports a blue ring of light. Also, the Dual charger can, obviously charge two USB devices at once. iLuv has a fuse built into this charger in order to protect your devices from excessive current. The DC input is the same as the Micro charger, but it outputs 1A instead of 500mA. There is also a 1 USB port version of this model.
The retail price is $19.99.
Both of these items are extremely helpful to have in your car. I personally like the Micro USB version simply because it doesn’t jump out at you. The dual USB version would probably be better in a car that has multiple parties (e.g., the family minivan).
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2. Details on my Review Policy is also on my “About†page.
HTD says: These USB Car Chargers are an essential “upgrade†to any car, especially if you are a big gadget person constantly trying to keep your devices fully powered.
[AMAZONPRODUCT=B002JQZQYI]
3 Responses
Wow, these are neat. My husband would love this for his ipod. In fact, maybe I'll buy him one for Christmas!
Wow, these are neat. My husband would love this for his ipod. In fact, maybe I'll buy him one for Christmas!
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