If you have several mobile handsets that need charging at night, check out this review

For the last few weeks, I have been using a power strip for charging my devices.

The conventional pwer strip, a common solution to multiple device charging.

The conventional power strip, a common solution to multiple device charging.

It’s not your typical power strip, with a single, long row of outlets to plug in to, but is both shaped differently, as well as functions a bit differently. For starters, its shape is a square-ish. It’s off white and gray in color, with a matching switch on one side for operating the breaker. Lastly, there is a three prong plug that goes from the box into an outlet, to power the entire thing. The biggest differentiator for this unit though, is what you plug into it. All four sides are put to use with this device. On the side of the box that the main power chord is connected to, there’s a conventional outlet on either side, for regular plugs, with covers that can slide over them to obscure the openings. I appreciate this little touch, as it’s a nice option to close that off if its not going to be in use, to keep dust and other small detritus from ending up inside the block. Along two of the other sides, are the aforementioned on/off switch on the second side, and a set of three USB ports on the third; this happens to also be my favorite feature about it.

Strip4

The fourth side, at least at first blush, appears to be useless but for aesthetic value. It’s a full gray (vs the off white of the other three sides), and isn’t a vertical service, but rather slopes at an angle. Lastly, there’s a small tab of white plastic with the company logo, shaped so as to have the appearance of having been engraved into it. This little tab is designed to be pulled out of the device, so a user can rest a tablet behind the tab, and against the angled, gray side of the block.

Strip6

Opening it up, it held my NVidia Shield tablet nicely. We’re I not using thus in my bedroom, it could easily come in handy for gaming sessions, as it could both power the tablet and prop it up, in one single device. But since that’s not my primary use case for it, the little L shaped tab slides neatly back into the block, until it’s ready for use at a future time. Pay special note to how it’s positioned in the pictures to really get what I mean. In light of this, one can easily understand why they’d market it as a power strip that ought to rest on a desktop.

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The pair of conventional outlets that one could plug anything into, seem to charge at the expected rate. I ran my NVidia Shield Tablet, which has a 5,300 mAh battery, down to about 31%, then left it on a conventional power strip. Approximately two hours later, the tablet’s battery was up to 77%. Using that as a baseline for reference, I ran the battery down to 31% again, and let it charge alone using the same “wall wort” and USB cable, and found the performance was very similar. The USB ports performed as one might expect. The paperwork indicates that the block is “smart” maximizing the charge rate for a given device. Though I have no complaints about the charging rate, i saw no indication of anything special there either; the paperwork also indicates it can handle three smartphone at once, and pushed out 7.2 amps at once.
Using this for charging has been a pleasant experience. As an avid Android user and enthusiast, I have multiple devices (GWatch, Tablet, and Phone) for daily drivers. Before using this, I was charging both my phone and tablet out of a single outlet (Moto ships a handy little converter with their phones that plugs into an outlet, and has two USB ports that face outward), and would leave my watch to charge on my dresser, across the bedroom. Now, I have my phone charging in one A/C outlet, my tablet in another (so they’re no longer splitting the juice from a single plug), and I can charge my watch via one of the USB ports; even my wife as gotten in on the action, as she frequently comes into the room after I’m asleep, and commandeers one of the unused ports for her phone, and everything still charges nicely, though I’d wager the watch is fine by then, and the phone nearly so, as I put things onto it at different points. I simply can’t overstate the convenience of having all of my stuff charging out of a single outlet, and still be at my bedside.
It’s worth mentioning that the baffle is supposed to be waterproof. For obvious reasons, I’m loathe to test that. Beyond that, the only real downside to using this was the blue light. Much like I mentioned in my review of the Qi wireless charging pad from a few weeks back, this unit also has a blue light that fires up once power is flowing through it, so it’s a bit bright in the dark. It hasn’t been too bad, as in !y case, the block is resting on the floor, but it is still worth noting nonetheless. Beyond the blue light steadily shining in the darkness, there’s no downside to using something like this.

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In the end, I have to say that I really like this charging block. It frees up charging units to be used elsewhere in the home, or on the road; USB cables are cheap enough to come by on their own. It’s more than apparent that was engineered with mobile in mind, and the thought that was out into it really comes through, from its USB ports, to the one side that doubles as a stand for larger devices. With this level of utility, it’s easy to see the appeal of a charging block such as this, thus making it equally easy to recommend. And frankly, I’m surprised at how much I like this thing. I would not have thought that at the outset that I could be impressed by a a power strip and circuit breaker. If you need a solution to charging multiple devices in the same area, and/or spread the use of included chargers around, this charging block is exactly what you’re looking for.

9

Amazing

Ryan is married with two kids, and loves heavy metal and super hot Buffalo wings

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