This is a compact unit that I use to charge my cell phone and Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS using the two DC outlets, and to charge my Ipod Nano and Palm TX using the two USB outlets. I purchased a DC outlet extension cord at Radio Shack, and plug the charger into this so that I can position the charger right next to my seat.
I have tried various other chargers, and this is the most convenient one that I have found. In addition, the charger's capacity is sufficient to handle all of my gadgets being charged simultaneously.
Update July 22, 2009: Some months ago I replaced my Palm TX with an iPod Touch 2G. This unit charges it just fine using the same USB cable that I use to charge the Touch on my laptop.
Update August 23, 2009: I now charge my new BlackBerry Tour on this unit.
Update October 10, 2010: I just ordered my third unit--not because I had a problem with the other two, but because I wanted one for each car. Three years later my original unit is working just fine, as is the secind unit that I purchased a year after that. This is definitely a quality product that has performed well and held up well.
Update December 3, 2010: I just received my fourth unit that I am giving to one of my children to use in their car. This is a quality unit, and I have not had any problems with any of the units that I have bought. Multi-Use Vehicle Charger with Dual USB Ports and Dual 12 Volt Sockets - Magnadyne
This device is really helpful not just for road warriors, but the average person who may have quite a number of devices that can be powered/charged by USB. It can handle and is fused at 20 amps.
I have two. On is 8 months old, the other about four months. You do not need to direct wire, but it is easy and in both my vehicles they are directly wired. One went to the front cigarette lighter wiring (about a 10 minute install) meaning I have a net of three cigarette lighter 12v outlets, plus two USB limited to 15 amps of the supporting OEM cigarette lighter fuse. In my second vehicle I have it direct wired to the battery main bus with an inline fuse (from an inexpensive $20 car amplifier power supply wiring kit). That was about 40 minute install. They can support a high powered laptop, treo, navigation unit, dvd player for the kids in back, and also charge an ipod or bluetooth set -- all concurrently. It is also not difficult to open up the device and and use the 5v leg to run a direct 5v usb for hardwiring nav units.
The USB 5 volts is pretty clean and accurate checking with load on car start I am getting 5.1v and it settles at 4.95v, all well within tolerances for any usb device.
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this is exactly what any blackberry, ipodding tuning road-warrior needs. dual 12v and 5v usb...genius.
my only hitch is that it takes a few seconds to buffer the power to the USB ports. My blackberry 7130e didnt start charging until a few seconds after the charger was plugged in. It works so im not concerned.
the usb ports have enough power to charge any USB device you can throw at it. I used this to supplement a high-speed portable hard drive that needed more power than my ultra portable laptop could supply it. so one plug went to PC usb for data and the other went to this baby and i was mint.
Love the mounting equipment. velcro or screw mount..your choice!
Cables and construction are solid and wire is heavy guage so it wont over heat under high load.
BUY IT NOW
Product is well built and easy to mount. Despite its sturdy construction, none of the ports are adequately filtered electronically. Consequently, if you want to keep your mp3 player charging while listening to music, forget it! The unit picks up engine noise which plays through the speakers. So, as a charger, it works perfectly and is well made but..using it while listening to music: absolutely not. 4 stars for quality, 2 stars for poor noise filtering.
This unit would not charge my Nokia n900 using its USB outputs, until I modified it. But then, neither would at least three other dumb USB chargers I had on hand. Finally, I searched the net for n900 charging issues, and found that the n900 expects the charger to behave as the USB specification for dumb chargers reads, and many don't. Specifically, it expects to see 200 ohms resistance between the D+ and D- pins (the two center pins) and this unit appears to have an open circuit there. It seems that many phones, specifically some iPhone and Blackberry units, do not conform to the USB spec either, and expect to see around 2 volts on D+ - which this unit provides.
So, if your phone will charge when connected to a computer, but not when connected to a dumb charger, this is why.
Using a magnifier to see the pins adequately, I connected D+ and D- together with a little solder bridge on the printed circuit board. Although this isn't a 200 ohm resistor, it's sufficient to inform the n900 that it's connected to a dumb charger, and it starts to charge.
The power is nicely filtered and regulated, no noise on the audio output while charging, so this plays fine in the car while charging while some other dumb chargers contributed so much buzzing from their switching regulators that it wasn't possible to listen to music.
I guess manufacturers of dumb chargers are between a rock and a hard place, as not every phone expects the same thing. The ultimate unit would offer a switch on each USB port to fix this. Those who don't want to open their charger can also make a USB cable with a short or 200 ohm resistor between D+ and D- to solve this problem.
Nice product... not much to say. The only reason I give it 4 instead of 5 stars is because the springy (+) tip to plug into my car's socket isn't very springy, and at first the thing wouldn't stay in the socket. I intend to hardwire though. For that purpose, the included cable is a little short (about 40") if you need to custom route it. Otherwise it's a nice length. The product easily opens up and it looks like a power cord replacement is a simple solder job even for a novice like myself. I'm also impressed that they put an extra fuse on the inside of the device in case someone tries to put a bigger fuse into the thing to get more power.
Looks like a very well constructed product for the price.
As my review title explains, this will power the latest generations of iPod via the USB port. I successfully tried both a synching cable and a "charging only" cable. - Ipod Charger - Car Chargers - Cell Phone Charger - Dual Car Adapter'
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