Aluratek Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station: Pocket-sized power package
One of my major gripes while traveling is the lack of available wall sockets in hotels, as I often have two or three devices while my wife brings her iPhone and iPad. To help keep us from fighting over where to plug in our gadgets, Aluratek is now shipping the Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station (US$19.99).
Design
What's so great about this little white box? In one small package it offers two USB charging ports and three grounded AC outlets (American-style plugs), all while providing 612 Joules of power surge protection.
The prongs on the plug on the back of the Mini Surge fold flat for travel, keeping them from damage in transit and from scratching any of your gizmos. Unlike some portable power solutions I've tried before, the prongs on the Mini Surge lock into place so you know they're going to stay extended when plugging the device into a socket.
The Mini Surge is designed to handle up to 1800 Watts of power at a current of 15 Amps. If you're planning on plugging in a lot of "big equipment," ensure that you won't exceed that limit. Most portable electronics won't have a problem.
Using the Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station
Fortunately, I have a lot of stuff that I need to charge up and keep powered, so I have the perfect setup for trying this out. I plugged an iPhone 4 (with a cable to charge up a Mophie Juice Pack Air) and an iPad into the USB ports, and my MacBook Air, Apple Battery Charger, and an iPad 2 with charging brick into the AC outlets.
I'm not sure of the total power load on the Mini Surge as a result, but the device didn't get warm at all. There's a green LED to let you know that the surge protection is working -- if you are hit with a surge the light will go out if the protection is no longer sufficient to keep your gadgets safe.
I love the fact, even with five devices connected, I still had an empty socket on my wall.
Conclusion
There are similar solutions available from other brand-name vendors. Belkin's Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger (US$24.99) also has three AC outlets and two USB ports. While the prongs on the plug don't fold down as they do on the Aluratek Mini Surge, the Belkin device does rotate through 360° so that you can actually fit two of them on one standard two-socket outlet -- one pointing up, one pointing down, or each pointing an opposite direction sideways.
For a few years, I've had a Kensington Portable Power Outlet ($24.99). It also has three AC outlets, two USB ports, and surge protection, but has the added flexibility of a 17" flat power cord that means it can also be a short extension cable.
In terms of price and size, the Aluratek Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station really has the edge. I have a personal mission to keep reducing the amount of bulk carried on my travels, and this is an attractive and lightweight way to keep all of my devices powered up without carrying too many adapters.
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To help keep us from fighting over where to plug in our gadgets, Aluratek is now shipping the Mini Surge Dual USB Charging Station
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It takes 5 amp to charge an iPad and 1 amp to charge an iPhone 4. Unless you pack the AC chargers, you will wait a long time to charge your iPad.
Yes, you can plug an iPad 2 into a 1 amp USB port and it looks like it's charging, but it will take a very long time and you need to have the display turned off or you don't make any headway.
I have the Belkin and it won't charge 2 iphone 4s simultaneously. Keep looking!
Correction: Sorry for the misinformation. It takes 2.1 amp to charge an iPad2, not 5.
June 26 2011 at 12:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI also have the Belkin. I use it to charge both of my iPhone 4's at night and it works fine, even though it's 500mA across both ports.
I have also charged my iPad on it, but you have to leave the screen off and it does take longer.
The aluratek does not support 220v. It does provide 750mA per USB port. The Belkin does support 220v as I've used it in Denmark and Sweden with a plug adapter. However it only outputs 500mA across both USB ports, rendering one pretty much useless. If only there was a product that does both.
June 22 2011 at 12:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyOutputs 750mA per USB port, so a little short of what the iPad wants. Does not support 220v. Got some of these with a different branding, but same product. The Belkin works on 220v; if you call the company they will confirm and I've used it overseas so there is real world feedback. However the Belkin only outputs 500mA combined across the two USB ports, rendering one pretty much useless. Still looking for the holy grail of travel power products.
June 22 2011 at 12:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYour connections in the image look fantastic...ly like a major fire hazard.
June 21 2011 at 4:49 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down ReplyThis review missed the critical piece of info I'm after (though a comment touched on it already): does this provide the "full" charging rate to the iPad? And can it truly charge two iOS devices at the same time, with the worst case being two iPads (I guess)?
June 21 2011 at 3:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNice to see this article covering a travel gadget. I have the above referenced Kensington Portable Power Outlet which works well, but is limited for international travel as it does not support 220v.
Does this Aluratek support 220v input for USB charging? It isn't mentioned on the Aluratek website specifications page or product PDF.
painted_dog
.. i second this, there are some nice solutions like this, but all stop short of being useful for int'l travel, we really need one that does 100-24V & 50/60Hz. ... i personally prefer the ones w/ a bit of cable on them like the Kensington one as not all outlets are the right orientation, height, etc, having a bit of cable for extension & orientation make them more tolerant for what can be encountered when traveling (everything & everything.. ).
June 21 2011 at 5:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhat kind of warranty does this come with?
June 21 2011 at 2:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replysteve, the belkin "mini" surge DOES NOT allow you to charge 2 usb devices simultaneously! i just sold mine on amazon b/c it's weird when plugged into the wall - as it sticks out too far and is then unbalanced while plugging/unplugging. if you try to plug in 2 iphones - like i did - it flips out and starts doing this blinky blinky pac-man light and noise show, telling you that it cannot handle 2 usb devices charging at once. so i'd always end up having one iphone plugged in to my mbp and the other into the belkin, so i might as well just have them both plugged into my mbp usb ports.
if this aluratek indeed can handle 2 usb devices - iphones/ipads simultaneously - then it's the very first one on the market, b/c i've emailed tripplite/belkin/kensington, and none of them had 1A per usb port of power on their devices, yet claimed that they were "working on it". why put a product out with 2 usb ports if you can't actually use them at the same time?
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