Product review: iClever® 50W 10A 6-Port USB Desktop Charger

The wall charger is very compact for being able to charge 6 things at the same time and it has a long AC cord with a regular size plug, so it takes up only one slot on the power strip. Its size is 3 7/8" x 2 3/4" x 1", its weight is 6.15 oz.

This charger is a "smart" charger, i.e. it has a chip that can figure out the optimal protocol to use for each device on any port. I tested this wall charger using a current monitor with my Android Nexus phone and iPad Mini. I ran my tests with each devices on every port while it was the only one charging, as well while the charger was charging four tablets and two phones. The charger did quite well especially for iPad Mini. It also remains fairly cool as it does the charging.

I am including the details of the tests below for those who like to see the technical details.

➨ Test results
======================
--------------------------
✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (the only device charging)
--------------------------
Port 1: 0.95A/5.01V
Port 2: 0.92A/5.01V
Port 3: 0.88A/5.02V
Port 4: 0.89A/5.01V
Port 5: 0.92A/5.03V
Port 6: 0.90A/5.03V
--------------------------
✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (with 5 other devices charging, total of 6 devices charging)
--------------------------
0.90A/5.01V

--------------------------
✔ iPad Mini (the only device charging)
--------------------------
Port 1: 1.46A/5.05V
Port 2: 1.46A/5.05V
Port 3: 1.46A/5.04V
Port 4: 1.47A/5.05V
Port 5: 1.47A/5.05V
Port 6: 1.49A/5.05V
--------------------------
✔ iPad Mini (with 5 other devices charging, total of 6 devices charging)
--------------------------
1.40A/5.05V
---------------------------

The charger is compact in size and takes up only one spot on the power strip. It has consistent performance on all ports and pretty close to optimal charge.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.




Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Aduro POWERUP 11000mAh Portable External Battery

♦ size: 2.875" x 5" x 0.875"
♦ weight: 9.95 oz
♦ number of ports: 3
♦ flashlight: no
♦ passthrough charging: no (i.e. the battery can not charge while being charged itself)
♦ cable: 11" charging cable.

This external battery is fairly compact for its 11000 mAh capacity. I got the attractive Chevron design. It has three ports and fairly bright charging indicator.

To see how well different chargers and external batteries charge my mobile devices I use a Nexus phone and an iPad Mini to test each of them. I do my tests with the devices charged to the same level, running the same applications and using the same cables to keep everything the same. This allows me to compare them to each other in a fair way. I use the current monitor to see what current is delivered to each device which tells me how well each external battery is working. In addition, I also test to see if the battery supports pass-through charging (i.e. whether the battery can charge mobile devices while it is being charged).

In these tests Aduro POWERUP performed very well for my Android phone on all ports. My iPad Mini performed all three ports the same, i.e. it was drawing the same on 2.1A port as it did on 1A port. On 1A port it performed average for 1A, but below average on 2A port as it was getting the same charge as 1A port.

The battery does not support charge through charging. The current monitor shows that the battery shut off charging as soon as I connected it to AC source and began charging the external battery.

For Android devices it matters if a cable used to charge the device is a charging cable or a data cable. In a charging cables the two data connections are shorted together (rendering the cable useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see the cable as an AC power connection and thus the battery accept a higher current for charging. Most of the time external batteries come with a charging cable, but every now I run accross a manufacturer that enlcloses data cables with external batteries. It is easy to tell which cable is enclosed using a current monitor, as people can improve the performance of the battery by switching to a charging cable.

Aduro package includes a charging cable which performed very well in my tests. It is a keeper!

Samsung Nexus phone:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2A port: 0.99A/5.01V (excellent)
1A port: 0.99A/5.01V (excellent)
1A port: 0.98A/5.01V (excellent)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2A port: 0.93A/5.08V (below average for 2A port)
1A port: 0.93A/5.08V (average for 1A port)
1A port: 0.93A/5.08V (average for 1A port)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet and Nexus phone at the same time :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2A port: 0.93A/5.08V (iPad Mini)
1A port: 0.89A/5.01V (Nexus phone)

To summarized this external battery performed best with Android devices. I would not recommend it for Apple devices.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Fosmon 15600mAh P15K Power Bank

♦ size: 6.5" x 2.5" x 0.75"
♦ weight: 11.65 oz
♦ number of ports: 2
♦ flashlight: no
♦ pass through charging: yes (i.e. the battery can charge while being charged itself)
♦ cable: 6.5" charging cable (has a warning not ot use with wall chargers that exceed 1A)

This external battery is relatively small for its large capacity of 15600 mAh. It has two ports and came with a short charging cable that had a warning not to use with chargers exceeding 1A. Since one of the ports on this external battery is 2.1A this warning seems confusing.

I like the capacity of this battery but ran into some issues with iPad Mini Tablet. The charger performed very poorly on its 2.1A port, especially for my iPad Mini. And it could not charge my iPad Mini at all when I tested charging two devices at the same time. I am including the details of the tests at the end of the review for those who are interested in the nitty gritty numbers.

To see how well different chargers and external batteries charge my mobile devices I use a Nexus phone and an iPadMini to test each of them. I do my tests with the devices charged to the same level, running the same applications and using the same cables to keep everything the same. This allows me to compare them to each other in a fair way. I use the current monitor to see what current is delivered to each device which tells me how well each external battery is working.

In these tests Fosmon had mixed results. It performed reasonably with Android phone, but significantly below average for my iPadMini Tablet.

I also tested to see if the battery supports pass-through charging (i.e. whether the battery can charge mobile devices while it is being charged). Yes, it can charge while being charged.

For Android devices it matters if a cable used to charge the device is a charging cable or a data cable. In a charging cables the two data connections are shorted together (rendering the cable useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see the cable as an AC power connection and thus the battery accept a higher current for charging. Most of the time external batteries come with a charging cable, but every now I run across a manufacturer that encloses data cables with external batteries. It is not easy to tell what cable you got unless you have a current monitor. I always include this test in my reviews so people can improve the performance of the battery by switching to a charging cable. Good news in this case - Fosmon package includes a charging cable.

Samsung Nexus phone:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1A port: 0.94A/5.01V (good)
2A port: 0.89A/5.01V (below average)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet: (tests repeated with several charging cables including the OEM cable that came with the tablet)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1A port: 0.93A/5.08V (average for 1A port)
2A port: 0.57A/5.08V (poor, significantly below average for 2A port)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet and Nexus phone at the same time (two combinations)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1A port: 0.08A/5.08V (iPad Mini, not charging)
2A port: 0.63A/5.01V (Nexus phone, below average)

1A port: 0.92A/5.01V (Nexus phone, ok)
2A port: 0.47A/5.08V (iPad Mini, poor, significantly below average)

To summarized this external battery performed best with my Android phone. I like its large capacity, especially for travel. My iPadMini did not charge very well with it, I have tried several charging cables to be sure of the results.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Rocketek 2 Outlet Surge Protector with 6 USB Charging Ports

Rocketek charging stations has 2 well spaced out AC outlets and 6 USB ports. The two AC outlets are set apart far enough that I can plug in two Eneloop chargers next to each other (see video). I like this power strip but would have found it even more useful if it had three or more AC outlets. I am always running short on my power strips.

The power strip measures 10.5" x 2.75" x 1.25" and has a 52" cord.

I tested the 6 USB outlets using a current monitor with my Android phone and iPad Mini. I ran my tests with each devices on every port while it was the only one charging, as well while the charger was charging four tablets and two phones. In my tests I always start at the same level of charge for the devices, running the same applications, and using the same cables. This allows me to compare results in a fair way. The Rocketek charged both of my devices at the optimal charge level on every port. I am including details below for those who like to see the technical details.

➨ Test results
======================
--------------------------
✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (the only device charging)
--------------------------
Port 1: 1.03A/5.25V
Port 2: 1.03A/5.18V
Port 3: 1.04A/5.18V
Port 4: 1.02A/5.16V
Port 5: 1.03A/5.15V
Port 6: 1.04A/5.18V
--------------------------
✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (with 6 other devices charging)
--------------------------
1.03A/5.15V

--------------------------
✔ iPad Mini (the only device charging)
--------------------------
Port 1: 1.61A/5.11V
Port 2: 1.60A/5.11V
Port 3: 1.55A/5.12V
Port 4: 1.52A/5.12V
Port 5: 1.54A/5.12V
Port 6: 1.55A/5.12V
--------------------------
✔ iPad Mini (with 6 other devices charging)
--------------------------
1.40A/5.11V
---------------------------

I like this power strip - well spaced out outlets and lots of USB ports.

The only negative I can say that the packaging is mostly in Chinese. For example, I could not read any information about surge protection. The information on the box was the only documentation included in the package.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Holy Stone Mini Quadcopter M62R(Plus) with Camera - Photo Drone

Is this Quadcopter fun? Yes! Is video good? Yes, very crisp close-up and distance. Was it easy to control? No! I have not been able to bring it back and we always had to chase after it once it fell. Because we did not have good control of the copter we could only fly it over a large fields, where there was no fear of getting it tangled in a tree or falling into water. In attached video I including both video taken by the copter as well as the video I took of the copter flying.

One of the challenges with the copter is the documentation included in the package. Documentation is missing several steps in assembly and the information on how to enable the video mode. It is written in hard to understand English. I am including what I learned below, I hope this will be helpful to other budding pilots.

The following assembly steps were missing from the instructions:
❶ You need to snap on propeller shields by snapping them over the propeller. I am included a short video of this step in the video.
❷ You need to remove white "feet" that attach the copter to the shipping box, and install landing gear. I also included a short video of this step.
❸ The package includes two batteries. One is already installed into the copter, another is a spare. The battery inside the copter is shipped disconnected from the copter. I charged it up and then connected the battery cable to the cable that goes to the tiny computer board in the copter. These wire connectors are very fragile. One of the insulation tapes got dislodged on the third day of usage.
❹ One of the critical steps missing/unclear in the instructions is how to turn on video.
Here are the steps (also shown in the video):
- start by turning off and then turning on both the copter and the controller
- pair them (throttle up and then down, confirm pairing by spinning the propeller at low speed or while holding the body in your hand so it does not fly)
- at this step you will see that the on/off button is glowing red color
- press right center button to start video mode, you will see that the on/off button will turns steady blue
- then press up on the left control button for photo or down to start video
- if you turn the copter upside down you will see that it glows red when you take or photo or stays red if you taking video. I show it in the video with dimmed lights in the room. In the bright light outside the red glow is very hard to see. I tested photo/video by taking them at home, the copter does not have to fly to take photos and videos. You can figure out how it works by holding it in your hands, then checking the micro SD card in the computer. I was also able to check what the videos we took by using OTG cable with my phone.

The copter has 5.5" wing span. The copter appears to be quite durable. It survived many many falls from high elevations.

Documentation says that the battery takes 40 minutes to charge and lasts 5 minutes of flying time. We got much better life out of the battery. Since we were doing video during each flight I can tell that the battery took video for 13 minutes every time we flew it. The battery charging time appears to be a little less than 40 minutes. We recharged it in the car. When the battery is fully charged the light on the connector turns red.

The copter comes with an SD card (512MB) and I replaced with a larger SD of my own. The SD only goes in one way (copper down). The micro SD compartment does not close, so the copter is not water proof.
If the copter stops responding to the controller, turning it off and then back on resolves the issue. If it stops responding it is an indicator that the battery is running low.

The controller provides no feedback other than the blue flashing light for the photo mode. If the controller provided more feedback it would be easier to use.

Camera carrying drone is a really cool idea! This copter a promising start. It is not perfect but it is fun! In the future I see these types of drones being controlled from a phone app, so you can see a live feedback from the camera and use the touch screen for controlling the movement.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆


------------------------------

Product review: DBK 32000mAh Multi-voltage 2USB Portable Charger External Battery Pack

♦ size: 4.75" x 7.2" x 1"
♦ weight: 28.45 oz
♦ number of ports: 2
♦ flashlight: no
♦ passthrough charging: YES (i.e. the battery can charge while being charged itself)
♦ cable: 11" mini USB charging cable. Also included are 10 AC connectors for laptops as well as an AC cable to recharge the battery.
For Android devices it matters if a cable used to charge the device is a charging cable or a data cable. In a charging cables the two data connections are shorted together (rendering the cable useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see the cable as an AC power connection and thus the battery accept a higher current for charging.

The DBK 32000mAh external battery charger has two ports. It has an excellent performance for my Android devices on both ports. My current monitor shows that the left USB port is 2A and the right USB port is 1A port. I got excellent performance for my iPad mini on the right port (2A) and below average performance on the left port.

To tell how various battery packs perform I measure their performance with a current monitor. The current monitor results are interesting for relative comparison with other external batteries. I test all my external batteries using the same charging cables, running the same apps while charging, and starting all tests at same charge level of the phone to account for non-linear charging. This allows me to compare different external batteries to each other keeping everything else constant.

Samsung Nexus phone:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1A port: 1.02A/5.06V (Excellent!)
2A port: 1.02A/5.05V (Excellent!)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

iPad Mini tablet:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1A port: 0.94A/5.00V (below optimal)
2A port: 1.56A/5.00V (Excellent!)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

I like this external battery's performance and its huge capacity. I feel very well prepared for the next power outage.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Sabrent 60 Watt (12 Amp) 10-Port Family-Sized Desktop USB Rapid Charger

I really like this charger. It is quite compact for being able to charge 10 things at the same time. I always need to charge not only my mobile devices by external batteries which I use extensively, so this has become my main charging station. I have been using it for over 2 weeks, using all 10 slots charging phones and batteries and it remains cool while doing a lot of charging.

The charger size: 3.75" x 2.125" x 1.875"
The charger weight: 8.20 oz
The AC cord length: 58"

The description states that it can charge 4 tablets and 6 smart phones simultaneously. I dug up my old smart phones and managed to test 4 phones and 3 tablets charging at the same time. I also measured the charger's performance with the current monitor so I can see how each of the devices performed when it was the only device charging and compared to how it charged when I had all 7 devices charging. I am including the details current monitor readings below for those who like to see the technical details. The bottom line of the tests is that the charger did very well, especially for Android devices. However, I was never able to get more than 1.15A on my iPad Mini even when it was the only device charging. The good charging rate for iPad Mini is above 1.30A and best I ever got is 1.70A.

➨ Test results
======================
--------------------------
✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (the only device charging)
--------------------------
Port 1: 0.99A/5.15V
Port 2: 0.94A/5.14V
Port 3: 0.90A/5.14V
Port 4: 0.92A/5.14V
Port 5: 0.90A/5.14V
Port 6: 0.96A/5.14V
Port 7: 0.92A/5.14V
Port 8: 0.96A/5.14V
Port 9: 0.94A/5.14V
Port 10: 0.99A/5.15V
--------------------------
✔ Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone (with 6 other devices charging)
--------------------------
0.99A/5.15V
--------------------------
✔ iPad Mini (the only device charging)
--------------------------
Port 1: 1.01A/5.05V
Port 2: 1.03A/5.05V
Port 3: 1.08A/5.05V
Port 4: 1.12A/5.05V
Port 5: 1.13A/5.05V
Port 6: 1.13A/5.05V
Port 7: 1.13A/5.05V
Port 8: 1.15A/5.05V
Port 9: 1.15A/5.04V
Port 10: 1.22A/5.05V
--------------------------
✔ iPad Mini (with 6 other devices charging)
--------------------------
0.99A/5.15V
--------------------------

To summarize this charger did well charging my 7 devices at the same time. It perform at close to optimal rate for Android devices. It worked but performed a bit below average for iPad Mini. I like that I can charge many devices and give up just one slot on my charging strip. The unit remains cool when charging a couple of phones, a tablet, and external batteries.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★