Five into one will go -- ARCTIC Smart Charger 8000 [Review]
Most of today's gadgets seem to use USB for charging their batteries so you inevitably end up with a whole stack of cables and the mains power adapters to go with them.
If you're looking to simplify things the Smart Charger 8000 from Swiss company ARCTIC may be the solution. It's a little box with five USB ports that allows you to charge a number of devices at the same time. It intelligently detects the devices connected to it in order to provide the best charging speed for each one.
The unit is compact with edges in a gray soft-touch rubber material, the top is hard black plastic with a subtle gray pattern, and rubber feet on the bottom stop it from sliding around. It comes with a one metre long mains lead so you can comfortably stand it on a desk or a bedside table.
Switch it on and a yellow LED on the top tells you it's active. This same LED will flash to tell you if you've reached the 10 amp current protection limit. The makers say it's up to 86 percent efficient so minimal energy is wasted generating heat.
On test it coped with an Android smartphone, a Kindle and an MP3 player all taking different times to charge. It does make a very slight whining noise when it's working but unless you put your ear next to it you won't notice it other than in a very quiet environment.
The Smart Charger 8000 is a handy gadget for organising all of your charging in one place. It's a neat, unobtrusive design and coped well with all of the USB devices we tried on it. It costs $23.99 on Amazon or £18.99 on Amazon.co.uk. More information is available on the ARCTIC website.