- Ultra-compact
- Plugs into any car power outlet
- 10 Watts/2.1 Amp
- Includes separate 4 foot Lightning to USB cable
- Powered USB port
2.1 AMP OUTPUT: This ensures I have the maximum electrical output available. FYI: 2.1 amps multiplied by 5 Volts DC = 10.5 watts, but labels will only show 10 watts
COMPACT SIZE: This fits in a vehicle 12 volt socket well and protrudes only enough to get a good grip to pull it out with your fingers. Some products were unnecessarily long or bulky; I prefer simple.
REMOVABLE USB CORD: Instead of a hardwired connection, I have the versatility to swap out the Lightning cord with a USB to micro USB cord for my wife's phone or the USB to Apple 30-pin connector for the iPad. If you find nothing but the Apple OEM size of lightning connections fits with your phone case, you can buy this same item without the cord for less $ and use your own cord. Search: F8J051ttWHT (color white) or F8J051ttBLK (color black)
NO RING OF LIGHT: So many reviewers of products complained about the light ring feature being a distraction. This model features a simple round green LED light that is not much brighter than the console button lights in my car. I ended up twisting the light to the 3 o'clock position where the USB connector blocks my direct line-of sight to it. If I wanted to, a small piece of black electrical tape would cover the LED completely and easily since it is away from the USB connection. This is the 1 feature I valued to prefer it over the Belkin # F8J090bt04-BLK, which has the same power output and small form factor.
Is it cheap, no. But would I rather spend less and give up some these features.......no. I would have bought the version of this product less the 4' cord if a good coiled cord were available(I didn't like the Griffin coiled cord). Thanks for reading!The car charger I was using before this was the Kensington K39224US PowerBolt Micro Car Charger for iPad, iPhone and iPod, including iPhone 4. Since I upgraded to the iPhone 5, I only had to buy a Apple Lightning to USB Cable to keep using that one, which is 2.1 amps, like this one by Belkin.
After using the Belkin, I would say it is comparable to the Kensington charger, but it already comes with a Lightning to USB cable, so that may figure in one's comparison of their prices if one doesn't already have a cable.
In a 30 minute drive, my iPhone 5 increased in charge from 50% to 89% using the Belkin, for an average of 1.3% increase in charge per minute. This seems comparable to my former charger.
Either product is excellent, and the fact that they can charge any of the Apple products quickly, assuming you have the proper USB cables, is convenient.The iPhone wall outlet chargers are super-quick at charging. I have gone from 30% to 90% in about an hour. You get used to that kind of speed charging and this 2.1 AMP car charger give you exactly that! Initially, I scoffed at the price for these high AMP chargers and bought a 1 AMP car charger. Since my ride to work in less than 20 minutes, I would probably get 10% more charge off the 1 AMP charger, but with this 2.1 AMP charger, I manage to juice up about 25%. The really cool part of this charger is that I can pull out the USB cable and continue charging my phone via my laptop USB port.
The charger is well-designed and has a robust construction Apple worthy! The charger sits flush with my power outlet with just enough of it popping out to get an easy grip for removal. The charger does not have any edges, it blends well into the dash with only the distinctive green bezel being highlighted adds a little color to my drab dash. I also love the new low-profile negative (outer) terminal design. No more accidental snagging and ripping the terminal out of the charger. It also helps with a smoother insertion and removal from the power outlet.
The lightning connector is well designed and fits most cases without any issue (check images above)
Pros:
* Solid feel to the product. Well built and sturdy parts charger, cable and lightning connector
* Included USB Lightning cable
* Slim profile charger that sits flush and does not get in the way
* Fast charging almost as fast as a wall outlet charger. Approx 2.5 hours for a full charge
* Well designed lightning connector fits most cases without any issue
Cons:
* Pricey at $35 but not too expensive at current market rates for a 2.1 AMP charger with a reliable, detachable Lightning cable
* The charger has a Green LED that remains on when the charger is connected. It seems inefficient to power the gremlins. I have old USB car chargers that turn-off when a device is not plugged in, light up Red when charging and Green when fully charged I paid less than $10 for those chargers
* For a car, I prefer a coiled cable like this one, just keeps things compact Griffin Tech PowerJolt SE Coiled Lightning Car Charger for iPhone 5, Touch 5G, Nano 7GA great little charger. Here are the Pros and the one single Con:
Pros:
Charges Fast: 2.1 amps...speedy and powerful.
Compact: Much closer to flush on dashboard than other car chargers I've used.
Active Light: A little green light is on when the charger is receiving power, so you know it is active and charging if something is plugged in.
Lightning: Obviously this is a Lightning Cable connector, and it works as advertised with my iPhone 5. The Lightning end of the cable is nice and thin, not too thick like other non-Apple Lightning cables (such as the Amazon Basics version), so it fits through my narrow iPhone case opening with no problem.
Flexible Cable: The cable itself is nice and flexible, not too stiff or hard to manage. This is important given that you will be using this in the car and need as few additional hassles as possible.
Con:
Not Fully Backwards Compatible: This charger does not appear to be fully backwards compatible to all earlier (30-pin) iPods as advertised. Belkin claims "As long as you have the corresponding cable, you can use the charger with legacy 30-pin Apple devices." But this doesn't appear to be completely accurate. I base this on attempting to swap the Lightning cable for a USB 30-pin cable which I use with another Belkin charger and then attempting to charge my iPod Classic. It did not work, and that's a bummer. But I like this charger so much otherwise that I will not downrate it for this. However it would have been nice to use this charger with my iPod Classic. It is worth being aware of this if backwards compatibility is a necessary feature for you. It may well work with other 30-pin devices, so I'm still giving it 5 stars for what it does do, because it does it so well.
For the price and functionality this is a great Lightning Cable car charger.
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When the iphone 5 came out, my husband like many I am sure ran out and upgraded all of our 4's to 5's. Well...what he didn't realize is there were hardly any chargers or accessories available for the iphone 5 devices. So we have limped through many months without a car charger. It's been one of the most frustrating things about owning the new iphone. NO MORE! The Belkin Car Charger does the trick! This will charge Apple iphone 5's. 4th generation iPads, iPad mini, iPod Touch 5th generations, iPod nano 7th generations. Right now I only use it for my iPhone 5 in the car and it works perfectly. Highly recommend this product.
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