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Gadget lovers will understand the frustration: you go to plug in a gadget to charge or transfer data only to realize that you’ve suddenly run out of USB ports. Before you know it you’re swapping chords and chargers left, right, and upside down until your whole life is a tangled mess. Why not eliminate that pain altogether?
Amazon’s latest round of GoldBox Lightning Deals puts a 13-port USB hub on sale for just $8.75. It’s a simple little brick that can plug into any standard USB 2.0 port, and should you find the need to charge your gadgets without a computer you can pick up a 3.5mm DC cable to use with a wall outlet. The device also has its own dedicated on/off switch in case you want to cut or conserve power without having to unplug everything.
Unfortunately this doesn’t support USB 3.0 speeds, but at such a steal of a price we don’t have much room to complain. The swath of good reviews for the device don’t hurt, either. The lightning deal only lasts for about 5 hours (from the time of this posting) or until all stock is sold so you’ll have to move fast or miss out (buy it here!). Let us know if you’ll be “in for 1” in the comments below!
That on-off switch is a gimmick. It does not cut off the transformer primary on the wall-wart power supply.
It cuts off the loads on the secondary.
But the big energy problem, which is the one not addressed by this on off switch, is that there are many millions of wall wart transformers sucking power, even when they are not in use.
Also, don’t expect to charge a lot of (or probably any) gadgets with this unless you also buy a DC power supply for it. (eg, the wall wart) I notice on the linked Amazon site the power supply is not included.
Can you say fire?
I doubt it is possible for this to cause a fire. If you don’t use the DC power supply, then the power available from the USB source is not enough to power the 13 female jacks on the hub — let along charge anything.
If you add the (not included!) DC power supply, it still may not be capable of charging anything unless the DC supply can put out at least 500 mA for every device you want to charge. And if your device supports ‘quick charging’ like most modern phones, then you need 2.5 A per device.
Rather than a fire what is most likely to happen: You plug in several modern power hungry (fast charge capable) devices. One starts to charge (beeps, indicates charging). Then another. Then another. Then one kicks into quick charge and draws 2.5 A. Then another. Then one kicks completely out of charging (beeps, icon shows no longer charging). Then another. Then one goes back into charging. Then into quick charging. Etc. I’ve seen this happen.
I have an older 4-port USB power supply. It puts out 2 A. That is enough for the USB required 500 mA per port. When I used up to four old devices that predate the idea of ‘quick charging’ by drawing five times that much current when possible, everything worked fine. But if I plug in two modern smartphones (a Galaxy S4 and S5) then they both continuously toggle through this charging / not charging cycle I just described. Each phone beeps as it begins charging and then stops charging. That is because when either phone goes into quick charging (drawing 2.5 A) it is already exceeding the power output this older brick has available for all four ports to share.
Saved for later,shipping costs are prohibitive w/o PRIME.
Perfect for small devices such as B/T & Smartwatches.
I’ll stick to higher-powered chargers for the phones though.
From the specs:
“Operating Current: 500 mA/port”
PASS.
Most phones and tablets need 2Amps, else it takes ’em 4 times longer than usual to charge. So, if you’re going to by a USB Charger, get one that supplies close to 2A per port (e.g.: if it says it’s a 40W charger, divide by 5 volts, and then again by the number of ports to get the simultaneous amps per port, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Family-Sized-Desktop-Charger-PowerIQ-Technology/dp/B00IBDOB5I )
I’ll stick to this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IBDOB5I/
Works incredibly well, charges my nexus 7 2013, me and my significant others iphones, and my galaxy s4 at the same time at full with no issues.
I bought one 4 months ago. Works great. Go to his link if you want something good and not cheap crap.
I also bought one of these a few months back, works great and charges 4-5 devices pretty constantly when everyone’s home.
Or this: http://www.amazon.com/Desktop-Technology-Bluetooth-Speakers-Detachable/dp/B00L2SBZ80/
60W with 7 ports :D
meh its 10 bucks for two more ports and the anker one is really small
That looks legit. That will save me SO much space. That can reduce my surge protector by four plugs. Hmm…
Well it ought to work. It has enough current to charge multiple devices — unlike the $8.99 special (without power supply!) device pictured in this article.
Just ordered the black version two days ago. It should be sitting in an amazon box on my doorstep right now.
This will be great for iPhone users at an airport..
Wall huggers unite!
This will not work – this is horrible advice. Where exactly does the author suggest that the user can get 13A from through the USB input cable in order to charge 13 devices even at 1A? That is a 65W USB charger folks? Seen one? Nope – me neither.
Most people will take this author’s (bad) advice, plug this into a 2.1A Apple USB adapter and wonder why all 13 of their devices are dying despite being plugged in. It’s because each device will only be getting 0.1A.
You are correct Sir…
Comeo n Phandroid you’re better than this. Have you seen how slow devices charge via a PC/laptop? Divide that by how many devices you have plugged in. This product is only useful if you have 13 thumb drives, and even then it’s a stretch because the data transfer will be so slow it’d be faster to plug them in a few at a time.
Others have posted better alternatives already.
You didn’t read it well. It says you can buy a DC adapter. I thought the same thing you did the first time I looked at it. This thing can plug into a wall.
I did read it, did you read how he talked about hooking it up to a PC much more than using a DC adapter that you have to buy as well? Also it would need to be 65W to be able to charge 13 items at 1A, and that’s going to be really slow for modern smartphones and very slow for tablet.
Face it, it’s a 13 port USB switch for keyboards, mice, usb drives etc.
I think y’all are focusing too much on the charging aspect. He’s not trying to present this as a cheap way to charger a bunch of devices, but rather a way to plug in to the computer to transfer data without having to unplug something else and also charge at the same time. Yes, .5 Amps is incredibly slow and this should not be relied on primarily for charging. Still, people will plug their phones into computers to charge, if they are near one, rather than go find their phone’s charger. No matter how many times I tell my wife that charging on half an amp will take forever, she still does it and then her phone dies shortly upon leaving the house -_-
The title of the article starts with the word CHARGE. It is clear what he intended. And you’ll only get 0.5A if you’ve got a single device plugged in.