Cool Tools Power Up the Home Office / Road Warrior Experience

The people at CoolTools recently reviewed several cool apps — ideal for the home officer-turned-road warrior.

According to writer Arthur Heafer, the Versacharger is a combo 110V AC and 12V DC USB converter to charge phones, PDAs, and various other electronics. Purchase additional USB connectors and “tips” as you go for specific gadgets. Some GPS units also can be charged with appropriate voltage transducers.

Heafer has used this charger over a year, mostly when traveling. It greatly reduces the amount of cables, chargers, wall wart and the like carried around. Heafer keeps all my devices (GPS, Palm T/X, cell phone) and charger in a small cloth, drawstring bag, along with a Ziploc bag for all the various tips (Add’l Tip: He uses a gold marking pen to write which tip goes with which device).

Worth noting: Heafer prefers using the cords manufactured by Syncharger (maker of the previously-reviewed kwikSynCh). As opposed to the designated tips from Boxwave, the Syncharger cords have USB at both ends and you only have to change the “Mtips” for your device, which is both less bulky and less expensive (the Mtips are $7 each; the shorter kwikSynCh is $15 and the retractable Syncharger is $27; compared to the BoxWaves which can run $26).

If you only need to charge one device, Boxwave’s bundle price is great, and their miniSync (pic above) gives more flexibility and packs smaller. However, if you need to charge multiple devices, I think the Syncharger cords are much more convenient. The BoxWave is available from BoxWave
http://www.boxwave.com/products/versachargerpro/index.htm

Other products:
$36
(Blackberry 7100x w/miniSync)
Available from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KZWC1K/ref=nosim/kkorg-20

Additional bundles, options available from Amazon
http://is.gd/rOuU

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

USB Cell Phone Cable
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000223.php

Multi-Use Car Charger
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002924.php


La Crosse Battery Charger
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/003527.php