TomTom High Speed Multi-Charger
Tested: cigarette lighter converter to power in-car gadgets.
Price: £19.99
Hands-free kits like the Vivifi Bluetooth Mirror add to the list of gadgets fighting for power from your car’s 12-volt socket. So the TomTom High Speed Multi-Charger looks a good buy, as it lets you hook up three devices at the same time.
As you’d expect, it worked fine with our TomTom sat-nav in the DC socket. We tried a rival Garmin unit separately, and this charged no problem as well, although unplugging the lead of both devices was tricky without unhooking the Multi-Charger, too.
The unit offers standard and ‘fast charge’ USB inputs. The latter claims to work more quickly, and was the only socket capable of powering our thirsty Apple iPad. We plugged a Blackberry mobile into the regular USB at the same time, and both were soon restored to full charge.
A green light lets you know the TomTom unit is working, plus it’s small enough not to get in the way when plugged in – we hooked it up in three different cars to test this. It’s great value for the extra practicality it provides.
Verdict
Rating: ★★★★
What is it?
A triple charger that means you don't have to decide which one of your gadgets gets charged.
Problems?
Difficult to unplug gadgets from DC socket without pulling whole unit out of the 12V.
Why buy?
Compact size, not only powered but charged three devices at once.