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Consider asking Santa for a new travel charger

If it's been a couple of years since you last looked at what's going on with chargers for all these devices that you're toting with you on your trips, this winter is high time to take a gander --
the newer chargers are using a different material, gallium nitride (GaN), and the behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt among electrical standards officials is that the current limits on how much juice can go through a USB-C port are going to be increased.

You can right now get GaN chargers with 3 or even 4 ports that are smaller than the charger that came with your laptop and can either charge the battery in half the time or charge three things overnight, all for less than a standard Apple charger.
(These are 66W or 65W; there are bigger ones around 100W that are starting to come down in price, and if you're just using a phone or tablet, there are 20W choices that are no bigger than the plug.) Several of these include the USA, British, and European plug adapters. This is an easy way to reduce some of the clutter in your carry-on.

Posted by
5362 posts

One charger for everything.... that sounds terrific....no more bins full of chargers!!

Posted by
11773 posts

I think these will be my “stocking stuffers” this year!

Posted by
4853 posts

but remember, even with one charger, you still need a handful of appropriate cables. and you should have at least two chargers since you might be using different outlets in your room. from what I've seen on newer airplanes and trains, you may not even need the charger since USB ports are often offered. But again, the cable must have the correct type of USB on both ends.

Posted by
2766 posts

I've been an Anker fan for a long time, bogiesan, but the example you linked to is $43 msrp and has one C and two A ports --
if you shop around you'll find ones with two C and one A port for $10 less.

Posted by
10186 posts

you should have at least two chargers since you might be using different outlets in your room

??? I don’t understand

I travel perfectly well with one Anker charger that has two USB ports. Why would I need to use a different outlet in my room ? I am missing something here.

Posted by
4853 posts

the number of ports in one charger may not be enough, or a fully loaded charger may fall out of the outlet, or one outlet doesn't want to accept one of the chargers for whatever reason, or a circuit overloads. belts and suspenders.