tl;dr: No matter how many mobile devices you have, there are never enough high-current charging ports—unless you have one of these!
I was given the iClever 6-port USB charging station pictured below so I could review the device on this site and on Amazon.com. I'm no stranger to beefy multi-port USB chargers; I now own three of the things, and use them for charging many devices at night, powering a cluster of six Raspberry Pi computers, and charging USB battery packs for long trips (it's great to not have to worry about finding an outlet for two or three days at a time while on vacation!).
I like two things about this particular charging station that are improvements over many of the other solutions (besides the fact that it's priced at about $25, which makes it one of the most inexpensive chargers!):
- All the ports are 2.4A, meaning I don't have to care what port I plug what device into—all six ports can charge up even my most power-hungry device (e.g. an iPad with retina display) just as fast as the others. Many inexpensive multi-port chargers have some low-power ports, meaning I have to look at the device to figure out into which port I can plug in certain devices—not so with iClever!
- The hardware itself is unassuming and small. This is a charger. It shouldn't try to look sleek, stylish, or at home on my desktop. I want utilitarian, I want it to stay put, and I want it to look simple and functional. It excels in all these aspects, and I have now stuck it on the underside of my desk so I can just plug and unplug devices all day long.
This iClever charging station is now my favorite, and for most people who need to charge and/or power more than two or three devices at a time, I highly recommend it. Charging two batteries, two iPhones, an iPad, and a Raspberry Pi didn't produce any noticeable heat on the device, and everything charged as quickly as possible, with no weird power blips that would affect the running of the Raspberry Pi.
You can purchase the iClever 6-port 10A USB desktop charger from Amazon for $25.99.
Comments
I'm still using this desktop charger today, and it's right next to me at my desk, where I'm constantly charging my iPhone, two bluetooth headsets, powering a Raspberry Pi or two, or powering other USB-based devices. My only complaint is that certain devices now result in a very slight buzzing sound inside the iClever while they're charging (much like some other inexpensive chargers I have).