By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Anyone who travels a lot will simply look at this device and sigh with relief. Why? Hotels are awful about providing enough power outlets near the desk – and with more and more gadgets hitting the road, it means a room strewn with charging cell phones and laptops and headsets, etc. One room I had not long ago sported a whole free outlet behind the bed – picture groping around behind that disgusting headboard.
Spec-wise, not much to say that you can’t see here. It boasts three surge protected AC outlet plugs, and will also charge two USB devices. Price: $24.99.
Product Page
Source: Belkin
Our Take: True, it means hauling along one more device and it isn’t exactly cheap, but if you really, really travel, this one is no-brainer, especially if you can expense it.
If only the outlet plugs weren’t so close together! While my laptop plug is compact because it has a brick in the middle, a number of my plugs like those for my PDA, cell phone, and MP3 player chargers all have the fat plugs at the base. Two solutions: 1) Lets Demand all electronic device manufacturers implement smaller plugs, but maybe have a brick in the middle if it really must have circuitry external to the device (or at least give consumers a choice even if it means purchasing a second AC adapter), or 2) Make these compact Belkin style products somehow telescopic, where the space between the plugs can be elongated — not sure if this is possible, and I’m envisioning flimsy plastic that may not be so good.
Or how about a more compact version of the Power Squid?
http://www.powersquid.com
I will definitely pick one of these up. Keith – you need one of these: http://www.powersquid.com/power-outlet-multiplier-black-p-182.html
Thanks Lewie and Pasquale! That’s perfect!