Switch 8 by Goal Zero Category: Solar Chargers Works With: Anything with a USB port Price: $99
As travel chargers go, The Goal Zero Switch 8 kit is about as convenient as it gets. The two panels fold into one easy-to-carry pack, and on the back is a zippered mesh bag in which the battery pack and USB converter sit. There’s space in that bag for a phone or other small device, and there are enough paracord loops around the edges to secure the pack, open or closed, to just about anything.
Eton’s new BoostSolar a) is here just in time for sunny summer and b) solves many of the problems usually present in solar chargers. It also looks pretty cool, and less like the utili-hippy designs beloved of rivals.
What if you tok Twelve South’s neat Plugbug Mac charger extension and shrunk it down to work with the iPad charger? You’d get Scosche’s CoverCharge, that’s what. Just like the Plugbug, the adapter slides onto its host and adds an extra USB port.
Call it the Dracula of iPhone chargers: the ChargeBite doesn’t charge your iPhone by juicing it up from an inclosed battery pack, but by sucking precious electricity from a friend’s iPhone and siphoning it into your own.
For awhile we were in a drought period for Lightning accessories. No one was making anything for the iPhone 5, latest iPod touch, and newest iPads. Now everyone is starting to sell accessories and peripherals that work with Apple’s newest dock connector.
Scoshe is the latest to hop on board with its new lineup of Lightning chargers and cables.
Even if the only traveling you do is from your home to your office, and even if that “office” is actually just your bedroom, then you will probably find the PlugBug wicked useful. But if you ever leave your home country’s own shores, then you might consider the PlugBug World, a globally-aware charger for your MacBook and iDevices.
Oh man. I know I get a little too excited about device chargers, but the brand new PlugBug World from Twelve South will get even the most anti-gadget of you fired up. It’s a new version of the already clever universal charger, only now it also works anywhere in the world (making it global as well as universal? I don’t know).
The Nectar fuel cell is yet another attempt at freeing our devices from their relationships with power outlets. And technically, it looks great – compact and easy to use with a simple USB socket.
But unlike charging your cellphone via the mains, which is so cheap that a single charge is virtually free, the Nectar costs a buck a pop.
Believe it or not, Black Friday has already come and gone. Pretty soon the Christmas season will begin, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much. Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category. From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts for the lovely laydee in your life.
After months of silence, big accessory makers are finally starting to rollout products for Apple’s Lightning dock connector just in time for the holidays. One such example is Griffin’s new PowerJolt SE car charger. The cord plugs into your car’s 12 volt power outlet and channels 10 watts of juice to your Lightning-equipped iOS device.
My iPhone would die if I couldn’t charge it in the car. I’ve been using a 30-pin Belkin charger with Apple’s Lightning adapter since I got my iPhone 5, but Griffin sent me the new PowerJolt SE last week.
![Goal Zero Switch 8 Solar Charger Is Small, Tough And Just Powerful Enough [Review]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/plugins/lazy-load/images/1x1.trans.gif)
![Goal Zero Switch 8 Solar Charger Is Small, Tough And Just Powerful Enough [Review]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_1079.jpg)
![PlugBug World Is The Only Travel Charger You’ll Ever Need [Review]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/1360324306.jpg)
![Cult of Mac Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts For Her Edition [Updated]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/her-updated.jpg "her updated")
![Griffin PowerJolt SE Lightning Charger Keeps You Juiced Up In The Car [Review]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMG_0062.jpg "IMG_0062")
