When it comes to convenience, nothing beats having to charge all your devices at one go. At the minimum, many of us have at least a smartphone and a laptop to charge, and for some of us, we have a tablet and even a smartwatch. That already makes four different items to be charged on a daily or regular basis. I don’t know about you, but having to put four different plugpoints on an extension plug is really annoying and messy. So, when we got our hands on this smart charger from Arctic that is able to charge 5 USB devices at a go, it was time to check it out to see whether I could ditch all my chargers in favor of an all-in-one charger.
Design
Honestly, the design of a charger is not something most people will notice at a glance since it isn’t a device that is meant to stand out. The Arctic Smart Charger 8000 does that; it has a rubbery surface to prevent it from slipping off the surface you plan to place it, and with its dark grey and black primary colors, it blends well with its surroundings. Now, the orange color spotted on the inside of the USB slots are actually the color code for the type of USB, in case you are not aware. So, they’re all orange in color, meaning they’re essentially ports that offer high-current or sleep-and-charge usage.
The 1-meter long wire from the smart charger to the plug point is of adequate length, so if you plan to place it on a shelf or table in order to charge your devices without having to plug in chargers at weirdly places power points, it should be long enough.
Performance
There is always one problem when it comes to using multiple port chargers; how efficient does it charge? So far, I’ve tried charging smartphones of different brands, smartwatches, fitness watches, tablets, powerbanks, and so far, nothing has overheated or exploded. On a serious note, my experience with multiple charging all at the same time has been pretty awesome, especially since being in entangled in a wirey mess is not fun at all. It wasn’t slow at all; it was as if all my devices were being fast charged at the same time.
There is also a little light on the top of the charger to tell you if it is working or not. This same LED light will also tell you if you have reached the current protection limit of the charger, which is 10amp.
