The dreaded low battery symbol shows up on my phone at least four times a week. You would think that I would learn to plug in my phone before going to bed every night, but I guess I subconsciously enjoy making my life difficult. There seems to be a correlation to my phone dying only when I am following directions from Google Maps. Luckily, Unitek offers an inexpensive car charger that will keep you fully charged at all times. Let me introduce you to the Unitek 60W 5 port USB car charger.
Build
The package contains a USB car charger and a USB extension hub
The main USB car charger that plugs into your car is equipped with two USB ports. The top port supports QC3.0 technology. QC3.0 is a technology developed by Qualcomm that allows your phone to be charged from 0% to 80% in 35 minutes. This relatively new technology is only supported by a limited number of phones. However, the QC3.0 port will automatically detect if it is compatible and if it isn’t it will change to the correct power output. The great thing about QC3.0 is that it is backwards-compatible with QC2.0 and QC1.0 which supports many more phones.
The bottom port on the main car charger is a standard 2.4A USB port. There is a light indicator at the top of the main charging unit that lights up green when quick charge is detected or blue when regular charging is detected.
The USB extension hub connects at the bottom of the Unitek Smart Car Charger. The extension hub is aimed towards backseat passengers so everyone can have the option of charging their devices. The extension hub features two standard 2.4A USB ports and one USB Type C for those that have newer devices.
Usage
My car comes with a USB port so that I can charge my phone. However, over the past year, I’ve noticed the charging wasn’t as quick as I would like it to be. The Unitek car charger was a great addition to my car. The QC3.0 port was extremely useful because it decreased the charging time significantly. I have the LG G5 and found that it only takes around 40 minutes to charge my phone from 0% to 80%. Rapid charging is extremely convenient for me because I do not take many car trips longer than 20 minutes. Its ability to charge my phone to at least 50% in that time span is really crucial because of my bad habit of not charging my phone.Â
The extension hub is a nice addition for road trips with friends. It measures 22 inches which isn’t that long, but it should reach the backseat with the additional length of the charging cable. I took a trip up to Big Bear with my buddies for the weekend and had no problem charging four phones at one time.
Conclusion
Smartphone companies aren’t focusing on increasing battery life in phones so it is absolutely imperative to have various options of being able to charge your phone on the go. Many newer cars have a USB port that comes standard; however, these USB charging ports do not charge our smartphones fast enough. There are better options available such as the Unitek 60W 5 port USB charger.
Five ports allow for many devices to be charged at the same time. There is one port that has QC3.0 charging capability, which is also backwards-compatible with QC2.0 and QC1.0. The fifth port is strictly for USB Type C. Amazon is having a sale on the Unitek 60W 5 port USB charger for only $21.99 with free shipping. If you are like me and always forgets to charge your phone, then this charger will be a great addition to your car.
