Windows Phone Thoughts: A Mobile Recharging Solution: The iGo Juice70 Universal Wall/Auto/Air Notebook Power Adapter

Modular - Good and Bad
At the end of the main cable there's a modular end where you attach the adaptor for your specific brand of laptop. The laptop adaptor kit covers an assortment of brands including Apple, Fujitsu, IBM, HP, Compaq, Dell, and others. This modular approach allows the base iGo Juice kit to be sold generically, instead of requiring a whole kit for each type of laptop. This has the side effect of being consumer-friendly because you can keep using the iGo Juice if you change brands of laptops.

The down side to the modular nature of this product is that if you happen to forget one of the three main pieces at home when you're travelling, the iGo Juice is useless. I was travelling down to Las Vegas for a conference, and somehow managed to forget the cable that connected the iGo Juice to the wall outlet. Luckily I was able to find a new AC charging kit at Fry's, made by Fujitsu no less, but it was an expensive mistake.


Figure 3: My Fujitsu laptop set up on a Coolpad, connected to the iGo, which is connected to the lighter adaptor in the car. This is my typical setup for long-distance car travel – my wife drives, and I work. :-)

The iGo Juice comes with a plastic carry case, big enough to hold the AC brick, the AC power cable, the laptop adaptor, the car cable, and a cable for your second device (in my case, an HP iPAQ cable). You might be able to fit the airplane adaptor cable in there as well, but it would be a tight fit. The carrying case when packed is quick thick, making it difficult to pack in a standard laptop bag. I would have preferred to see a longer, narrower carrying case – something that would be thinner when packed full.

Compared to Other Solutions…
Being the efficiency freak that I am, I've pondered whether it would be easier to use the power adaptor that came with my laptop – it's smaller than the iGo Juice brick – and a USB sync 'n charge cable for my Pocket PC. That solution is smaller, but ultimately not as effective because USB charging is slower than a pure AC power feed. The deciding factor though is the car powered scenario – I have a power accessory that plugs into a car lighter adaptor and gives me a standard AC plug, but it's large and heavy. The iGo juice is a thin cable ending in a small adaptor, making it a much smaller and lighter solution. Plus, the iGo Juice just looks cool. :-)

Conclusion
If this sounds like the perfect accessory, that's because it more or less is – it does what it does extremely well, is thoughtfully designed, and looks great. Being highly modular, this is an accessory that you can keep using for years, simply buying cables for your specific devices. I highly recommend the iGo Juice for anyone who has power-hungry devices that they need to recharge in a variety of scenarios.