iGo Juice 70 review

12 November 2003 10:07 GMT / By Stuart Miles

If you’ve been away on business over the last year then your know that taking a plethora of digital devices with you means one thing and one thing only. Loads of cables and let’s not forget the power adapters either.

iGo aims to stop this barrage of wires, plugs and adaptors with the Juice70 - A device that purports to charge everything at once, the concept is simple. Create a single power device, then provide different ports and tips to fit the vast range of power sockets that most laptops etc have. From here, the plan is to create a bridging system that allows you to charge different devices at the same time.

But does it work? The concept is simple and so is the application. As I write this, it's powering my laptop and mobile phone all from one socket. Quantify this further and I’ve just saved enough space in the suitcase to get in a couple more CDs or even DVDs to watch on the flight over.

Better still the device ships with an adaptor for planes and cars making this ideal for on-the-road salesmen who needs to keep everything powered.

What’s the catch I hear you cry? Well at the moment it is a tad expensive when you measure it up against perhaps the savings you would get buying the single adaptors. At the time of this review it’s retailing at £99, you then have to add the mobile/PDA adapter to this - another £15 - and then depending on what laptop or device you are running, money for extra adapters, making this soon spiral out of control.

Verdict

As a concept this is a great device but it ran very hot, which caused some concern, but it did the job at home and in the car. The price is questionable and if it was £20 to £30 pounds cheaper at least then this would, we feel, be a more reasonable price for what at the end of the day is just a charger looking to save you some space on your travels. A great product, that is just too rich for most people to make this an effective and worthwhile purchase. If in the preceeding months since this review was written, the price has gone down, then add at least one more point to our score and definitely consider it, depending on your gadget pile.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Mobility
Price as reviewed: £99 + accessories
The good: dual charing, works with most phones and laptops
The bad: Very expensive, need to buy extra adapters depending on your kit
Quick verdict: A great product, that is just too rich for most people to make this an effective and worthwhile purchase
Score