Hands on with the Chargepod Multi-Gadget Charger

I've had Callpod's Chargepod sitting under my desk for weeks. Finally I broke it open and set it up; it's a very cool little system that can charge up to six gadgets at once. Here's how well it works.

The core of Chargepod is a small silver hub and an AC adapter. The hub includes six ports, a lot like a USB hub, each of which can take a Chargepod adapter. Buy an adapter that fits your phone, PDA, iPod, gaming device, Bluetooth headset, or just about any other pocket-size gadget and connect that gadget to the Chargepod. Boom, you're getting juice to it. Since Chargepod can handle six devices at once, you can replace a half dozen of those bulky, outlet-hogging AC adapters with this one gizmo, and it looks pretty cool, too, with an LED indicator for each device that's being charged.

I checked out Chargepod with USB devices, a RAZR cell phone, and a Treo, and everything worked great. The company, however, sent the wrong adapter for my SonyEricsson phone (there are two different designs), and was apparently out of  PSP and Nintendo DS chargers, so I didn't get to test out those adapters. However, everything I was able to try had no trouble using the Chargepod to get power. The base unit, plus one adapter, is $50. Extra adapters are $10 each, and a DC auto charger ($20) is also available. Altogether it's a perfect way to cut down on clutter and consolidate your power needs into a single gadget. (Note that the Chargepod can't handle high-power devices like laptops. You'll need something like this to handle your computer.)

My only complaint with the Chargepod is the outrageous amount of plastic this stuff comes packaged in. It's not just wasteful, it took me almost 10 minutes to slice my way into all of the packages these various pieces of the Chargepod came packaged in. You guys have heard about oil prices, right?

UPDATE: Chargepod sent the additional adapters I needed and everything's working great. Six gadgets, charging at once. Nifty!