Best Power — Curated from The Hiro Report

These are some really good-looking wall chargers that launched this week with a built-in 2-foot retractable USB-C cable as well as a spare USB-C port for charging two devices at once. They come in some fun colors (like the above-linked Teal and Electric Yellow), and are apparently well enough made that Apple is stocking them in-store. I'm going to grab one to try out.

Another week, another well-designed charging solution from the folks at Anker. This is a clever power strip that clamps on to your desk so that you have USB-A, USB-C, and standard AC power outlets available to use on top of your desk and plenty of standard power outlets available under the desk as well, all with surge protection built in.

I grabbed one of these for use on this trip this week and am really loving it. It's charging much faster than my old 7.5W Qi MagSafe chargers, but most importantly it's ridiculously slim. It's effortless to slip into my EDC bag, and keeps my iPhone nice and pocketable when it's in use. I do wish that it was available in Qi 2.2 for even faster 25W charging, but it doesn't seem like there's more than a handful of models out there offering those speeds and they're all pretty massive.

I'll admit that this is probably too late for this current winter storm, but I highly recommend picking one of these up or something like it for the inevitable next one. I have an older version of this unit that gives us a lot of peace of mind when looking down the barrel of possible power outages, like we experienced here in Texas back in 2021. This unit can power your home devices and a Wi-Fi router for a very long time or could keep a fridge or small space heater running for a few hours in a pinch. The best part is being able to hook this up to a collapsible solar array that you can pop up in your backyard to recharge it if needed.

This is a super simple concept, but like all TwelveSouth products, it looks quite premium and well built. This minimalist valet tray offers you a sleek place to drop your keys / wallet / phone / sunglasses / etc., but with the added benefit of a built-in wireless Qi2 charger for your iPhone or AirPods. It also has a discreet USB-C port for simultaneously charging a pair of smart glasses or an iPad overnight.

This chunky boi has saved my hide a number of times. It’s about a half-inch thicker than I wish, but it can recharge my iPhone 17 Pro 2–2.5 times. It has a built-in kickstand and a small display to show how long until you’re fully recharged. It goes almost everywhere with me.

My last travel charging setup died a tragic death between trips, so I picked this up for travel this week. It’s a clever foldable 3-in-1 station that charges your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at the same time, now with Qi2.2 support for 25W MagSafe charging. It even comes with both a cable and a beefy but diminutive charging brick—nice touch.

This is a really clever new release from Mophie that lets you simultaneously charge both your AirPods Max and AirPods Pro in a single, attractive stand. I ordered one as soon as I saw it—I would like to use my AirPods Max more, but it seems like they need a charge every time I reach for them.

The Apple product-loving geniuses over at twelvesouth have come up with a really clever and obvious offering in the Powerbug. It is a small puck-shaped power plug, no larger than an AirPods Pro case, that plugs into any power outlet and has a MagSafe-friendly charger right on the back of it. No need for cables or a fancy docking station. You can just attach your phone right to the plug. That said, it does have a discreet USB-C PD port that can deliver up to 35W of fast charging for other, non-MagSafe devices. I plan to grab one of these and use it in my kitchen.

Well, this is a beautiful, handy little thing. Nomad released an updated version of their ChargeKey this week, a super small USB-C to USB-C charging cable that fits on your keychain. The new version supports fast charging up to 240W and data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps (USB 3.1). I also love that the two cable ends magnetically stick together, preventing them from flopping around like useless squirrel nunchaku. I want to grab a pair (or four) to stash in all my bags.

- Of course, right after I link to the excellent Anker charger I’ve been using in my 2024 most used gear list, Anker releases a new one that looks even better. This one features three USB-C ports (up from the two on mine) and one USB-A PD3.1 port, and it’s capable of kicking out enough power to charge a 16” MacBook Pro in just 30 minutes. I also appreciate the ports being on the bottom of the charger, which should help reduce the weight of the cables pulling the charger out of the wall. *Amazon Affiliate-link to support my tech habit.

Is this a romantic gift? No. Will it absolutely save their ass when their battery is low, and look good doing it? Yes. $$

I don’t have one of these waterproof power banks (yet), but I love the cut of their jib. Good looking, bomb-proof design with screw on caps to protect the USB-A and USB-C sockets on them. I also dig the dimmable camping lamp attachments that plug right in to the unit. These are definitely going on my fall camping shopping list. Thanks to BC for sharing this Gear Patrol Review with me.

OK, I know I recommended a battery last week. This one is different! I've long been a fan of Apple's now discontinued MagSafe battery pack for the iPhone. Anker has released their own spin on it with the QI2-enable MagGo battery pack. It charges the iPhone way faster than the old MagSafe battery pack used to, can recharge the phone multiple times in one go, had a built-in kickstand, and while it's probably a bit gimmicky, I really like the small LED display on the side that tells you how much battery is left and how long it will take to charge.

Chase Reeves' shared this thing in a recent EDC backpack dump video (Shoutout to BC for the share!) It's a really clever little travel battery with a built-in folding plug for recharging directly in wall outlets. It also has built-in USB-C, Lightning, and USB-Micro cables for powering whatever devices needs juice at any given moment. While I normally am Team Anker when it comes to charging accessories, I wound up grabbing one off Amazon and really digging it. Instantly added to my default travel packing list.

I recently stumbled across these wall outlets with built in 30W USB-C plugs, and have started installing them in place of our house’s old standard outlets. It’s such a small thing but it’s a game changer to not have to find a charging brick each time we need to charge a phone, iPad, or Mac; Now we can just plug directly into the outlet!