@cinoclav yes, most electronics with a transformer will work over a wide range of voltage and frequencies, but I suppose those wouldn’t fall under ‘single voltage appliances’
@craigcush I mean, I suppose if you took a US hair dryer and used it in the UK, it would probably work for a brief period of time, and probably quite excitingly
@craigcush@nolrak I can attest to that fact! We used to travel with school groups and inevitably at least one of the girls would toast a hair dryer by not using a transformer. And yes… it ran quite well but very briefly.
As for the .28 watts, I think that’s the USB output usage. The outlet side is rated 8 amps (which is actually too low for many curling irons or blow dryers anyway)
@the_inevitable Agreed. Also see the comment from chienfou below. This style will often fall out of the outlet. Better suggestion is to use the fixed plug version mentioned here along with a power strip.
Kind of chintzy looking but I guess they’ll get the job done. Might be worth spending a little more on a quality one if you’re going to do a lot of traveling overseas. I bought this one a few years back. Nice quality, inexpensive enough. I paid $9.96 for it at the time. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759WWXNN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title
@cinoclav If I’m going to spend more, I’d want something which can step down 220 to 110 volts as well just to be safe… Though even this recommends that you don’t plug in a hair dryer. Best to drop another 20 Euros/Pounds/Francs, etc. on one there if not already supplied by your AirBNB/Hotel.
@Fej While this is indeed a problem with the type of adapter in the video, the ones being sold here are wider and therefore the pins hit the edges and don’t allow you to mis-align the plugs off the side (at least the one I have doesn’t) Due to the geometry involved you could still plug it in on the bias, but why would you? If you can’t be trusted to plug it in correctly you probably shouldn’t handle electrical plugs.
It also appears that the outlet is shuttered.
I’ll be in Istanbul (not Constantinople) at the end of August for the GF’s daughter’s wedding. (I figure saying this here on meh is not likely to get me growled at, but quite frankly, whatever…)
All of the electric devices I’ll be taking (microUSB and USB-C chargers, my CPAP machine and maybe a small WMD) are good for 100-240VAC and 50 or 60 Hz so all I really should need is something to adapt my USA plugs to whatever-the-fuck Turkey uses in Istanbul (not Constantinople). I can, and eventually will, Google this to see what Turkish electric sockets look like, but I figure asking you guys isn’t likely to hurt and may be entertaining (given the experience from recently showing my GF the /giphy and /image slashdown commands).
I figure I can bring some paper clips, electric tape and a small long-nose pliers to make adapters on the fly, but doing so might freak someone out (eg. said GF or the daughter or a maid, etc.)
So…
TL;DR: might these be useful for someone travelling in Turkey, specifically in Istanbul (not Constatinople) and needing to plug in USA stuff that doesn’t much care what the voltage and power-line frequency are?
Thanks, @chienfou! I got a pair of these based on your comments (anyone else considering these, see @chienfou’s comments, below). From my POV, for $10.83 (NYC sales tax), a pair of these will eventually be useful.
And, sorry to disappoint, @PooltoyWolf, but I was merely making a joke… As a young teenager, I did experiment with various things–eg. warhead-equipped model rockets (this about 1000’ below planes landing at NYC’s Laguardia Airport), molotov cocktails, assorted explosives, poisonous gases, etc.–that would likely get me federal prison time today, I’ve never felt the need for mass destruction.
My impulse trigger is saying to buy these even though I have no use for them and don’t need them hopefully this impulse will be gone by the morning I think I’m going to call it the Meh-pulse, because God knows you got me about 160 times already love me some two for Tuesdays.ok Meh-Heads sleep nice.
@nolrak It’s a bit weird to leave one prongs-up and step high enough that you step on it rather than kick it, but I guess someone might have left one at the bottom of some stairs or something, in which case yes, they’re definitely more caltroppy than US plugs.
On the positive side, they’re much less likely to gradually work their way out of the socket and then with a partial connection start a fire, than US plugs.
USB is nice, but these multi type plugs usually suck and don’t stay in the wall sockets all that well. I ditched mine a while ago for the kind that are smaller and specific to a country, and I bring along a multi port usb Charger that lets me charge whatever I want. Those are $8 for a 3 pack.
I’ve read it a few times and I’m sure if these are just converters as well or just adapters. If these do not include a converter, you’re gonna BBQ your electronics if you don’t have a converter as well. I have a travel powerstrip thing that is adapter/converter in one that was sub-$30 on amazon and has worked in the 6 countries I’ve been in with it.
Edit - I see it was pointed out that no converter. Be careful folks!
OK, having used these previously, some things to consider:
As mentioned, sometimes these can be a bit of a pain to get to stay in the outlet. A key factor is what you are plugging in to the front of the adapter outlet. If you plug a ‘wall wart’ style item in then the additional torque will potentially make it hard to keep it plugged in.
Buying single blade style adapters is great IF you will only be in one area that uses the same type adapter. If you are travelling in the Caribbean for instance you may need different styles for different countries. But once again, if the single adapter is having a wall wart plugged into it then the torque is again an issue even with the single ‘country’ style. In fact, the single type adapters can sometimes be even more difficult to keep plugged in since they don’t have the benefit of the wide base that hits the wall plate to distribute the torque. Sometime a little creative routing of the cord will help take up the torque and help keep the plug in better.
If you aren’t careful, you can toast equipment plugged into the outlet if it doesn’t do the 220/110V conversion itself. As mentioned most electronics with a transformer will work with either voltage and either 50 or 60 cycle pulses. Read the tiny print on the transformer or check the manual.
On the plus side, on of the major advantages to these is that you don’t use up an outlet. This is a problem in MANY countries outside the US. In my experience you will generally find that spare (empty) outlets are virtually non-existent outside the US where NFPA standards call for plugs all over the place. This allows you to unplug the lamp from the outlet, plug in the adapter, plug the lamp back in and still have 2 USB hubs available.
A good addition to these is a powerstrip rated for 220/110 with multiple plug configurations. This allows you to plug in the adapter, plug in your power strip, then plug that lamp back into the strip with more outlets to spare if needed. Many of these come with USB outlets built in as well…
One important item that hasn’t been mentioned is that these also act as a surge protector (though none of the specs for clamping voltage, joules etc, are listed…)
So there is my 2 cents worth. As usual, YMMV.
TL:DR I have these and like them. In for a couple more at gifts for people that will be travelling in the future.
@chienfou Solid advice. I have had many of these fall out of the wall socket, specifically in England. Another thing to consider is that many places still have a recessed round outlet like in the photo below where this style adapter won’t always reach the contacts.
So I also use the method mentioned above of travelling with a power strip and carrying a smaller set of individual, country specific plug adapters that will fit into these recessed outlets.
It’s hard to tell from the pictures, do all the prongs fold away so you can pack it easily for travel? I have several overseas adapters and its pain having to pack around priapic power prongs.
@hughgrection the one I have is a solid cube with no protrusions when all the prongs are retracted.
It is a bit bulky, but still pretty handy…
edit: best seen in the 4th picture. The Euro plug folds in…
I will just point out for those posting “better alternatives” above that current ratings matter. When I travel I take a LOT of pictures & videos (2 Nikons and a Panasonic micro 4/3) and rely heavily on my laptop for processing. It’s a very beefy i7-based Dell. I bought the “#1 adapter” on Amazon for a trip to Iceland last spring, and never even thought to look at the current ratings.
Well, if you can’t guess where this is going, the unit I bought was not up to the task - it would run any small charger for phones or camera batteries, but it could not handle the laptop. Fortunately the hotel had a box of discarded adapter to lend…
Check out the model linked above - it’s rated at 100mA input current - that will run your phone charger and not much else
@Pufferfishy Just as an alternative, you can often buy just the outlet side of the power brick cable with the correct local style plug end separately. I have had to do that for my MSI but now I have the cable which has a ‘standard’ sort of triangular shaped end for the power brick and a European end for the 220 side.
Last time I was in Europe I realized that I forgot my battery charger for my camera and was able to get one from Amazon delivered to my rental house in a couple of days which saved my trip from being ‘pictureless’ (I don’t consider my phone as taking pictures…)
@chienfou LOL - I never thought about just getting a Dell-appropriate power cord! I work in IT and my company has datacenter presence all over the globe - I am sure I could talk to one of the DC guys and get one of these for free!!
Just wondering out loud: Anyone have experience with plugging a 115V triple tap extension cord into one of these to gain some extra outlets? Seems like a plug strip with a switch or circuit breaker (possibly) not rated for the higher voltage might not work so well. But I doubt that a passive cord would be so marginal voltage-wise.
@walarney I bought one similar to the one you show after worrying that the LED light in the rocker switch might not run so well at 220V. I don’t think it would be much of an issue if there wasn’t a light, but it seemed worth the (small) cost to be sure.
@walarney If you are talking about a triple tap like this then I would refer you to the above posts and the issues of torque presented by the additional weight on the adapter.
@chienfou I always travel with one of these. Hotels, conference rooms, and airports almost never have plugs where you need them. (Although hotels more and more often have plugs built into lamps or the desk, many are broken or only have two prongs or just can’t fit a power adapter.)
Yes, it’s not a voltage converter. It’s simply an adapter for foreign wall sockets. If you, like me, only need a USB wall charger and/or want to plug in your a laptop (or any other multi-voltage unit), this is fine … BUT it could be SO much handier if it also had a US plug, like mine does, so you could use the USB charger at home …
@richrauch If you look at the pictures, one of the settings is “US/Australia.” Australian jacks have duck-toed blades (or pigeon-toed blades depending on how you look at it), but it appears from the pictures that one of the two US/Australia blades can be rotated to make it parallel with the other blade.
I bought a set for my daughter; if I remember I’ll report back here once she gets them.
“We say: 2 dual-USB wall chargers that know different languages.” (Sadly, it doesn’t know American English.)
“We also say: $10 for 2 dual-USB chargers is a pretty good deal.” (Sure, but only while you’re outside the US.)
While we were in Israel last month, a unit similar to this served us well for USB charging and laptop use. (It’s just an adapter, not a voltage converter.)
The USB ports were the differentiator - had to pull the trigger! As noted earlier, outlets can be tuff to find in foreign lands, so these are like gold. I’ve had one of these sans USB ports for many years and it has been a lifesaver coupled with a short 3 outlet extension. Adding the USB outlets makes it a done deal:
unanimous-outlandish-ravioli
didn’t know TS eliot was an author when i was younger. my mom often said “TS, eliot” which meant “tough shit.” i never really thought much about why she called me eliot when she was dismissing my pleas for this that or the other. after all, she also regularly called me bonzo as well - as in “bedtime for bonzo” every night.
Well, crap. It looks I’m getting these after all. Tried the “/buy” thing and didn’t get a response. Tried it again a little differently, and still didn’t seem to work. Than changed my mind. Just saw the shipping notification for both.
@walarney So you’re getting four! The “/buy” thing is not a time-saver for me. It’s a neat way to order things, but I always have to go look at my orders to double-check @mediocrebot to sign-off on his work.
I’ve been using one of these this week. Only the USB part and not paying attention to which port is which, it charges my phone fast and also my Dell tablet which is kind of picky. Because it’s kind of big, I can set my phone on it while it charges. I am moderately impressed.
Specs
What’s in the Box?
Price Comparison
Was $42.98 at Target
Warranty
1 Year Conair Warranty
Estimated Delivery
Monday, July 13th - Friday, July 17th
Whaaaat?
It’s early :o
This part is worth reiterating.
@nolrak But also keep in mind to check your phone/tablet/laptop adapters as many will work with 110 or 220.
@cinoclav yes, most electronics with a transformer will work over a wide range of voltage and frequencies, but I suppose those wouldn’t fall under ‘single voltage appliances’
@nolrak good point. Great way to fry American products in Europe or UK. Also .28 watts? That’s a little more than a penlight
@craigcush I mean, I suppose if you took a US hair dryer and used it in the UK, it would probably work for a brief period of time, and probably quite excitingly
@craigcush @nolrak I can attest to that fact! We used to travel with school groups and inevitably at least one of the girls would toast a hair dryer by not using a transformer. And yes… it ran quite well but very briefly.
As for the .28 watts, I think that’s the USB output usage. The outlet side is rated 8 amps (which is actually too low for many curling irons or blow dryers anyway)
<sigh>
FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY!!!
@alacrity The struggle is real.
These multi plug things are always a mess. Get the fixed plug version that’s for the country you’re visiting.
@the_inevitable Agreed. Also see the comment from chienfou below. This style will often fall out of the outlet. Better suggestion is to use the fixed plug version mentioned here along with a power strip.
Prestige Worldwide!
“You have 3 country options (though those 3 options account for many more): UK, Europe, and, most importantly for our point, USA.”
Europe is a country? I thought it’s Germany and its union.
Kind of chintzy looking but I guess they’ll get the job done. Might be worth spending a little more on a quality one if you’re going to do a lot of traveling overseas. I bought this one a few years back. Nice quality, inexpensive enough. I paid $9.96 for it at the time.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759WWXNN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title
@cinoclav urophylla sounds like some sort of unfortunate disease
@nolrak Yeah, I was going to say that I hope to never catch urophylla…
@cinoclav If I’m going to spend more, I’d want something which can step down 220 to 110 volts as well just to be safe… Though even this recommends that you don’t plug in a hair dryer. Best to drop another 20 Euros/Pounds/Francs, etc. on one there if not already supplied by your AirBNB/Hotel.
https://smile.amazon.com/Converter-LOFTWELL-International-Charging-Worldwide/dp/B07S8SJFL7
Am I supposed to be going somewhere?
What is it no one is telling me?
I feel pretty much that I am not going anywhere lately.
@phendrick Agreed. And if I had the money for international travel… would I still be on meh?
These types of outlets are deadly and should not be used.
Take electrical safety seriously, getting juiced isn’t fun.
@Fej wow, this comment won’t make it into the newsletter
@Fej @Kevin challenge accepted – let’s star it up, folks
@Fej While this is indeed a problem with the type of adapter in the video, the ones being sold here are wider and therefore the pins hit the edges and don’t allow you to mis-align the plugs off the side (at least the one I have doesn’t) Due to the geometry involved you could still plug it in on the bias, but why would you? If you can’t be trusted to plug it in correctly you probably shouldn’t handle electrical plugs.
It also appears that the outlet is shuttered.
@Fej @nolrak it didn’t make it!
@chienfou @Fej And you could always hot glue or duct tape the adapter to the device plug.
You’d only have to worry about correctly plugging it in once, and you wouldn’t lose the adapter.
@Fej @Kevin Sigh … challenge failed
Damn VMP…
/image puny-unflappable-sugarcane
I’ll be in Istanbul (not Constantinople) at the end of August for the GF’s daughter’s wedding. (I figure saying this here on meh is not likely to get me growled at, but quite frankly, whatever…)
All of the electric devices I’ll be taking (microUSB and USB-C chargers, my CPAP machine and maybe a small WMD) are good for 100-240VAC and 50 or 60 Hz so all I really should need is something to adapt my USA plugs to whatever-the-fuck Turkey uses in Istanbul (not Constantinople). I can, and eventually will, Google this to see what Turkish electric sockets look like, but I figure asking you guys isn’t likely to hurt and may be entertaining (given the experience from recently showing my GF the /giphy and /image slashdown commands).
I figure I can bring some paper clips, electric tape and a small long-nose pliers to make adapters on the fly, but doing so might freak someone out (eg. said GF or the daughter or a maid, etc.)
So…
TL;DR: might these be useful for someone travelling in Turkey, specifically in Istanbul (not Constatinople) and needing to plug in USA stuff that doesn’t much care what the voltage and power-line frequency are?
PoP sOcKeTs
@baqui63 You carry around a small weapon of mass destruction? The TSA must love you!
@PooltoyWolf Shh!
@baqui63 to answer your question… Yes.
(for additional information, see longer comment below…)
@baqui63 @chienfou LOL I’m still confused. I thought maybe ‘WMD’ actually stood for something else, perhaps a medical device of some sort.
Thanks, @chienfou! I got a pair of these based on your comments (anyone else considering these, see @chienfou’s comments, below). From my POV, for $10.83 (NYC sales tax), a pair of these will eventually be useful.
And, sorry to disappoint, @PooltoyWolf, but I was merely making a joke… As a young teenager, I did experiment with various things–eg. warhead-equipped model rockets (this about 1000’ below planes landing at NYC’s Laguardia Airport), molotov cocktails, assorted explosives, poisonous gases, etc.–that would likely get me federal prison time today, I’ve never felt the need for mass destruction.
@baqui63 @chienfou I love it!
@baqui63 @PooltoyWolf yes, back in the day, that was chalked up to ‘boys will be boys’.
@baqui63 TL;DR – you will now have “Istanbul (not Constantinople)” stuck in your head all day
Every review on the Target page appears to be written by someone who received a “free sample.”
@harveydanger So you’re saying I can get them for less than $5.425 each? Please provide the link…
My impulse trigger is saying to buy these even though I have no use for them and don’t need them hopefully this impulse will be gone by the morning I think I’m going to call it the Meh-pulse, because God knows you got me about 160 times already love me some two for Tuesdays.ok Meh-Heads sleep nice.
I’m told that the standard UK plug really really hurts when you step on it in the middle of the night when getting up to pee
@nolrak It’s a bit weird to leave one prongs-up and step high enough that you step on it rather than kick it, but I guess someone might have left one at the bottom of some stairs or something, in which case yes, they’re definitely more caltroppy than US plugs.
On the positive side, they’re much less likely to gradually work their way out of the socket and then with a partial connection start a fire, than US plugs.
HOT POCKETS
USB is nice, but these multi type plugs usually suck and don’t stay in the wall sockets all that well. I ditched mine a while ago for the kind that are smaller and specific to a country, and I bring along a multi port usb Charger that lets me charge whatever I want. Those are $8 for a 3 pack.
HOT POCKETS
This is the kind of thing, you use it once, it’s paid for itself. I’ll take one just in case.
Well something for the next batch of irk
Pass
/giphy impartial-petulant-beggar
I’ve read it a few times and I’m sure if these are just converters as well or just adapters. If these do not include a converter, you’re gonna BBQ your electronics if you don’t have a converter as well. I have a travel powerstrip thing that is adapter/converter in one that was sub-$30 on amazon and has worked in the 6 countries I’ve been in with it.
Edit - I see it was pointed out that no converter. Be careful folks!
OK, having used these previously, some things to consider:
As mentioned, sometimes these can be a bit of a pain to get to stay in the outlet. A key factor is what you are plugging in to the front of the adapter outlet. If you plug a ‘wall wart’ style item in then the additional torque will potentially make it hard to keep it plugged in.
Buying single blade style adapters is great IF you will only be in one area that uses the same type adapter. If you are travelling in the Caribbean for instance you may need different styles for different countries. But once again, if the single adapter is having a wall wart plugged into it then the torque is again an issue even with the single ‘country’ style. In fact, the single type adapters can sometimes be even more difficult to keep plugged in since they don’t have the benefit of the wide base that hits the wall plate to distribute the torque. Sometime a little creative routing of the cord will help take up the torque and help keep the plug in better.
If you aren’t careful, you can toast equipment plugged into the outlet if it doesn’t do the 220/110V conversion itself. As mentioned most electronics with a transformer will work with either voltage and either 50 or 60 cycle pulses. Read the tiny print on the transformer or check the manual.
On the plus side, on of the major advantages to these is that you don’t use up an outlet. This is a problem in MANY countries outside the US. In my experience you will generally find that spare (empty) outlets are virtually non-existent outside the US where NFPA standards call for plugs all over the place. This allows you to unplug the lamp from the outlet, plug in the adapter, plug the lamp back in and still have 2 USB hubs available.
A good addition to these is a powerstrip rated for 220/110 with multiple plug configurations. This allows you to plug in the adapter, plug in your power strip, then plug that lamp back into the strip with more outlets to spare if needed. Many of these come with USB outlets built in as well…
One important item that hasn’t been mentioned is that these also act as a surge protector (though none of the specs for clamping voltage, joules etc, are listed…)
So there is my 2 cents worth. As usual, YMMV.
TL:DR I have these and like them. In for a couple more at gifts for people that will be travelling in the future.
@chienfou
/giphy uneasy-agreeable-porpoise
@chienfou well, that was another giphy fail (after cycling thru multiple tries)
@chienfou Thanks, dude. In for two… well, one order of two.
@chienfou Solid advice. I have had many of these fall out of the wall socket, specifically in England. Another thing to consider is that many places still have a recessed round outlet like in the photo below where this style adapter won’t always reach the contacts.
So I also use the method mentioned above of travelling with a power strip and carrying a smaller set of individual, country specific plug adapters that will fit into these recessed outlets.
Popped there, socket’d that.
@qwurpy good point… I’d forgotten that.
It’s hard to tell from the pictures, do all the prongs fold away so you can pack it easily for travel? I have several overseas adapters and its pain having to pack around priapic power prongs.
@hughgrection the one I have is a solid cube with no protrusions when all the prongs are retracted.
It is a bit bulky, but still pretty handy…
edit: best seen in the 4th picture. The Euro plug folds in…
Good for my foreign visitors who forgot theirs…
/buy
@ManBehindPlan It worked! Your order number is: mountainous-mobile-quiver
/image mountainous mobile quiver
@ManBehindPlan Yeah, we are thinking of maybe doing some AirBnB stuff with our poolhouse so I thought the same thing…
Where can one find a manual for these? They are not on conair’s website.
@GLaDOS They’re really quite self explanatory.
I really hope this is true.
I will just point out for those posting “better alternatives” above that current ratings matter. When I travel I take a LOT of pictures & videos (2 Nikons and a Panasonic micro 4/3) and rely heavily on my laptop for processing. It’s a very beefy i7-based Dell. I bought the “#1 adapter” on Amazon for a trip to Iceland last spring, and never even thought to look at the current ratings.
Well, if you can’t guess where this is going, the unit I bought was not up to the task - it would run any small charger for phones or camera batteries, but it could not handle the laptop. Fortunately the hotel had a box of discarded adapter to lend…
Check out the model linked above - it’s rated at 100mA input current - that will run your phone charger and not much else
/buy
@Pufferfishy It worked! Your order number is: noisy-demonic-puffin
/image noisy demonic puffin
@Pufferfishy Just as an alternative, you can often buy just the outlet side of the power brick cable with the correct local style plug end separately. I have had to do that for my MSI but now I have the cable which has a ‘standard’ sort of triangular shaped end for the power brick and a European end for the 220 side.
Last time I was in Europe I realized that I forgot my battery charger for my camera and was able to get one from Amazon delivered to my rental house in a couple of days which saved my trip from being ‘pictureless’ (I don’t consider my phone as taking pictures…)
@chienfou @Pufferfishy Just ordered one of these. Thanks for the idea!
@Pufferfishy @walarney yep, that works for some items, mine is more like this
![enter image description here][2]
[2]:
@Pufferfishy @walarney oops missed the plug end and then ran out of time in the edit.
@chienfou LOL - I never thought about just getting a Dell-appropriate power cord! I work in IT and my company has datacenter presence all over the globe - I am sure I could talk to one of the DC guys and get one of these for free!!
@Pufferfishy sometimes the most obvious solutions are the ones you are least likely to think of…
Just wondering out loud: Anyone have experience with plugging a 115V triple tap extension cord into one of these to gain some extra outlets? Seems like a plug strip with a switch or circuit breaker (possibly) not rated for the higher voltage might not work so well. But I doubt that a passive cord would be so marginal voltage-wise.
Or maybe I just want one of these for my trip to Germany:
@walarney I bought one similar to the one you show after worrying that the LED light in the rocker switch might not run so well at 220V. I don’t think it would be much of an issue if there wasn’t a light, but it seemed worth the (small) cost to be sure.
@walarney If you are talking about a triple tap like this then I would refer you to the above posts and the issues of torque presented by the additional weight on the adapter.
@chienfou I always travel with one of these. Hotels, conference rooms, and airports almost never have plugs where you need them. (Although hotels more and more often have plugs built into lamps or the desk, many are broken or only have two prongs or just can’t fit a power adapter.)
It reminds me of a Borg cube.
/image Borg cube docking
After reading @chienfou’s comments above, I decided to go for a pair…
/image laborious amateur guide
/giphy laborious-amateur-guide
Yes, it’s not a voltage converter. It’s simply an adapter for foreign wall sockets. If you, like me, only need a USB wall charger and/or want to plug in your a laptop (or any other multi-voltage unit), this is fine … BUT it could be SO much handier if it also had a US plug, like mine does, so you could use the USB charger at home …
PoP sOcKeTs
@richrauch If you look at the pictures, one of the settings is “US/Australia.” Australian jacks have duck-toed blades (or pigeon-toed blades depending on how you look at it), but it appears from the pictures that one of the two US/Australia blades can be rotated to make it parallel with the other blade.
I bought a set for my daughter; if I remember I’ll report back here once she gets them.
“We say: 2 dual-USB wall chargers that know different languages.” (Sadly, it doesn’t know American English.)
“We also say: $10 for 2 dual-USB chargers is a pretty good deal.” (Sure, but only while you’re outside the US.)
While we were in Israel last month, a unit similar to this served us well for USB charging and laptop use. (It’s just an adapter, not a voltage converter.)
What, no love for Asian plugs?
/giphy Asian plug love
@rprussell The US/Australia blades should work in China.
In for a set, maybe this will inspire me to do a little more traveling abroad!!!
The USB ports were the differentiator - had to pull the trigger! As noted earlier, outlets can be tuff to find in foreign lands, so these are like gold. I’ve had one of these sans USB ports for many years and it has been a lifesaver coupled with a short 3 outlet extension. Adding the USB outlets makes it a done deal:
unanimous-outlandish-ravioli
didn’t know TS eliot was an author when i was younger. my mom often said “TS, eliot” which meant “tough shit.” i never really thought much about why she called me eliot when she was dismissing my pleas for this that or the other. after all, she also regularly called me bonzo as well - as in “bedtime for bonzo” every night.
I have never been to Europe, but if I have to flee the country to avoid a congressional subpoena I will be ready!
Oh well, why not?
I scored a couple of these as freebie swag give-aways at a conference and I have used them in the UK, Switzerland, Prague (Czech republic), & Germany.
1 - Works great in UK
2 - LED’s are bright and keep you awake when you are jet-lagged and trying to sleep. Taped aluminum foil over them but light shines through USB outlets!
3 - Europe plug does not have longer Swiss extender to fit into recessed sockets
4 - Europe plug is poor quality and pops out (Danger, Will Robinson!)
5 - Bulky. I prefer the tiny adapters when I do not need UK. https://www.ebay.com/itm/American-US-to-European-EU-Travel-Adapter-Power-Jack-Wall-Plug-Outlet-Converter/264309585793?hash=item3d8a143781:g:Y84AAOSwH6lXQ7AU
Popped there, socket’d that.
@rkpSLJo85CR0oIl You have a catchy username! You are lucky to have gotten it first.
I could have used one before I went on my trip abroad. Oh well, at least I’ll have them for next time!
Well, crap. It looks I’m getting these after all. Tried the “/buy” thing and didn’t get a response. Tried it again a little differently, and still didn’t seem to work. Than changed my mind. Just saw the shipping notification for both.
@walarney So you’re getting four! The “/buy” thing is not a time-saver for me. It’s a neat way to order things, but I always have to go look at my orders to double-check @mediocrebot to sign-off on his work.
@therealjrn It’s one of the few “perks”/abilities we get as VMP – I feel obliged to use it now and then.
@walarney Yep, me too ; )
I’ve been using one of these this week. Only the USB part and not paying attention to which port is which, it charges my phone fast and also my Dell tablet which is kind of picky. Because it’s kind of big, I can set my phone on it while it charges. I am moderately impressed.
@walarney So yer kinda /sold then?
/keep
I got this delivered today and the prongs don’t come out. Its a crappy product.