Inatek 30W 4-Port USB charger review

It’s great news that all of our electronics devices can be charged via USB, but if you need to charge a couple of phones, a tablet and eBook reader at the same time you can soon run out of wall sockets plugging in adaptors. A better alternative is to buy a dedicated USB charger with multiple ports, such as the Inatek 30W USB charger. With its four ports, you can simultaneously charge four devices at once, letting you leave all of the cables you need plugged in at once.

It’s made from glossy white plastic, which looks a little cheap. Build quality is acceptable for what’s essentially a plastic box, but there’s nothing to get too excited about Fortunately, it can stand up or lie flat, so you can tuck it neatly out of the way. A single power cord plugs into the back and there’s a dedicated power switch, so you can turn the charger off when you’re not using it. On the front is a single blue LED, which lets you know that the device is powered on. It’s a little annoying, as blue LEDs tend to light up an entire room, so you wouldn’t want to put the Inatek charger in a bedroom; at the least, you’d need to cover up the light with some electrical tape.

Each port can deliver 1.5A at 5V, which means that it will charge your phone typically charge your phone faster than using the standard 1A charger that most ship with. Charging tablets is a different matter, though. The iPad Air, for example, ships with a 2.4A charger, so the Inatek model will actually be slower at charging.

It’s a shame that the Inatek’s 6A output can’t be dynamically allocated, so that a tablet can draw more power to charge faster. Failing that, a single high-power USB port would have been nice.

The Inatek 30W 4-Port USB Charger is well-priced, but spend just a little more and you can get the Anker 40W 5-Port Family USB Charger. This dynamically allocates power, providing up to 2.4A per USB port, is better made, looks nice and is smaller. It’s the better choice.