If you’re planning a summer holiday you’ll soon need to make the painful decision of whether to pack your favourite pair of shoes or instead squeeze in the mass of smartphone-, tablet- and camera chargers every modern traveller must also now find room for in their suitcase. But what if all those cables weren’t essential? What if you could take the shoes, and you could still charge the gadgets you can’t live without? Also see: Best travel gadgets Think about it: what do all your mobile device chargers have in common? USB. All you need to charge them is a USB cable and somewhere to plug in that cable and draw power. The Lumsing 5-port USB Travel Wall Charger is that ‘somewhere’, and it provides five USB ports to simultaneously juice up all your USB-connected devices. Also see: 9 best portable USB chargers We’re not entirely sure we agree with Lumsing’s description for this charger, since any gadget that demands plugging into the mains is good for travel only so far as you stay near a mains power point. (The Lumsing is supplied with either a US or UK plug.) But while we’re not quite so enthused as we are about the truly portable Power Bank, Lumsing’s ‘Travel’ Wall Charger is a useful gadget to use even at home. Also see: Inateck 5-port USB charger review I frequently find myself charging four devices overnight – two smartphones and two tablets – and I’m perfectly comfortable with the idea of obtaining another toy to fill the additional USB port (not that all five must be in use at once). And it would save me the hassle of unplugging various other devices to accommodate these chargers. No more excuses of having unplugged the alarm clock, then. Of the five USB ports offered by the Lumsing, two are 5V 1A ports for phones and three are fast-charging 5V 2A ports for tablets. Rather confusingly, Lumsing labels these iPad, iPad, Samsung Tab, iPhone and Android. Ignore these labels. I have two Android phones, an iPad mini and an Android tablet (which isn’t a Samsung Tab), so you might think I’d have trouble charging all these devices at once using the Lumsing. However, because all are 5V ports I can plug in any USB device, and I needn’t worry about the amp rating. The device will draw only the current it requires; if insufficient current is provided – for instance, if you plug a tablet into one of the phone ports – it will simply charge a little slower. Do note, however, that some iPads have been known to refuse to co-operate with sub-optimal chargers, so if you are juicing up an iPad be sure to use one of the higher-powered ports. The Lumsing is a fairly basic-looking black plastic box, weighing 422g (boxed) and measuring 136x68x30mm. It has none of the style of the company’s Power Bank, but it does the job. Given the sub-£20 price tag, you can’t expect any more. A one-year warranty is provided. Which is a good thing: although the product didn’t get overly hot in use, we found it a little unnerving how the power light stayed lit a good 30 seconds after we’d unplugged the device. Also see Best holiday-planning apps. Follow Marie Brewis on Twitter. Marie is Editor in Chief of Tech Advisor and Macworld. A Journalism graduate from the London College of Printing, she’s worked in tech media for more than 17 years, managing our English language, French and Spanish consumer editorial teams and leading on content strategy through Foundry’s transition from print, to digital, to online - and beyond.
