Standardizing on USB was arguably the best thing ever to happen to gadget lovers. Instead of having an unholy mess of chargers cluttering up your home, you just need a few USB cables and something to plug them into. I’ve previously reviewed the Lightning Rabbit Triforce and Truffol Station 5 USB chargers, which offer stylish options for the home or office. We’ve also reviewed a bunch of others.
When travelling, though, I pack light. I tend to just charge everything from my MacBook Pro, which is convenient but doesn’t offer the fastest of charging speeds. The Oneadapter Twist and Twist Plus World Charging Stations are designed to overcome that issue, offering a combined USB charger and international plug adapter …
It’s a simple idea: provide a single unit with four USB sockets and a three-way plug adapter, covering the majority of the world’s countries. There’s the standard Twist model if you just need USB power, and the Twist Plus if you also take a MacBook with you.
There’s four amps of total USB power available, which is enough to simultaneously charge an iPad and iPhone at full speed, or four iPhones at once.
To use either one, you press the button, twist the back of the unit and the different plugs pop out. The Twist Plus version is especially neat, looking like a single integrated device with the MacBook charger attached. This one may also prove popular with buyers of the new MacBook who still need some USB charging sockets.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WELKcumcHCs]
Quality feels average. It’s your standard ABS plastic, and as you can see from the video it’s slightly fiddly getting each plug to lock into place. Once it does, however, it’s solid. I wouldn’t put this up there with some of the other chargers we’ve reviewed in terms of style or build-quality, but it doesn’t feel cheap and nasty, and I don’t need it to look anything special when it’s mostly going to be under a hotel desk.
Powerwise, it does what it claims. Both models simultaneously charged my iPad and iPhone 6 as fast as the native chargers, and I was able to charge two phones, a GPS and a camera overnight from a single unit. I’ll be keeping the Twist Plus in my travel bag.
The Twist costs $39.99, the Twist Plus $44.99.
