Review: Griffin PowerBlock AC Charger for USB iPods/Devices

Jeremy Horwitz
By Jeremy Horwitz - Editor-in-Chief
Review: Griffin PowerBlock AC Charger for USB iPods/Devices

Pros: A well-made, attractive alternative to Apple’s iPod USB Power Adapter, with an included iPod-to-USB cable that’s the equivalent of Apple’s in quality. Provides quality wall charging for iPods, nanos, and shuffles.

Cons: Price point may be identical to Apple’s or lower, depending on the store where you find it.

Review: Griffin PowerBlock AC Charger for USB iPods/Devices

No change to iPod pack-ins has bothered our readers as much as Apple’s decision to drop the previously included wall Power Adapter from every iPod’s package. For months, your choice was simple: charge your iPod from your computer, or go out and spend $29 (plus tax and/or shipping) for Apple’s iPod USB Power Adapter (iLounge rating: B), a price which many people found objectionably high for something so simple.

Bear with us for a moment on this one. According to Griffin, the company’s new PowerBlock AC Charger ($30) will – despite the obviously similar MSRP – sell for $10 less than Apple’s USB Power Adapter at stores that carry both products.

Functionally, the PowerBlock is nearly identical: it includes a small white power brick with fold up blades for portability/traveling, plus a USB-to-iPod cable identical to the one Apple includes with iPods and nanos, or sells separately for $19. While not strictly necessary, the second cable lets you keep one connected to your computer while the other’s attached to PowerBlock.

Review: Griffin PowerBlock AC Charger for USB iPods/Devices

As expected, PowerBlock works in a very simple way. You plug the cable into the PowerBlock and iPod, then the PowerBlock to the wall, and your iPod properly recharges. If you have an iPod shuffle, you can skip the cable part and just plug the shuffle directly into the PowerBlock’s USB port.

As with most of the chargers we’ve used, our review units worked just as promised and expected with our test iPods.

Given its MSRP, PowerBlock’s appeal to any given reader is going to depend significantly upon one major factor: the actual price you can buy it for. A quick check of Best Buy reveals that the company’s actually selling Apple’s USB Power Adapter for an $11 markup – $40 instead of $29 – with PowerBlock selling for $30. Amazon.com’s Marketplace shows Apple’s Adapter at around $29, with PowerBlock at $22. Through both merchants, PowerBlock is a better alternative than Apple’s product on price alone, even if you ignore the included USB cable, but it remains to be seen how this will play out elsewhere.

Jeremy Horwitz
By Jeremy Horwitz Editor-in-Chief
Jeremy Horwitz was the Editor-in-Chief at iLounge. He has written over 5,000 articles and reviews for the website and is one of the most respected members of the Apple media. Horwitz has been following Apple since the release of the original iPod in 2001. He was one of the first reviewers to receive a pre-release unit of the device, and his review helped put iLounge on the map as a go-to source for Apple news.