Car chargers are such commodities at this point that there’s little left for developers to do with their designs — a move two years ago towards small, shotgun shell-like “micro” chargers turned previously somewhat interesting variations into little more than lightly illuminated black plastic circles with USB ports in the center. Moshi’s Revolt ($25) offers a small twist on the concept. Unlike micro chargers, it juts out a little from your car’s cigarette lighter/powered charging port, with a black chrome ring interrupting the otherwise matte black plastic. And it includes a coiled charging cable with a USB plug on one end and a Dock Connector plug on the other.
Functionally, there’s not much new in this design, which like most other Apple device chargers released over the past two years includes 2.1-Amp full-speed charging capabilities for the iPad, as well as 1/0.5-Amp downward charging compatibility for iPhones and iPods.
The only frills are small ones—the word “Moshi” illuminates along with a thin white edge inside the chrome, and the packed-in cable has a tethered cap that covers both the USB and Dock Connector plugs’ metal pieces when they’re disconnected from the charger—presumably for travel purposes.
As with virtually all of the other basic iPad car chargers out there, there’s no price or performance differentiation here, leaving modest design elements as the only reasons to prefer one model over the other. Coiling the cable reduces the amount of dangling cord you’ll need to deal with in your car, a small feature that may nonetheless justify Revolt for some users. On the other hand, Moshi’s cap may be convenient for people who frequently need to travel with the coiled cable, but the company’s decision to attach it to the Dock Connector side of the cable means that you’ll always find it bumping around when you go to connect your device in the car.
Revolt’s white light is more conspicuous than alternatives with smaller red, blue, or green lamps—for better or worse, depending on your needs. Given the proliferation of smaller chargers, this model’s longer but not humongous size makes it comparatively easier to remove, but also potentially more difficult to hide away, depending on the car. No frills such as metal cladding or a second USB port are offered, a la Just Mobile’s Highway chargers, nor are they charged for.
Should you consider Revolt? If you’re looking for a simple iPad-ready car charger, you now have plenty of options that are all very similar to each other in price and features. This particular design doesn’t stand out dramatically from the rest, but it’s good enough at what it does to merit our general recommendation.
