Customer Reviews

Belkin Car Charger for Original Apple iPhone, iPhone 3G, 3G S

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I would recommend this product over the 2-5 $ Iphone/Ipod chargers available on the internet. This is Belkin and the products it charges are quite expensive in themselves and deserve an expensive car charger. It's an unstable environment with the car battery providing the charge and if you need a charger to power your iphone on a 300 mile journey with the GPS running and the music running, you better have something reliable doing the job.
This is the official product listed on the apple site. Is there anything else I can say? Been running like a beauty since 3 months or so now. No complaints.

This car charger works great for my iPhone 3GS.
For a 3rd party charger, it feels solid, good quality, and durable.
I've had other cheap 3rd party chargers that feel cheap and don't last long.
It was shipped quickly.

Last Iphone Car Charger from ATT did not last long, but the Belkin provides a better quality charger combined with a great price from Amazon nearly half the price of the ATT store.

This Belkin model F8Z184 definitely charges my 3rd gen iPod Touch. I was concerned because the package said it only supported up to 2nd gen iPod Touch. Apple did something that defeats many earlier aftermarket chargers.

I had purchased a Belkin AC wall adapter and car adapter a couple years ago for a Samsung mp3 player. The car adapter plugs into the cigarette lighter and has a USB socket on it. But when I plug in my Apple-supplied USB/dock cable, the 3G iPod Touch doesn't see it. You'd think 5VDC is 5VDC, but it's not. For some reason, the USB outlet on my computer works fine, the USB on the car adapter, no.

My friend's experience with so-called compatible chargers is even weirder: his aftermarket chargers work in some outlets in his house, but not others.

Now to specific on this Belkin design:
- by having the cord come out the side of the lighter plug, the profile is greatly reduced. I can actually route the cable down and close my ashtray with the charger neatly inside. (I have a vehicle that's old enough to have a real ashtray with a lighter -- yes, an old fashioned lighter -- still rolling around in it.) This feature may not fit all outlets, but I'd think it would be especially good for center-console applications where you don't want the cable extending into the console.
- the cable is a bit stiff, but functional, and is 49" long.
- the cable is black, so it's not too noticeable
- the black docking plug is much larger than the stock white Apple plug and almost impinges on the audio mini-plug. But they work.
- it has a little Euro-fuse that plugs into the side instead of a tubular fuse that unscrews out the front
- it has an LED to indicate it's receiving power.
- if you buy one of those inexpensive AC-to-cigarette adapters, you can plug this into that and not need to buy a dedicated AC wall adapter.
- price is a bit steep considering these things ought to be supplied with the iPod as a standard accessory, but the 3rd Gen iPod with Bluetooth, WiFi, built-in speaker and the large bright screen can really suck the power and I needed this.

Well, "need" is too much. Let's call it a blessing that I live in a country where my biggest problem is finding an iPod car charger that works....

UPDATE: For this adapter to work when plugging into a wall, you need an adapter that supplies 1 amp (1000mw). Most adapters supply only 500mw, maybe 800mw. 500mw is insufficient to charge or operate. 800mw will charge but not allow you to operate the iPod Touch 3G. It needs more power.

Power Line 0900-56 12-Volt DC-AC/1000 mA Power Socket with Enhanced Digital Power works great, though it is physically larger than most wall adapters.

UPDATE 2: this charges the iPhone 4 quickly and allows unlimited use of the iPhone 4 while driving long trips, even if the the phone connects to your system via Bluetooth.

The charger itself works fine. However the stiff 90 degree angle of the wire makes it impossible to fit this into my Mazda-3 outlet. So I had to swap this with another (also Belkin) charger in my other car.

I recently bought this charger for my brand-new iPhone 3GS because this charger's description specifically says that it works with "3 GS" iPhones. Well, it does not work with the iPhone 3GS. My iPhone 3GS displays a warning about "accessory not supported", and refuses to charge. Some people report that this works with older 3GS phones, so my guess is that there is something about the newer 3GS iPhones that has changed.

Now Belkin wants me to spend another $50 of my time/effort/money to exchange a $25 product. Sure! I just love doing that. I should never have bought a Belkin product in the first place.

My advice: Spend the extra $5 or $10 and buy an Apple product from the Apple store. It will just work and you can get on with your life.

The car adapter part that plugs into the car lighter was a nice snug fit. I've bought some other car adapters in the past for other devices that would be loose and not give a good connection. When it is in place a white LED lights up to let you know that all is well.

The product packaging does not explicitly list iPhone models (e.g. iPhone, iPhone 3G, etc.), which caused me a little concern at first that I'd received the wrong product, but it did work with my iPhone 3G.

Overall, I'm very happy.

typical Belkin superior quality. this product will outlast all the cheaper and poorer-quality iPhone chargers available on other sites like eBay. use it every day in my vehicle, no complaints.

Thanks Apple. It was working great on my Iphone 3GS until the 4.0 OS update. I now receive a message stating that the attached accessory is not supported. In other words, it's not an Apple accessory so Apple disabled it in the 4.0 OS. Real classy Apple.

I needed a car charger for my cross-country trip, and I chose this Belkin product over the cheaper off-brand ones. It's compact, high-quality, and from a brand I recognize and trust.
More things I like:
- sturdier design than the cheap chargers
- power LED illuminates when it's plugged in
- plug is shorter than other goofy-looking chargers
- the right-angle cord
- cord is long enough for normal usage, but not too long to be awkward