Customer Reviews

Kensington Travel Winder Cable for KTGadp

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'll come right out and give this a 5 star rating. The amount of clutter reduction realized by this product is alone worth any hassle, and the "hassles" this reel setup brings are infinitesimal compared to the "stock" cable. The cost is reasonable if you have need, and certainly beats the crap out of dragging your laptop onto the floor by getting tangled in the supplied cable.

I apparently don't understand how to be sufficiently critical so I can write such negative and low starred reviews. The product does what it's advertised to do, any REASONABLE person would understand that you tuck the handle in to "lock" the reel.

For me, the tool DOES the job, it does it EXTREMELY well, and at a reasonable price.

What do these other people want, gold plate?

Key Point: This retractable cable does NOT work with K33197 120W Auto/Air Ultra Portable Notebook PC Power Adapter with which it is featured on Amazon.

Reason: The tips have small tabs on top and bottom that fit into groves on the cable ends. On the retractable cable, the ends lack this grove on the bottom, preventing connection.

Pros: Compact size and light weight. I recommend it to anyone that travels with size and weight constraints. Just be ready to return it if the the tips don't work with your Kennsington power adaptor model.

Major disappointment with Amazon for combining incompatable products.

(Note: This is an updated version of the review I first posted in April. Two months later, I've had more experience with the product and I now feel that 3 stars is more appropriate than 2.)

The Travel Cable Winder is certainly an improvement over regular power cables that tend to get all tangled up . As you'd expect, one end connects to the Kensington power adapter and the other end connects to your device. The wind-up case sits in the middle, and you turn the handle to retract the cable into the case when it's not needed.

Unfortunately, this winder has one major flaw: There's no way to lock the cable in place once it's been wound into the case. The handle is very loose and an accidental pull on the cable will release quite a bit of cable. Even worse, there's so little resistance that the cable falls out by the force of gravity alone: If you pick up the winder while it's still attached to the power adapter, the whole cable unwinds itself.

The winder works better if you disconnect it from the power adapter every time and keep the handle in its down position (where it doesn't move as easily), but that gets to be a hassle after a while.

Essentially, the product works and it does what it's supposed to do, but I wish Kensington put a little more thought into the design. That said, however, I definitely prefer it over the standard power cables and would not hesitate to buy it again if I had another power adapter.

(One last note: Remember that this only works with Kensington power adapters and Kensington SmartTips. It's NOT a generic/standard power cable, so don't get one unless you have compatible Kensington accessories.)

Kensington's Cable Winder is very handy for cutting down the clutter - overpriced but useful nevertheless.

Great idea and so much neater than the big fist full of cable that used to spring out of my laptop bag at every chance.
Top product - I think all cables should come with these windy storage boxes.

This is rediculous!!! I purchased the travel winder along with the Power Adapter (K33197). So far, the power adapter works as advertised and it's very convenient. It included 11 various tips, all labeled "N2B", "N30B", etc. Well, apparently NONE of the 'B' tips work with the travel winder!!! There's a top and bottom groove on the tips but the travel winder only has grooves on one side.

I called Kensington (and trust me, believe what you've read about their support) and they told me only the "non-B" labeled tips work with the winder. Not what you'd expect, especially since their documentation and website say the "...N30B and N30 tips are identical...." Obviously not true.

So, I can either buy additional "non-B" tips or simply not use the travel winder. I'll say it again - REDICULOUS!!!

Another comment - contrary to a previous review - the cable does NOT lock in place. You can move the handle around to try to engage the locking mechanism but it becomes "unlocked" with the slightest movement. Not a huge deal but an obvious design flaw. Not a huge deal though - I'd still use it.... IF IT WORKED!

As others have said the reel has no catch to hold it in any wind position. The ends stick in the reel only slightly when full wound. If you hold the reel by a connector the reel will always drop to the floor unwinding. There is no resistance on the spool. This causes two problems. It partially unwinds when packed and the reel drops to the floor when you are holding the connectors to insert them in your PC and wall jack. The reel is also much heavier than a similar length of CAT5 cable.

The handle folds and would appear to lock the reel but it does not. As the handle folds it completely disengages from the reel. I can think of several ways Kensington could have solved these problem, like adding a little friction or a spring to the reel, adding a clamp on one or both cable guides, shaping the guides to hold the ends snuggly when fully retracted, etc.

It is also surprisingly difficult to hold when winding. The cable spools up higher on the open edges of the reel than the side panels so you can't hold it the normal way. The crank runs very close to one side panel or it disengages from the reel, so you have to hold it by the opposite side panel. The one edge you can hold is thin and slippery.

Pretty much a terrible all around design.

Having destroyed the supplied cable between the adapter and the splitter through abuse in my flight bag, this cable winder provided a suitable replacement. It does what it says it does - provides power from the 'brick' to the splitter and for that, it cannot be faulted too much. In keeping with other reviews here, it could have been built better and time will tell if the ribbon cable is sufficiently robust to survive the 100K+ miles I do a year. A better design would see the fragile ribbon protected at the extreme ends which are a little exposed when the cable is retracted. However, it is far tidier than the default cable and so serves the purpose of keeping the travel weight down and the bag tidier for my frequent TSA inspections...

my other adapters would break because i would wind the cord around the adapters to save space, plus i hate tangled cords in my bag. The travel cable winder is a perfect solution.

Convenient roll-up design helps keep the wire spaghetti down in your laptop case. Deploys and winds up quickly, and has adequate length for most applications. Decent construction; does not feel flimsy or cheap. Would be nice if you could lock it in a fixed length, as it unwinds itself from its own weight, but that could be so it does not pull out from your computer. You will get looks and comments as a gadget freak, which us geeks enjoy. I guess having all your cords and cables tied up in knots is cool? If you travel much, or just move your laptop to different plug-in locations a lot, you will enjoy having this cord. Don't pay full retail, natch!