Review: Nomad ChargeCard & ChargeKey [UPDATED]
Have you ever had your phone run out of power and you don’t have a charging cable with you? Or you want to carry one, but only if you have a bag with you as cables typically aren’t easy to stow in a pocket. That’s about to change as Nomad has two options for you. The ChargeCard and the ChargeKey which are available in Lightning and MicroUSB flavours. Seeing as my wife and I have iPhones, we tested the Lightning version.
The ChargeCard (DISCONTINUED)
This is a Lightning cable that is credit card sized. Thus it fits in your wallet. It feels solid with the only exception being the middle portion which is the USB connector which is flexible. So it’s going to be very durable I believe.
I tried it with my wife’s iPhone 5 and it worked perfectly meaning that it would charge and sync my phone. The fact that my wife uses a thick case didn’t make a difference. Nice!
This is a Lightning cable that is sized to fit on a keychain. It’s made of a rubber material that’s very flexible. No matter how I bent it or twisted it, it worked perfectly. Thus I believe that it will take whatever abuse your keys and pocket can dish out.
I tried it with my wife’s iPhone 5 and it worked perfectly as well. Again, the case that my wife uses was not a factor. Downsides? It could be a touch longer, but that would defeat the purpose which is to have a Lightning cable always at hand in an easy to carry format.
In both cases, the ChargeKey and ChargeCard only plug into the USB ports in one way. Thus you check to make sure that the phone is charging when you plug it in. It also means that you might be subject to putting the phone in weird positions like the ones I pictured above. The upshot is that it’s always close at hand. The only downside to this is that if the only USB ports that you can use are above a flat surface of a table, such as front mounted USB ports on a tower PC, you might be out of luck. That’s where a standard 3′ cable would come in handy. But you’re not buying either one of these products for daily use, so that’s likely not going to matter to the target audience.
I personally preferred the ChargeKey as it plugged into any USB port while the ChargeCard might have issues with recessed or hard to access ports. However my wife preferred the ChargeCard because if someone needed to charge their phone, she wouldn’t have to hand over her keys to let them do it as would be the case with the ChargeKey. Regardless of which one you choose, the ChargeKey and ChargeCard go for $29 each. Recommending these products is an easy call. If you have a smartphone, you have to get one of these to make sure you are always able to keep your phone charged.
UPDATE: The ChargeKey is now called the NomadKey and the ChargeCard has been discontinued by Nomad Goods.
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