Home > Consumer Reviews > iGo everywhere85 70-Watt Combo AC/DC Universal Power Adapter with Dual Charging Device PS00120-0005

got this to use for travel and generally like it, although its a little heavy, the plug attachment is awkward, and the pouch is a little bulky. Its certainly better then a much more expensive unit I got from dell a few years back. Pretty serviceable for the price

Great idea, but really poor execution in creating a product for this purpose...
If you haven't seen this power supply in person, do yourself a favor and see it firsthand prior to ordering to make sure you're up for the hassle of carrying a bag of crap as your power supply. You can't really tell from the images how all of this fits together so it would be really helpful for someone to explain this. The power brick is nice and small as you would expect, however the retractable cable is not an option as it is a necessary component. This is the part of the cable that plugs into your device from the power brick. It is heavy and bulky, so much that I "can" justify carrying a 2nd power supply vs. this as I can charge 2 laptops at once for less carry weight. I think this is probably the reason the 85 is less costly and appears to be on the way out.

Pros
Charge multiple devices (one at a time)
Power cord for car/airplane and the wall

Cons
Too many parts (big bag of cables and tips to carry) too much hassle
The retractable cable is a waste of space and weight, being way too heavy to justify carrying
Too heavy (Overall weight and bulk is more than both of the laptop power supplies I need to carry for my Fujitsu & Lenovo)

I own a Dell 600m that I wanted to use on our sailboat and in the car. This 12V charger worked very well in both situations. I previously bought a cheaper one that began to smoke on the first use.

The only issue is that my laptop requires more power, but it will work with this when I travel.

I am annoyed that some of the older tips I have are not compatible and that the compatibility issue is not better addressed in the advertisements.

I should have known that when something sounds too good to be true it probably is, and the description of the iGo universal everywhere 85 Watt AC/DC Power Adapter with Dual Charging Device said it only weighed 8 oz. (As a semi-road warrior, it didn't make any sense for me to buy an ultraportable notebook and then drag around a bag full of chargers.)

When I received the iGo, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that it was only the iGo brick that weighs 8 oz, and the cables and adaptors needed to use the brick weigh another 15 oz, which means the full iGo that you would travel with (brick, plane/ auto adapter, dual power adapter, computer tip, phone tip that I purchased separately) actually weighs about half a pound more than my regular charging brick + the data/ charging cable for my PDA/ phone that I normally travel with.

On the pro side, the extra 8 oz with the iGO does include the auto/air adapter (not that I've managed to get a plane seat with inflight power since I received the iGo), and the dual power adapter lets you charge your second item (phone, PDA, Bluetooth headset, etc) with assorted tips that need to be purchased separately without needing to turn on the computer. Also, the parts (and there are a lot of them) appear sturdy and well-made, and do not disconnect spontaneously, which I had been very afraid would happen given how many connections you need to make (see below.) In fact, it can be kind of difficult to remove the retractable cable or the dual power adapter from the brick without fingernails to get in between the cable and the brick.

On the con side, besides the unexpectedly high weight, I was surprised at the number of pieces you needed to put together to use the everywhere 85, and what a tangle of cables you ended up with since I had previously used the much simpler iGo Juice. iGo made the everywhere 85 modular so that you can take as much (or as little) as you need with you, but it is a bit confusing the first few times you have to put everything together, and the more parts there are, the more likely you are to lose or break something that will make the entire system worthless

For full flexibility, to assemble the iGo to charge a laptop + something else from wall current you need to use all of the following:
1. wall plug
2. cable from plug to brick
3. brick
4. retractable cable from brick to computer tip
5. computer tip
6. dual power adapter (plugs into same end of retractable cable as computer tip)
7. 2nd item tip (plugs into dual power adapter)

There are other variations that require fewer pieces(for example you can plug the wall plug directly into the brick without the intervening cable, but I've yet to be in a situation where that would work, to just charge a 2nd item (not a laptop) you can plug the dual power adaptor into another adaptor that lets you plug into the brick without using the retractable cable, you can plug the dual power adapter into the auto/ airline adapter to charge a 2nd item (not a laptop) in a car or plane, etc)

Overall, while I will use the everywhere 85 until I lose a piece of it since it's so hard to get your money back on Amazon electronics purchases, I wish I had purchased a simple auto/ air inverter for my very lightweight Kensington AC brick, and I would have come out ahead both weight-wise and money-wise