Peter Palmer: Nomad Roadtrip Car Charger Review

Nomad Roadtrip

4.5 Our Score

Pros

Portable
Classy Design
Powerful Battery

Cons

Heavy
Cords Not Included

There are times I find myself wishing I had a vehicle phone charger. I travel often for my work in the automotive industry and as I wait to board a plane, I am responding to e-mails, texts, and calls. By the time I land in my next city, get back to the people who contacted me during flight, and pick up my rental car, there is hardly enough battery left for navigation.

I have pulled into a hotel before, just as my phone was powering off.

I walked by a display at a state fair over the summer – you’ve seen the ones – loaded with cell phone accessories.

I thought about picking up a car charger then but was not convinced of the quality. So I resolved to keep doing what I normally do: charge my phone to 100 percent before I leave and hope for the best. However, this week, I tested a Nomad Roadtrip and it provided a successful alternative.

Packaging

The Nomad Roadtrip is sleek, keeping up in an age where appearances and first impressions are everything. The unit features a soft touch material, pleasing to the hand and eye. Product specifications are listed on the box but most impressive is the customer service e-mail. It’s printed on the underside of the package, in case additional questions or concerns come up.

Functionality

The Nomad Roadtrip is simple to use and works via the standard charge ports in any vehicle. It’s compatible with all smartphones via two plugin locations, one of which is a USB Type-A. I used the latter this week to charge my Android based phone and encountered zero issues. Those with an iPhone 6 or 6s would use the USB Type-C port on top.

Charging happened rather quickly as I cruised around the Detroit metro earlier this week with a good buddy. He had to make several stops over a 3 hour period, including a job interview. As I waited for him, I used my phone to send e-mails and texts, all while plugged into the Nomad Roadtrip.

My battery still continued to charge, even to 100 percent, despite me working on my phone.

I really dislike charging my phone with the USB cable only in my car. I’ve done it in the past but my phone constantly gives the “slow charging” message. It was nice that didn’t happen with the Nomad Roadtrip.

Additional Perk

The Nomad Roadtrip doubles as a charge pack, for use outside the vehicle, thanks to an internal 3000 mAh battery. This creates a nice two-in-one feature, paying dividends to anybody with busy schedules and jam packed days – which is, let’s face it, all of us.

In my further testing of the Nomad Roadtrip, I let my phone battery run down to simulate me forgetting to charge it before leaving home. I had a dinner meeting about 20 minutes away, which during the drive, I used the Nomad Roadtrip to charge my phone. When I got to dinner, I unplugged it from my car but was still able to charge my phone, in my coat pocket.

I left the restaurant with a fully charged phone.

There is a little button on the top side – just push it and it will begin charging. The 4 lights indicate the amount of juice left in the Nomad RoadTrip.

Critique

The only drawback was the Nomad Roadtrip being a little heavier than I expected. However, I’m not going to judge this too harshly and I suspect that might better anyway, should it be accidentally dropped. If in time, future versions of the Nomad Roadtrip are lighter then all the better, but this alone should not deter somebody from having one.

Availability

The Nomad Roadtrip retails for $59.00 USD at Best Buy or through Nomad’s website.

Conclusion

The Nomad Roadtrip is a great product. It’s easy to use and performs better than it claims. With the holidays right around the corner, it would make a great stocking stuffer.

*Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog.net and resides in Detroit, Michigan.