Bonnie LaRaus and her family have plenty of cell phones and tablets to keep charged.
“We have ten chargers. They`re probably scattered all over the house in every outlet. It`s insane,” says LaRaus.
Bonnie says she`d love a way to make charging her family`s phones more convenient.
Consumer Reports tested four charging mats that promise to make charging easier. You just put your phone on the mat and it charges wirelessly using magnets.
A key question is how fast do these mats work?
“In our tests, we found that the mat that charges the iPhone charges about the same time as the adapter would for the wall.”
Some charging mats for Android phones took a little longer than a regular charger, but not much.
Phones need to have wireless charging capability. Newer phones have it built in. With others, you have to buy a special case so they`ll work with a charging mat.
Overall, Consumer Reports says the charging pads are a great way to make charging your cell phone easier.
“You come home at the end of the day, you plop your phone on this device, you don`t have to look for a charger, you can just drop it on there, and in a couple of hours your phone is charged. And you can charge multiple phones at the same time.”
If you have an iPhone, testers recommend the Duracell Powermat for 70 dollars. It charges up to three phones at a time in two to two-and-a-half hours.
For Androids, the fastest mat Consumer Reports tested was the $75 Energizer Inductive Charger. It can charge two phones wirelessly at a time.
