Review: Monster Cable Outlets to Go with USB

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Review: Monster Cable Outlets to Go with USB

After going to many conferences for my day job, one thing I have always stuffed in my bag has been a power strip.  As any geek knows, there is rarely enough outlets in the hotel room where you need them.  Plus most power strips have all the outlets arranged such that you can’t plug to wall warts side by side.  Well, Outlets to Go from Monster Cable is something I’ve always wanted.  It gives you a power strip with built-in cord management.  Plus a little surprise I will get to later.

Review: Monster Cable Outlets to Go with USB

Regular power strips have this long cord.  Normally that is exactly what you need but when you are out and about, it’s the LAST thing needed.  That cord just seems to take up so much space plus usually needs to be strung around your suit case.  It makes it difficult to also stick it in your carry on gear bag.  That cord just seems to be everywhere in your bag when you stuff a strip in there.  Not the Outlets to go.  Outlet’s to Go has a shorter than normal cable and is designed to fold back and plug into the power strip.  The cord is no longer taking up valuable space in your bag.

Review: Monster Cable Outlets to Go with USB

The outlets on the Outlets to Go are spaced that each outlet can hold a wall wart at the same time.  All three outlets can be used no matter what is plugged into its neighbor and I really like that.

Review: Monster Cable Outlets to Go with USB

If that wasn’t all, this version ALSO has a USB port on it to charge any device that you can charge from a USB cable.  Now you can leave your phone’s regular charger behind and just use this handy USB port.  The best part with this is you can charge your phone, iPod or other device while your laptop is off and resting for the night.

The Outlets to Go with USB is very lightweight.  I carried it for a few days in my normal day bag and didn’t even notice the extra weight.  I am probably just going to keep this in my bag even though most days I don’t even need it.  You never know when I make a pit stop at a coffee shop for a e-mail check and when I am there, I can always get a little juice for my machine and even share with my neighbor’s machine.  That way when the outlet space in the shop is at a premium, I can convince others to let me use the strip to keep us all powered.

Monster Cable’s Outlets to Go Powerstrip with USB is also pretty expensive as far as power strips go, but in all honestly I think it is fairly priced at $19.99 direct from Monster.  I’ve also found it at Amazon for the amazing price of $13.14.  Well worth the cost if you ask me!

Plus is it the only power strip that I am willing to carry in my day-to-day gear bag.  That’s saying something when it makes my permanent set of gear.  I thank Monster Cable for sending me a sample of the Outlets to go and it’s definitely staying in my daily gear bag.

What I liked: Takes up little space in the gear bag.  Ultra convenient.  This one is a keeper.

What needs improvement: MORE USB ports!  There’s a ton of space on the sides of the strip.  Add 3 or 4 more ports and this is a mobile charging machine!

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About the Author

Joel McLaughlin
Joel is a consultant in the IT field and is located in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

5 Comments on "Review: Monster Cable Outlets to Go with USB"

  1. Larry Greenberg | February 28, 2010 at 3:32 pm |

    I asked for, and received this over the holidays after seeing Judie mention it. It’s become an integral part of my travel gear. My only complaint is the occasional inability to charge via the USB port I get with my iPhone.

  2. Larry, can you say more about your last sentence? Do you mean it occasionally does -not- charge even though you have the iPhone plugged into the Monster device’s USB port? Thanks.

  3. Larry Greenberg | February 28, 2010 at 3:59 pm |

    @Lex – yes. Sometimes when I plug my iPhone into the charge/sync cable via the USB port on this device my iPhone shows an error message that says “charging is not supported with this device” and it won’t charge. I’ve gotten the same error with a few other devices that charge the iPhone too. Usually a re-boot of the iPhone solves it but I’ve stopped using the USB port on this device to avoid the error.

  4. Travis Ehrlich | February 28, 2010 at 5:36 pm |

    Great review! This looks like a need for my gear bag for sure!

  5. Joel McLaughlin | February 28, 2010 at 9:35 pm |

    @Larry – I am wondering why these devices do that. My wife’s Blackberry and my son’s Razr does the same thing every once in a while. With her blackberry, this even happens with the micro b cable it came with when I plug it into a USBFever charger I reviewed earlier. Has to be a firmware issue.

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