Arctic C2 – Review
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Every so often, we do a few hardware reviews. This is one of a series of reviews for the Arctic Cooling brand of products. For more information about the company or its products, go to Arctic-Cooling.com.
The Arctic C2 is a great charger for any frequent traveller who uses an iPhone, iPod touch, PDA or smartphone. The best part is that if the person owned one of each, he or she could charge all four at the same time.
The adapter automatically compensates for whichever country it is being used. There is no need to flick an extra switch to change the voltage as the unit knows based on whichever AC adapter is connected. The list of possible countries of use include North and South America, Europe, UK, Middle East, Africa, China, Japan and Australia.
The charger comes in a vacuum-sealed package (unlike the Arctic Sound earphones) and was very frustrating to open. However, at least one can comfort themselves in knowing that if they order an Arctic C2, it’s not likely to get damaged in shipping. It’s sealed up tight!
When items are plugged into the charger, a blue light appears on the side to let the person using it know that devices are charging. It’s not an overwhelming feature but it’s nice to know that it is there. As someone who owns many devices that charge via a USB port (and the feature is becoming so common nowadays there should be USB ports in the walls of new construction), this device is a big timesaver and well worth the $26.55 price (17 euros).
The unit is surprisingly lightweight to the point where it’s a concern that the charger might be stolen while in transit and go unnoticed for a time. However, for most, lightness of weight is a good feature. The different types of country adapters snap on to the back easily and is very intuitive to figure out. The entire charger is well-designed and intuitve.
The only downside to the set is the lack of case to contain all the pieces. Speaking for myself, it’s easy to lose one of the adapters when they’re shipped loose as they are. On the other hand, buying a separate carry bag isn’t that expensive.
I would recommend the Arctic C2 to anybody who needs a durable and lightweight USB AC adapter for travel, or just as a place to charge all those USB devices.
