It seems like such a simple device but I've had a number of them break or just not provide enough current to charge the various Phones and other devices I own. Anyone know of one that's good? Preferrably one that can put out at least 1500mah- which is how much my AC/DC adaptor puts out for my phone.

There are some folks making some ones that sit flush these days (well, less erect, anyway), like this one from Belkin. It's nice to have it not be in the way.

You're the man, Bitt. That Belkin is on its way to me, courtesy of Amazon Prime. I'd been looking at a similar device, but it wasn't flush and it wasn't as powerful.

Actually, I might buy a second...I have two ports in my console...

Let me know if that stupid Belkin logo will come off with a little acetone or something.

Ha! Will do. I'll let you know exactly how "flush" it is. I don't have to worry about the logo, because when it's not in use, I'm hoping it'll be flush enough for the spring-loaded covers over my outlets to close over them.

Also, I heard a great way to get logos like that off is sugar cubes...

*edit*
Ahh, found it

That is pretty neat. I bought a couple of USB car adaptor devices from DealExtreme and neither of them worked. I ended up getting a unit with a 2 way outlet, a USB port and a voltmeter from Costco, it came with a 150w plug in mains inverter too. So now I can power the tomtom and charge both phones at the same time.

Neat!

And happy birthday!

I bought the Belkin one, *it does not fit my 2006 Honda Civic*. It is too long for the shallow front lighter socket and the contacts on the sides of the charger don't seem to reach the ones in the socket - so it doesn't work.

I have a socket in the boot, and it works fine in there. Not quite so useful though!

Anyone in the UK want my one? It says its rated at 1A. I paid 6.95 - yours for a fiver.

Btw, Happy Birthday Andy!

Update: I received the two adapters. They charge well, but sadly the are NOT flush. They stick out at least a quarter of an inch, which is too far for my spring-loaded covers to close over them. Oh well. I don't see how they could have made the adapters much smaller, though. I'm impressed they were able to fit everything in there and still make room for a freaking USB plug! I'm impressed, and while they're not flush, their still darn tiny.

Yeah, I had the same experience with the ones I got from a different manufacturer.

I came across another USB car charger, this one even smaller. I ordered one because I'm a sucker. Sadly, it's not any shallower than the one I already had. But it also doesn't have a rim around the outside of the charger. This is a drawback for me, as it leaves it looking untidy, but if yours prevents your cover from closing solely because of the rim, this one might be worth a look.

Is there some cigarette lighter port standard that's wrong or something? Why do they not fit properly in anyone's car?

It is really annoying. The Belkin one in particular is a POS, doesn't fit or work in the front socket of my car or my mums car. Surely they should come with some kind of compatibility warning or something?

I bought that same Belkin one. It doesn't fit in my 2000 Civic.

It wasn't the rim that didn't allow it to close on my car. It was how it stuck out about 3/4 of an inch. Not even close to being flush.

It's okay, though. As I posted in the Nexus One thread, I ended up buying one of these, and I'm quite happy with it. I love that I can pull out just enough chord to reach the phone, whereas with the USB cable plugged into one of those Belkin things, there was always plenty of USB cable hanging around, most often thrown to the passenger's side And when I take the phone out, I can press the button and the chord wraps back into the device. The thing feels like it could break if I looked at it wrong, but it's pretty cheap and works fine for now.

The idea of getting one of those Belkin adapters was that I could essentially turn my outlets into permanent USB ports. I guess that's not going to work out, but the device I got instead is a nice alternative.

DealExtreme.com: 2x500mA charger.

Yeah, I also got a retractable USB cable for exactly that reason.

There are apparently at least two diameters, so maybe they have different depths, too?

The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!

heh
always makes me laugh

I have one of these on the way - thought I saw it in this thread but perhaps just stumbled across it at DX.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.34040

I will report back on whether it's any good.

Photo in a Nissan Micra from one of the reviews:
http://img25.yfrog.com/i/photo0211x.jpg/

I have a very similar one, if not the same one, and it sits proud of the socket by maybe a quarter inch. That is, there's a gap of that size between the ridge and the dash.

Yeah just received it now, not long after the post. It sits about 7mm or 8mm proud of the socket like you say.

Good. If it were flush, it'd be tough to grip it for removal!

The silver half-ring is a flip-up handle.

I tried mine in a Ford F-250 (a big, very American, pickup truck). It has an unswitched cigarette lighter socket that it definitely fit into correctly (there may have been a little gap, but less than the thickness of my fingernail), and it also has a switched "power outlet" socket, which it seemed like it fit into properly, but there was some raised molding around it, so it was a little hard to tell.