Smartphones have to be charged daily and if you use other accessories like smartwatches and headphones, they require regular charging as well. I have wireless charging products on my nightstand, office desk, and in my car and for the last month I’ve been testing out a couple of ESR’s new HaloLock products with CryoBoost.
CryoBoost is the name of ESR’s design that is optimized to reduce the heat produced by wireless charging. The products are designed to provide ample airflow through the product and onto your device through an internal fan system.
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ESR HaloLock Wireless Car Charger with CryoBoost
While I don’t spend much time in a car while at home, when I travel for work I spend many hours in rental cars traveling between job sites. I took the ESR HaloLock wireless car charger with CryoBoost on a recent week-long business trip to Florida and it performed perfectly. It was important that I enter the job site with a fully charged phone since I was not able to charge up the phone for at least the next 12 hours.
The clip and support bar help you securely mount your charger Matthew Miller/ZDNet
The charger retails for $45.99 and includes a USB-C to USB-A cable and the charging dock with vent mount attachment. Modern cars let you plug in a USB-A cable to a port in the vehicle, but on my older Acura I used a car power adapter too.
There are ample vents on the back and front of the car charger with a glass mounting plate backed up by magnets that securely holds your phone to the charging face. The vent openings are around this MagSafe plate so that the fan inside the charging unit blows some air on the phone as it charges, thus the CryoBoost name. Given the openings on the back of the charging unit, air inside your car can also blow through and onto your phone. If you live in a place where you drive in cold winters, we’ll have to see how the charger performs with a heat vent blowing air on the unit.
A USB cable is provided with the mounting clip and charger Matthew Miller/ZDNet
A strong clip is used to attach the charging unit to your vents and it can be rotated to fit either vertically or horizontally aligned vent louvers. The back also has a support lever that can be angled to fit under the charging unit for additional support and stability.
A ball joint and securing nut is found between the vent mount and the back of the charging plate. After you find the perfect angle for the charger, you can lock it into place. Your phone can be used either in landscape or portrait orientation, optimized for navigation or maybe music playback.
The magnets are strong and hold your iPhone securely Matthew Miller/ZDNet
ESR provides strong magnets in the unit to provide excellent holding force. I’ve driven with my iPhone 13 Pro Max mounted to it for hundreds of miles and it hasn’t budged. I’ve also enjoyed timely charging and to take advantage of maximum wireless charging for the iPhone, you need a power adapter with 18W or more of power to support fast charging.
ESR HaloLock 3-in-1 Wireless Charger with CryoBoost
Even though wireless charging is slower than wired charging, it is nice to have a wireless charging stand by the bed so you can just set your gear down and let it charge overnight without fussing with cables. I’ve been using the ESR HaloLock 3-in-1 wireless charger with CryoBoost to charge my Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods Pro all at the same time while waking up to fully charged products. It is available from Amazon for $59.99.
An Apple Watch charging cable/puck is not provided so you route your own cable Matthew Miller/ZDNet
The charging stand consists of a white plastic base unit with aluminum arms that rise up to support an iPhone mount and an Apple Watch mount. AirPods, and even Android smartphones, can be charged on the flat base below the iPhone mounting arm. The iPhone mounting arm has a hinge so you can rotate the top part through about 25 degrees. The top portion contains the CryoBoost fan with openings on the front and back to facilitate air flow over your iPhone when CryoBoost is enabled.
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The charger supports standard wireless charging and the CryoBoost mode because if you are going to put it by your bed and sleep, then you may not want the fan of the CryoBoost system activated while you sleep. A small white button is found on the base plate near the center front of the top plate so you can toggle on or off the fan (aka dark charging mode). Status lights are also turned off when you press the dark mode button.
Three products can be charged at once on the charger Matthew Miller/ZDNet
In order to use the Apple Watch charging stand, you need to supply your own Apple Watch charging puck. Conveniently, remove the bottom panel from the charging stand and you can route your Apple Watch charging puck cable so that it almost appears as if the charger is integrated into the stand. A rubber ring fits around your charging puck to hold it in place and support the charging of your Apple Watch.
A proprietary A/C plug and five-foot cable are used to power the iPhone and AirPods charging docks at the fastest available wireless charging speeds supported by Apple, as well as supplying power to the Apple Watch through the cable and puck you provide.
These charging products are very affordable and while the 3-in-1 dock may not be as heavy as some others I have tried before it does not move around when you put all three items on the stand or when you lift them off. The charging stand is well constructed and is very convenient to charge up three products at once.