Review: Griffin PowerJolt SE car charger with Lightning for iPhone, iPad, iPod

November 29, 2012 by Bill Palmer

Since the introduction of the new Lightning charging port on the iPhone 5 in September, third party charging products have been surprisingly slow to arrive – even as the iPad subsequently changed over to Lightning ports as well – leaving users to pair generic USB car charging heads with Lightning cables from Apple. That means that the mere arrival the PowerJolt SE from Griffin Technology in time for the holiday shopping season is noteworthy in and of itself. But the product does have some degree of noteworthiness beyond the simple fact that it’s actually shipping.

The defining feature of the PowerJolt SE is its coiled cord, which is about two feet long by default but stretches out to about four and a half feet, giving you some freedom as to where you position your iPhone in your car without excess cable overflow. There’s also a white circular light around the edge of the charging head which lights up when it’s plugged in properly, saving you from the scenario of getting to your destination and only then finding out that your iPhone didn’t charge because the charger wasn’t plugged in all the way.

But that’s about it. This is a pretty straightforward product. There will eventually be Lightning chargers from Griffin and other companies which can charge multiple devices, offer audio connections, and other niceties. But for now, the PowerJolt SE gets the job done efficiently. We’ll hold off on assigning a star rating to the product until we’ve had a chance to test more Lighting chargers as they hit the market.

The PowerJolt SE from Griffin Technology is compatible with the iPhone 5, the iPad mini, the fourth generation iPad, the fifth generation iPod touch, and the seventh generation iPod nano – in other words, any Apple mobile product which has been launched in the past three months.

Price: $24.99 • griffintechnology.com