The best car chargers you can buy

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The Insider Pick:

• A car charger keeps your devices juiced up while you're on the road, and the best of the bunch is the Scosche car charger because it is sleek, stylish, and powerful.

A charger is now an integral part of any car’s setup because the smartphone has become ubiquitous and apps like Google Maps are now essential for many drivers. Car chargers are important not just for juicing up your phone, but also for providing power to the gadgets of everyone who's riding with you.

Of course, like anything, not all car chargers are equal. Some offer more charging capabilities like Quick Charge 3.0, while others have more outputs for more devices. Others still boast different types of ports like USB-C, which is now the common charging port on new Android phones.

There are a few things to keep in mind when buying a car charger. For starters, you’ll want to think about how many ports you need. If you often carpool or have others in the car with you, you’ll probably want a charger with many ports to charge multiple devices. You’ll also want to think about the charging capabilities of your phone. After all, phones with Quick Charge will juice up much faster with a compatible car charger.

Read on in the slides below to learn why the Scosche USBC242M charger is our top pick and why you should also consider the Anker PowerDrive 5 charger, the Tronsmart CCTA 33W charger, the Aukey CC-T8 charger, and the Nonda ZUS charger.

The best car charger overall

Scosche

Why you'll love it: The Scosche USBC242M charger isn’t just sleek and stylish, it’s also more powerful than your average car charger.

If you’re simply looking for the best car charger out there, then the Scosche USBC242M is the one for you. Why? Not only is it powerful, but it has two USB ports for charging your devices and it’s well designed.

The Scosche charger is small enough to pop into the cigarette lighter and forget about forever. It’s almost like having two USB ports just built into your car. In fact, you can further that effect by choosing a color that matches your car. It comes in black, gold, silver, and space gray.

As mentioned, the device is pretty powerful, too. Each port offers 2.4W charging power, so it should be able to quickly and easily charge any smartphone or tablet. That’s good news for those of you who don’t drive more than 10 or 20 minutes at a time because you’ll still get a decent amount of charging done despite the short trip.

We’re not the only ones that loved the Scosche USBC242M car charger. The device boasts an excellent 4.4 star average on Amazon.

Pros: Sleek design, color choices, relatively inexpensive

Cons: A little small, two ports may not be enough for some

Buy the Scosche USBC242M charger on Amazon for $12.99

The best car charger with the most outputs

Anker

Why you'll love it: If you need to charge your kid's iPad, your phone, your wife's phone, and the backseat driver's phone, the Anker PowerDrive 5 has you covered with five ports.

If you’re looking for a car charger to charge your phone and the phone of every other person in the car, then the Anker PowerDrive 5 is the best option for you. Why? It has five USB outputs.

Of course, to have a charger with that many USB ports, you will have to find a good spot for the USB hub to sit. It's attached to the cigarette lighter by a small cable that can run to space between the two front seats, which seems to be the best spot to put the hub. Even though finding the right spot may be annoying, the benefit is that you’ll get plenty of ports to power all your mobile devices.

If you don’t like the cable idea, there is a slightly smaller PowerDrive 4 that has 4 USB ports and doesn’t have a cable.

The PowerDrive 5 offers a few different charging technologies, including PowerIQ and VoltageBoost, but unfortunately, it doesn’t have Qualcomm’s QuickCharge. Still, despite that, it does offer up to 2.4 amps per ports, which should charge most devices more than quickly enough.

Anker is well-loved for its car accessories, and the PowerDrive 5 is no exception. The device has a 4.7-star average on Amazon.

Pros: 5 USB ports, powerful, relatively inexpensive

Cons: No support for Qualcomm QuickCharge

Buy the Anker PowerDrive 5 on Amazon for $19.99

The best USB-C car charger

Tronsmart

Why you'll love it: The Tronsmart CCTA 33W car charger not only has a standard USB port built-in, but it also has a USB-C cable to charge your new Android phone.

If you’ve bought an Android phone in the past year or so, chances are it has a USB-C port on the bottom rather than a Micro USB port. In that case, you may want a car charger with a USB-C cable built right into it, like the Tronsmart CCTA 33W.

Now, while the charger doesn’t exactly have a USB-C port, it does have a small cable with a USB-C plug at the end of it, so you’ll be able to simply plug your phone in when you get in the car and charge away — no need to bring a different cable. You can also charge other USB-C-powered devices like your MacBook.

Don’t worry, though. Your friends and family don’t have to be left out of the charging fun. The charger also has a USB Type-A port built into it, so you can still plug in a standard USB-to-Micro USB or USB-to-lightning cable to power your devices.

The device even supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge, so if your phone also supports the technology, you’ll be able to juice up a lot even on short rides.

Pros: USB-C cable built-in, Quick Charge-capable

Cons: Not the sleekest charger

Buy the Tronsmart CCTA 33W on Amazon for $14.99 

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