My travel charging gear in 2024
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On my last trip to Paros, I decided to travel light in terms of tech gear. No Tech Pouch full of cables, adapters and chargers (I love my tech pouch).
My electronic gear consisted of an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPad Pro 11”, a Kindle, Apple Watch, my FujiFilm X100V, AirPods Pro and Max (for the plane), a Sonos Roam (a luxury), and my faithful Anker power bank. My AirPods still use a Lightening port for charging, so I still had to include a Lightening cable. Nevertheless, all this gear with its charger and cables weighed over 3.5 Kg.
Mini tech pouch
I left with mophie’s dual USB-C port charger, TwelveSouth’s ButterFly Charger, 2 × USB-C to USB-C cables (1 and 2m) and 1 × USB-C to Lightning cable.
The beauty of USB-C is that the same cable can serve as a charging and/or a transfer cable (e.g. for my camera photos).
I included a USB-A to USB-C adapter in case I needed to plug in to a USB-A port (e.g. for use with rental CarPlay, or with my power bank). The pouch weighed 338 g.
I made sure to pack a 2m USB-C cable which is nice to have if you want to use your device while it’s plugged in (eg in bed). I chose the mophie charger over my Anker one as it’s lighter and thinner (and I didn’t anticipate needing its 120W).
Going all in on MagSafe
Inductive charging isn’t the most efficient way to charge your devices, both for speed and battery life, but it’s convenient. It was my first trip with TwelveSouth’s Butterfly MagSafe charger. It’s one of the best designed MagSafe charger I know of, that can double up as a stand depending how you use it. If you’re into the MagSafe lifestyle, you’ll probably enjoy the Butterfly. It enabled me to charge 3 devices from a dual port charger. It delivers up to 15W of peak power delivery for faster faster wireless charging.
I found the heat generated acceptable (15W). I’ve seen other charger warm up your devices much more. It aligns perfectly with the MagSafe ring of your iPhone, and holds it in place withiut making it difficult to pick it up with one hand.
As the AirPods Pro and the Sonos Roam could both be charged wirelessly (not that I ever needed to charge the Roam), it gave me more options depending of what needed to be charged. The trick is not to have all your devices to charge at once. I usually travel with a multiport charger and extension cord for a maximum of flexibility, but this setup worked well for me, and weighed much less.
I also packed my Anker PowerCore Speed power bank (20100 mAh). Everything fit neatly in a small pouch (except for the power bank which lived at the bottom of my bag. It turns out that using your phone while travelling depletes your battery fast, add the heat, and your battery doesn’t last the day.
Overall, I found this new setup light, nimble and efficient. There’s something to be said about unifying your power ports to one standard.
Sidenote: iPhone 15 Pro overheating
Like its predecessors, the iPhone 15 Pro doesn’t fare well in the heat. Using it outside by 30°C+ dims the screen to a point I can’t use it wearing sunglasses. I first noticed this with the iPhone 13 Pro. Having a case on makes things worse as it prevents the heat from dissipating. What can you do, stay in the shade – keep cool.
Weight table
| Item | (g) | |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 15 Pro + FineWoven Case | 215 | |
| iPad Pro 11” + Smart Keyboard Folio Case | 1’028 | |
| Kindle | 114 | |
| FujiFilm x100V | 478 | |
| Sonos Roam | 434 | |
| AirPods Pro | 60 | |
| AirPods Max | 528 | |
| Anker PowerCore | 377 | |
Pouch |
Mophie Dual USB Port charger | 75 |
| TwelveSouth Butterfly charger | 120 | |
| Cables (3) + adapter | 122 | |
| Total | 3’610 | |
That’s close to 20% of my overall luggage weight (case + backpack).