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There are some Apple Watch accessories on Amazon that are absolute rubbish. Every once in a while, something pops out of the pile that’s worth it.
We’re really not big fans of brands on Amazon with too many adjacent consonants. But every once in a while, we see something from one of those brands, or an adjacent one, that catches our eye.
We know it’s an adjacent brand because the full product name is “Mixfly Upgrade Ultra-Compact iWatch Charger Dock for Apple Watch”. We’ll just call it “Mixfly ultra-compact Apple Watch charger.”
This little doo-dad caught our eye, mainly because we needed something in a day or so and didn’t want to waste time shopping at a department store and paying full price. It’s perfect for slipping into the inside pocket of your travel bag, on the off chance that you forgot your Apple Watch charger or dock, or the one you have doesn’t quite survive the journey, like ours didn’t.
Pull it out, plug it into a Lightning cable, and you’re good to go.
There’s no special sauce here, nor any particular Apple-authorized stamp on it. Apple Watches since Series 3 have (theoretically) been able to use Qi, and that’s what it appears to be, only in an Apple-compatible case.
If you hold it right up against the back of a caseless iPhone with wireless charging capability, which is pretty much everything shipped in the last five years, it also works as a Qi wireless charger, not MagSafe. Since it requires a Lightning cable, we’re not sure why you shouldn’t just plug it into the iPhone instead of fiddling around and being incredibly precise with it, though.
We had no problems with random physical disconnects or unexplained charging interruptions. Well, at least no more problems than we usually have with the Apple Watch disk.
And it also works with AirPods charging cases that are compatible with the Apple Watch charging puck.
So far, in the eight weeks since we took a chance (low risk) and bought one, it has survived a 1700 mile round trip by car, hotel life for 11 days, a few train rides and perhaps much the greatest testament to this, the rough treatment by the children. As far as durability goes, that’s about as much as you can ask for something like this.
Sometimes, reviews are short and sweet. This is one of them. Despite oddly having “iWatch” in the name, this one-inch metal and plastic Apple Watch charger does what it says it will, it does it quite well, and it does it cheaply.
We’re by no means certain it’ll last forever, but for now, it’s a decent solution to not having an extra cable in your travel bag. And, if you lose it, based on your price history and linkable coupons we’ve seen over the past month, most of the time you lose about $9 and maybe only $6.
Mixfly Pro ultra-compact Apple Watch charger
- Value price
- Compact for travel
- Use Lightning, which you probably use for your iPhone
- Works with AirPods
Mixfly Ultra-Compact Apple Watch Charger Cons
Rating: 4 out of 5
That score assumes you can get it for under $10. Take half a point off that score if it’s at the full $15 retail price.
With a lot more trips coming up in the next few months, we’ll see how long it lasts and we’ll be back in a few months.
Where to buy
The ultra-compact Mixfly Upgrade iWatch Charging Dock for Apple Watch retails for $14.99. When this is posted, there is a spinbox to apply a 35% off coupon, which is almost always the case.