Hello Nomad USB Chargecard and I/O Magic Battery Charger

Above - Hello Nomad USB Chargecard : Below I/O Magic Battery Pack

By Charles Moffat

I am typing this product review at the beach on my tablet while my phone is charging thanks to three things.

1. The Hello Nomad USB Chargecard - which is a credit card shaped USB cord that fits nicely in my wallet.

2. The I/O Magic battery pack - which once charged provides roughly twice the battery juice of my cellphone battery.

3. And the portable wifi hotspot from my phone, which grants my tablet internet access.

Which means I can go on a 3-day vacation and charge my phone using these two handy devices and still have plenty of juice by the time I return on the 3rd night. (I am basing this on my normal battery consumption per day, which is about 66% of a full battery per day.)

I purchased the I/O Magic battery pack months ago and have been meaning to do a review on the topic. It works, it is handy when I am going to be using my phone often on a particular day.  It does exactly what it is supposed to do and having three times the battery charge is very handy for vacations.

When I purchased it it also came with a 2nd battery charger, so if I take both batteries I can go on a 5 day vacation and really not have to worry at all about my battery power.

Hello Nomad Chargekey

The Hello Nomad USB Chargecard also came with a Chargekey, which attaches to your keychain - which I misplaced and recently found again last night. I really should stick it on a keychain so I don't lose it again. Anyway, the Hello Nomad USB Chargecard is simply a tiny USB cord in the shape of a credit card. It can be used to charge your phone or other USB device whenever plugged into any USB power source - like the battery packs mentioned above.

Together these two products make it really easy to charge my phone. The Chargecard alone is handy because then I just need to find a power source and it takes up very little space in my wallet.

But in combination, they are handy little things to have on me for vacations, work, events, etc.

Sometimes I forget to charge my phone and they end up saving a lot of time too since I can just grab the battery pack and I already know I have the Chargecard in my wallet so I don't need to go searching for a cord to take with me. Very handy.

If you are the type of person who uses their phone a lot - and it runs low regularly - then these are two devices you will find very handy. I use both devices regularly.

UPDATE, July 2015

Earlier this week the Chargecard from Nomad broke. I have been using the product for almost a year now, regularly, and keeping it in my wallet for whenever I need it. The part that broke was the plastic around the Mini USB. It just snapped unexpectedly.

I have contacted Nomad to report the defect and to see if it is possible to get a replacement. Hopefully they will be willing to snail mail me a replacement Chargecard.