Introduction:

Griffin PowerDock 4 Charging Station for iPod/iPhone

   There is roughly 250 million iPods and iPhones in existence so is it any wonder why the market is flooded with accessories for these things? With that many devices out there just itching for some accessories, there is no shortage of companies willing to supply them. Griffin Technology is one of the premiere manufacturers of iPod and iPhone accessories on the market today. In fact, it's all they sell (well, they just added iPad to the portfolio actually).

Charging stations for iPods and iPhones have been few and far between. Now I'm not talking about the simple (and overpriced) apple single dock. That is virtually useless in my opinion. Many families have more than one device in the household and using the supplied USB cable and tying up a port and a computer can become inconvenient. Tying up multiple outlets can be cumbersome. So finding a solution to charging multiple devices at once is a niche that needed filled.

Griffin came to the rescue with their PowerDock series of Charging stations. The PowerDock 2 charges up to 2 iPods/iPhones while the PowerDock 4 can handle up to 4 iPods/iPhones at once! Now I personally have 4 devices in my household (2 iPhones and 2 iPod Touches) so the PowerDock 4 should fit the bill perfectly, right? Let's take a closer look.

Packaging:

    I can not believe that in this day and age, of saving trees and going green, that packaging this horrible still exists. This has got to be the worst packaging possible in both frustrating and also bad for the environment. It certainly looks atrocious. There were so many scratches and abrasions on the outside of the package when I got it, it looked 5 years old already, and it was new! Stiff plastic and sharp edges everywhere. It's really a new level of overkill for a simple charging base. I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come with this product.

A Closer Look:

    After extracting the product from the clear plastic coffin, I was introduced to a beautiful and solid feeling product. The gracefully sloped top of thick brushed 1 piece aluminum is very nice. The four deep and wide universal dock ports are well spaced and concise. The logo is screen printed on the front and the bottom has a thick rubbery pad for secure placement on a counter, desk, etc.

The Griffin PowerDock 4 includes 8 universal dock adapters for the usual suspects. Here's what Griffin has on their page about the adapters:

PowerDock comes boxed with a set of Universal Dock adapters to fit most dockable iPods, including one adapter each for the iPhone and the iPhone 3G/3G S. If you need to charge more than one iPhone, you can get additional dock adapters here, for just $1.99 each.

Overall the PowerDock 4 feels extremely solid and well built. There is nothing yet to suggest that I will have any problems with it. Let's get on to the testing.

Installation:

    Installation couldn't be any easier. Just plug it in and you're ready to use it right away without an adapter, or pick the right adapter for your device first. Of course, if you're using an aftermarket case or cover for your device the adapters will be pretty useless since it will not fit in the adapter with the case on, however the great thing about this charging station is the size of the dock wells. They're deep enough to use without adapters for many cases. I've been using the elago slim iPhone case that I picked up Amazon.com awhile back and it's been fantastic but the best part is it came with a universal dock adapter that fits right in the PowerDock. This allows my iPhone with elago case to fit like a glove. My wife's iPhone has a cheap ebay TPU skin on it and it fits fine in the PowerDock without an adapter. Most basic skins and cases that have unobstructed access to the charging port on the bottom, and aren't too big around, should easily fit in the PowerDock. 

Conclusion:

    Overall I really like the Griffin PowerDock 4. It works great and solved a big problem in this house. Now I don't have cords all over the place or multiple computers tied up at once while trying to charge 4 devices at once. We all just make sure the devices are on the charger at bedtime and we're always charged up and ready to go. We grab it and go when we leave and walk in the door when we return and just drop it on the PowerDock. It has quickly become a must-have accessory in this house and if it blew up today I'd buy another one tomorrow. As far as I know there is not another device on the market that will charge 4 iPods/iPhones at once other than the PowerDock 4 (which is odd, right?) so that makes it quite unique. You can pick it up on Amazon for just $44. That's a steal. If you've got multiple iPods/iPhones in the house then get one of these right now. I'd like to send a big thanks to Griffin Technology for sending this unit out for review.

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