Gadgets on the Go – 5 Car Accessories to Keep Your Tech Rolling
For many people out there, the main reason for travel is to get away from it all and disconnect. I am not one of those people. Instead, whether you find me in the heart of a city, on wide-open country roads, or relaxing by a campfire in the middle of nowhere, I’ll likely have my tech right there beside me. As such, I’ve put a lot of effort into finding products to make sure that my devices stay on, connected, and working smoothly.
While this is far from a complete list of all the different things you could get to make your car road trip ready, these are the items that I consider to be essential if you’ll be spending more than a couple of days on the road and need to stay connected. And, honestly, they’ll make your day-to-day commute that much easier, too.
1. Phone Mounts
For most people, the smartphone is the center of their technological lives. That often doesn’t change just because you’re on the road. Whether it’s checking the route on Google Maps, or changing the track on your road trip playlist, your phone needs to stay where you can safely see and interact with it. That usually means a phone mount.
Personally, I love the ease of use that comes with a magnetic mount. I love being able to simply place my phone on my mount and not having to deal with any knobs, levers, or springs to get it to stick. I have a low-profile vent mount in our van that keeps my phone at just the right place for maps, music, and more.
Cheap, convenient, and effective. What's not to like?
The only real problem with a basic magnetic mount is that they don’t allow for wirelessly charging your phone. If that’s something that’s important for you, you’ll instead want a charging mount that supports MagSafe or the upcoming Qi2 charging standard.
ESR makes charging mounts that tick those boxes, and they come in vent mount or dash mount formats, so you can choose the version that works best for you! (Note: if you’re an Android user with Qi wireless charging on your phone, you can use adapter rings, like this one from Mophie, to add MagSafe capabilities to your phone.)
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2. Phone Chargers
Most modern cars have enough USB ports to keep the driver topped up, but road trips are meant to be shared! Having a car charger or two on hand can help to make sure that any power struggles aren’t about batteries.
While any car charger can get the job done, some can do it significantly better. A charger, like this one from Wotobeus, provides quick charging for up to 3 devices and is powerful enough to charge a laptop, if needed.
If you've every tried to work from the passenger seat during an 8-hour road trip, you'll appreciate how this car charger can keep your battery topped up. Alternatively, it's worth noting that it can also charge a Nintendo Switch. Just saying.
If three ports aren’t enough to keep you covered, this charger from AINOPE provides ports for up to 6 devices, including 4 quick charge ports, and has a nice, long cord so you can share power with the kids in the back! It won’t charge things as fast as the other one, but being able to handle more devices is a definite advantage, sometimes.
While it's not the most powerful charger out there, this 6-port car charger from AINOPE has 2 ports on the car adapter plug and a corded extension with 4 more ports. If you have ever needed to charge a kids' phone while on a road trip, you know what kind of a game changer that can be.
As an added note, there are many laptops that can also be charged through USB-C type chargers as well, but it takes a bit of research to know whether your specific laptop will charge using a specific charger. I go into a bit more detail about this in my Power Anywhere post, but it essentially comes down to knowing the minimum charge wattage for your laptop and the maximum wattage output for a single USB port on your charger. Just because the charger says it outputs 65W of power does not mean it will definitely be able to power your laptop.
3. Bluetooth Receiver/ FM Transmitter
Long gone are the days when I used my iPod for playing music on the go. With the prevalence of streaming music and podcasts, my phone has become the do-it-all device for all my audio needs. The only sticking point is my car. While it does have an AUX-in port, it can’t do Bluetooth, and I’m not big on having to plug in another cable every time I want to listen to the music.
That’s why I love this Bluetooth adapter from BAVNCO! It automatically reconnects to my phone every time I start the car, so I don’t have to mess around with settings, and it does a great job of keeping things simple. I’ve not had a single problem with the thing since we bought it, and since it’s only 10 dollars, it’s a genuinely useful device located firmly in the “impulse buy” price range.
This is one of my personal favorite gadgets! It plus into your car's USB port for power, and includes an Aux cable to connect it to your car's audio system. All you have to do is connect your phone to it once, and it will automatically connect to your phone when you turn on your car, and automatically disconnect when you turn off your car!
Gadget perfection.
Bonus! This particular model has a Bluetooth transceiver mode as well, which means if you do still want to use that pre-Bluetooth iPod from yesteryear, you can add Bluetooth functionality to it.
4. Mobile Hotspot
If you’ve ever been on a month-long road trip across the country, you know the pain of trying to get online work done from your campsite.
Yes, depending on your phone plan, you might be able to connect through your phone’s hotspot, but having a dedicated mobile hotspot device is often a much better choice. Depending on the device, you can often get a more reliable signal than you’d receive using your phone, can connect more devices, and you’ll have much finer control over router security settings. Plus, you’ll save your phone’s battery so you’ll have it as a flashlight once the sun goes down!
Some devices, like the Simo Solis Lite, come with their own international data plans, while others require you to provide your own SIM card to access the internet. But either way, having simple access to the internet after a long day in the car is absolutely worth it.
Formerly the Skyroam Solis, these little orange cylinders have a really cool trick. They connect to mobile data networks in 135+ different countries around the world to provide you with an easy, inexpensive way to stay connected wherever you roam!
The device itself only comes with 1GB of data a month, though. So, on top of the device price, you will need to purchase a monthly plan. Still, this is one of the easiest ways to keep all your devices connected while traveling.
Most mobile hotspots will require you to provide a SIM Card with an active plan in order for it to provide you with a connection. Some mobile network service providers have their own, locked down hot spots that usually do a pretty decent job, but which won’t work if you change providers or head overseas. For that reason, I highly recommend getting an unlocked mobile hotspot device, like the Netgear Nighthawk Hotspot, which can accept SIM cards from a variety of different providers and allow you to access the internet at local mobile network prices instead of relying on a central provider to get good deals on your behalf.
Local SIMs are almost always cheaper than international SIMS, and are typically the first thing I buy when I touch down in a new country.
Netgear is known for making great routers, and their Nighthawk line, in particular, are some of the best mobile hotspot routers out there. These things connect to up to 20 different devices, and offer speeds up to 1Gbps.
The one thing is that it tends to be a bit on the pricier side. But if you can find it on sale, it's easily worth the money!
Note: If your phone plan doesn’t come with a SIM card that can be used in a hot spot device, you should take a look at Google Fi. Their Flexible and Unlimited Plus plans both come with data-only SIM cards that can be used in hotspot devices, extra phones, or tablets, which opens up a whole world of possibilities!
5. Portable Battery Jump Starter
While the other items on this list are mostly focused on what you can do to make your phone more useful in the car, this last one is focused on the car itself. It’s happened to everyone. You climb into your car ready to get back on the road, turn the key, and all you hear are clicks. While it can be easy enough to get a jump start from somebody when you’re in the city, it can be quite another thing if you’re out in the woods. Having a portable jump starter available for that one time that you do find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere can be a lifesaver. Perhaps even literally.
I personally would go with the NOCO Boost Plus GB40 for the ease of use, but there are a huge number of these out there that will get the job done. A lot of them also have USB ports for charging other devices, but, personally, I’d skip using it for that unless it’s an emergency. I’d hate to keep my phone charged at the expense of not being able to jump my car.
Noco makes some of the easiest to use battery-powered jump starters on the market. Essentially, all you have to do is hook them up to a car battery that needs a jump, press the on button, and let it do its thing!
I've been saved a couple time by keeping a battery jump starter in my car, and I can highly recommend it.
NOCO has a variety of different sizes of starters, which can be a bit confusing at first. Don’t worry! That’s pretty much the only confusing thing about them. The smaller, less expensive sizes work great for smaller cars, while the larger capacity ones are meant for bigger vehicles. You can check out their sizing chart on the NOCO FAQ page if you’re unsure about which one to get.
Road trips are legitimately one of my favorite parts of traveling in the States, but it can be a battle to stay connected if you’re not going in prepared. Adding a gadget or two to your road warrior arsenal can definitely make it easier to stay charged up and productive, even while on the go.
Have your own favorite road trip tech? Let me know!
