If your home or office is anything like mine, there are a stack of different portable devices that need to be charged at any one time. In my household, there are five smartphones, three iPads, several fitness trackers and smartwatches. That can make for a veritable bird’s nest of power cables and charging adapters. That’s where the Udoq 400 comes in. It’s a base station that can charge up to five different USB devices at one time, in an attractive stand.
The Udoq 400 has an elegant base with sliding docks that you can connect your devices to. The review unit I received shipped with cables that can accomodate Lightning, USB-C, micro-USB and Apple’s old 30-pin connector for older iPhones, iPads and iPods. However, you can swap those cables out and replace them with others.
The Udoq 400 is 400mm wide – there are 250,mm, 550mm and 700mm wide versions as well for charging more devices if needed.
All the cables thread to the back of the unit and plug into a 5-port charging brick. Everything is hidden in a black box with just a single power cable poking out. So, instead of needing a separate power brick for each device, one cable can charge them all.
Swapping the supplied cables for your own is reasonably easy. You need to pop the sides off the ends of the Udoq, and slide the chargers out. They, you can pop the chargers open, remove the cable and insert your own cables into the small docks. Pop them back together, slide them into place, while threading the cables back though to the charging brick and you’re ready to go.
Although the device worked as intended, I did hit one little snag. As we no longer have any 30-pin Apple devices around, I wanted to swap out the 30-pin cable for another lighting cable. That proved to be problematic as the plastic docking device was made to accomodate the wider 30-pin cable’s end. It would be useful if the Udoq came with a spare slider or two, or some sort of adapter, so different cables can be more easily accommodated. Of course, if you have a 3D printer you could make your own cable adaptors if you have the skills.
That’s where something simpler and less elegant like the Laser Charging Station I looked at a while ago works well. Although it doesn’t completely get rid of cable clutter, it can more easily accommodate different types of devices. And, it includes a wireless charging area for newer Qi-compatible devices.
On the other hand, with the Udoq, all of the device displays are visible while they are charging so you won’t miss any alerts or messages.
There’s a lot to like about the Udoq. It looks good and helps to keep your desk or charging area neat. It’s well made, wth a brushed aluminium body and the supplied cables are of a decent quality. If only it came with an adapter or similar for accomodating different cables.