CyberPower TRVL918 Travel Surge Protector Review

Whenever you hit the road, you inevitably run into the same problem at just about every hotel room: not enough power outlets. I don’t know about you, but I’m usually more concerned about my tech gear when I travel than I am about packing the right clothes. This is true of my honeymoon in Australia, as much as it is true about my work trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. That’s why I need to make sure that all of my gadgetry is suitably charged and ready to go.

You might remember when I mentioned the CyberPower TRVL918 during a recent Dot Com Pho episode. It is a direct competitor to a very similar product from Belkin. The TRVL918 is a travel surge protector that provides a few useful functions. First, it’s a surge protector, saving your electronics from unexpected damage. Second, it is a power strip, giving you three standard outlets for your various technological gear. Third, it is a USB charger, offering two USB charging ports for whatever you have that charges via USB.

Rated at 918 joules (hence the name, the CyberPower TRVL918 is roughly brick-shaped and should fit in your usual gadget bag when you go traveling. It helps that the wall plug folds right into the unit itself, so you don’t have errant prongs damaging your other equipment. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the folding wall plug doesn’t sit all the way at one end of the TRVL918. It’s indented somewhat, so when you plug it into the wall, it effectively blocks two outlets. I was able to get it to fit so that the one outlet was still available for a two-prong (non-grounded) plug, but your mileage will certainly vary. It still does the job, but you may lose an extra outlet in the process.

Thankfully, you still get three regular power outlets, plus two USB charging ports. I scoured the web for more information on the amperage of these USB ports, but I could not find a definitive answer.

As such, I can’t say for certain whether the CyberPower TRVL918 can be used to charge higher-draw devices like the Apple iPad 2 without having to use the specialized charger though a regular wall outlet. I can report, though, that both USB ports were able to provide enough power to charge both my Palm Pre 2 and my Samsung Galaxy S.

I would have liked to see any additional standard outlet at the end, given the relative bulk of the TRVL918, but it was still perfectly adequate thanks to those USB charging ports.

     

No, this isn’t exactly the most exciting piece of technology you’ll carry in your gadget travel bag, but it could prove to be one of the most useful. The build quality is good, the dual USB ports are handy, and the folding prongs make packing a breeze.

The CyberPower TRVL918 travel surge protector can be found on Amazon for $18.65. For my part, it was twenty bucks well spent.