This black monolith (the power block) features a pair of upward-retracting blades for your AC wall socket, a status light and a pair of USB power ports. The retracting feature of the blades is a nice touch, making the block fit smoothly in your go bag without potentially piercing the fabric. Unfortunately, "status light" is sort of a misnomer for this LED. Unlike the status light on the car charger, this one only indicates that the PowerBlock's ready to charge. You'll have to check the device being charged for its current status.
On the plus side, unlike the car charger, the PowerBlock can charge up to two devices simultaneously. One design touch I especially like is the location of the USB ports when the PowerBlock is plugged in: at the bottom. This means that the USB cables hang vertically rather than horizontally, which would create undue strain on wires.
I've been using a Belkin car charger that's twice the size of Griffin's, for some reason, so I'm naturally pleased to see the smaller design. Snap it in your cigarette lighter, plug in your USB cable, and you're ready to go. As implied above, the LED on this charger, which is a ring around the port, changes color when the device is charged. Another feature is has that the PowerBlock lack (or at least I couldn't find a mention of it in the documentation) is a replacable fuse for surge protection.
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