Hi Guys,

I had a bit of an issue last night, and it made me realize I need a car charging solution ASAP.

I was visiting some old friends in Orlando, and drove home in some torrential downpour, and it took forever to get back. What is usually a 3 hour drive turned into a 5.5 hour drive! Anyways, I had 35% battery when I left (probably a bad idea to begin with), and realized a hour into the trip I left my charger at my friends. He's already shipped it back, and I should recieve it today. I was using Google Maps to get onto the highway from where I was, and left it on once I was on the highway. It seemed to really drain the battery. I ended up putting it in Airplane mode at 10% battery, and it got down to 4-5% battery. I turned it off, and figured I'd call my folks when I got closer and turn it back on, as I was meeting them for dinner. I tried to turn it back on and just got the red low battery indicator and it wouldn't go back on.

For those iPhone 5 users, how are you charging your phones in the car? Do you use an actual car charger, or just use the USB to Lightning connector and plug it in? Is there a benefit to either? Any issues in using a car charger for the car/phone battery? I've never really used one EVER, hard to believe.

Thanks!

 

I use an actual car phone charger.

 

Do you want to play music from your iphone? If so, use the USB to Lightning. If you just want to charge the phone, then either is fine. Actually, if you have NAV, you don't even need the USB to play music, as you can stream via bluetooth.

 

Is there any reason why, instead of just the USB cord? Is the car charger quicker and/or less expensive?

Thanks!

 

Well I have an ipod classic I keep in my car for music. (too much music to fit on my iphone 5) And the car charger came with the phone

 

USB charging is slower than a wall charger. Not sure if a car charger is same as wall charger.

 

just get a 2.1A car charger, i always buy the 2 port ones in case a friend needs it too

 

So the consensus is to get an actual "Car Charger" that plugs into the 12V cigarette lighter, if I will just be using for charging.

Are there any brands that are better than others? Does Apple make a car charger? Which aftermarket brand do you recommend?

Thanks!

 

I bought mine at the Verizon store.

 

monoprice dot com sells them cheap.

 

My wife purchased a car charger from Verizon for her iPhone 5. It works like a charm.

 

+1 for Monoprice.

http://www.monoprice.com/mobile/Prod...goryId=1120109

 

I went with the USB cord, didn't even consider a car charger.
It looks less messy, it's closer to you, allows you to play music and keeps the car charger port open incase a friend needs to use it. Not sure if it charges slower, I just plug it up every time I get in the car and my phone has never been on the verge of dying. Got a black one at Walmart for cheap looks nice with the black phone in the black interior instead of a white cord.

Hope this helps

 

I found the best thing is a cigarette lighter to USB charger. That way you can charge your phone in a hurry and still disconnect the USB cord and plug it into your audio for music whenever you like. And cheap too. Around 10 dollars.

 

This is exactly what I believe you need, I use this so I can have my old iphone plugged in only for music, then I can charge my other USB devices. The one I have can be found on ebay for $.95 and I have had no issues with it whatsoever.



Here is a link to the charger on ebay, not 100% link will work.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Port-or-2-Ports-Bullet-Car-Charger-Dual-Micro-USB-for-iPhone-5-iPod-Mp3-player-/390607531091?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&var=&hash=item5af205ec53