evalu8ed by Anne Garber

What THEY say: Item: AC Car Charger-adapter
Genre: portable peripheral
Developer: Budget Gadgets
Website: www.budgetgadgets.com
Price: from $2.89 (depending on quantity ordered)
Rating: 5/5

What WE say: It's a fact of life that the first thing in your new cell phone package that breaks (or gets lost) is the expensive-to-replace AC charger unit. On the other hand, the charger unit that plugs into your cigarette-lighter in your car, well, those are a dime-a-dozen. So how handy would it be to find an adapter that allows you to plug in that "extraneous" charger -- the one meant for the car -- into a regular AC-type wall plug in your home or office?

The Review: My personal selection for the ideal charger accessory for iPod owners, mobile phone-users or gadget-freaks, this handy -- and cheap -- device allows you to charge small electronics using your car-charging unit, when you are indoors!

Order from BudgetGadgets.com: click on picture to open a new window. Mention coupon AM5OFF3 and receive 5 per cent off your order!

When we were in the UK, John plugged in his mobile-phone wall-charger without protecting it behind a transformer. It only took a millisecond, and at the same time he realized his mistake, we smelled that distinctive burning-electronics scent and in a trice, the charging unit was toast. Imagine our fury when we discovered -- back home -- that the cost of replacing it at home would be $70! No way!

However, I had bought a car-charging unit for a mere $1.99, so at least we could charge up our phones while we were in the car. But part of our current frugality campaign is to drive less often, so we found it increasingly inconvenient to keep our phones charged. How wonderful, then, to have discovered a pocket-sized unit that would "convert" our car chargers into home-outlet chargers, n'est-ce pas?

We had found similar units to this one at Big Lots in Bellingham for only $3 USD, but they seemed rarely to be in stock lately, and the one we bought there first literally fell apart after a brief period, in normal use. Something similar is available at The Source and at London Drugs, but the price tag seemed to be $29.95 everywhere we looked. Too expensive!

So again, we were delighted to discover a cheap source for these items, especially when they turned out to be much better quality than the one we bought at Big Lots. We have had the one we got from Bargain Gadgets in normal use for a month now, and it works perfectly.

Priced from $2.89, it's a real bargain. Find it at www.budgetgadgets.com (search words: "car charger").