While summer brings us festivals in the capital cities, cool weather encourages us to road trip out to regional events. There’s the Howling Moon Blues Festival in Port Macquarie on 8 June, Bello Winter Music in Bellingen from 11 to 14 July, and the Gympie Muster near Gympie from 22 to 25 August to name but a few. Back in the old days, road tripping to a regional music festival encouraged us to get off the grid and focus on nothing but the music. But today we’ve got our social media profiles to think of, so we want gadgets that can help us stay connected while we’re away from home. That’s why while I was away in Port Stephens recently, I took the time to road test a couple of cool products that I think will make your upcoming musical road trips easier.
The first is the Belkin universal cable, a nifty gadget which connects to your car charger and portable battery for extra juice on the move. You can also use it to connect your device to a laptop or desktop computer and sync information. Since its USB-C, Lightning, and Micro-USB connectors are interchangeable, it’ll work with virtually any device. My husband and I loved that we could use it for my Huawei P9 and his new Google Pixel phone, along with his Samsung tablet. We’re loyal Android users, but if we were travelling with a friend with an iPhone, it’d work for them as well. In the past, my tech-loving husband would carry multiple cables on our road trips. Using the Belkin universal cable, we could leave all those different cables behind. We also loved the little hook on each adaptor, which helps you stay organised during your travels.
I also fell for the Belkin Road Rockstar, a four-port car charger made for music lovers. With four USB ports at our disposal, we could power up the GPS, both our phones, and his tablet at once. This was perfect for our road trip, when I was draining battery streaming from Spotify and he was playing games in the front passenger’s seat.
The Belkin Road Rockstar has two standard powering USB ports and two high-power draw USB ports on the extendable hub, perfect for charging quickly when you’re short on time. The two-part nature of this car charger is also really convenient. Since all the cables aren’t in one place, there’s less clutter around the centre console when you’re using all the ports. We found this true even when we were using it in the front seat, but with a six-foot cable, you’d really notice the difference with a couple of mates using it in the back. They could stream Netflix while you’re focusing on the road and no one would ever deplete their batteries.
The Belkin universal cable costs $39.95 while the Belkin Road Rockstar is a slighter greater investment at $59.95. Both are available from the Belkin website. You’ll also find the universal cable at your local JB Hi-Fi. Get yours before your next musical road trip.
Image via Flickr by gympiemusicmuster