02 Feb
Blog

Belkin Boost Charge Pro review: My favorite bedside charger

The Belkin 3-in-1 Charger can charge your phone, Airpods and Apple Watch at the same time.

Belkin Boost Charge Pro

RRP $149.99

"The Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 Charger can charge all your devices at the same time, and it looks good doing it."

benefits

  • Solid, durable construction

  • Strong magnetic attachments

  • Charges three devices simultaneously

  • Pop up watch charger

  • Fast charge for Apple Watch Series 7

disadvantage

  • The plug is way too big

  • No other USB ports

  • Expensive

I've spent the last four years looking for a great bedside charger. When Apple launched MagSafe on the iPhone 12, that search became a little more focused. When Mophie introduced his snap ring adapter That can make basically any Android phone MagSafe compatible, this search has been laser focused. Now the search might be over: The Belkin Boost Charger Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Pad is about as close to perfection as I've come yet.

draft

This is a flat slab covered in a soft-touch silicone finish that's a bit difficult to keep clean. It measures 9 inches by 3 inches by 0.8 inches, so it's quite large. There are three charging areas: a MagSafe charger for your phone, a charger for your Apple Watch, and a charger for your AirPods, which is really just a Qi charger. I used it primarily to charge my Anker Soundcore Liberty Pro 3 earbuds, but occasionally to charge a second phone. There's a single LED light that shows when your AirPods are charging, but there aren't any other LED light indicators since your phone and smartwatch presumably have their onscreen displays.

The MagSafe charging plate for the iPhone is slightly raised for a good, solid connection. The Apple Watch stand folds up so you can charge either vertically or horizontally, depending on your preference. The Apple Watch holder is also adjustable depending on what size Apple Watch you have. It can be raised if needed to make room for the case, which is an important design flourish. The magnets on both the MagSafe charging puck and the watch charger are very strong and won't let either device slip.

strong contact

The Belkin 3-in-1 Charger can charge your phone, Airpods and Apple Watch at the same time.Adam Doud/Digital Trends

That's really all there is to it. The Belkin 3-in-1 Boost Charge Pro works well, the magnets are solid, and you can charge as much as you need. I like this device (and MagSafe in general) because the magnets keep my phone and watch connected even if I nudge them at night. Sometimes I'd rather have a phone stand that keeps my phone upright so I can read or check notifications, but on a bedside table it's a good compromise. Once I put my phone on the charger I shouldn't be looking at it anyway. The watch folds up so I can use it as a small watch if needed, and that's good enough.

The plug occupies three outlets on my power strip, which isn't ideal.

The main benefit here is that the Belkin Boost Charge 3-in-1 Charger has been updated to support both Apple's 15-watt wireless charging for iPhones and fast charging for the Apple Watch Series 7. I personally have an Apple Watch SE, so I can't take advantage of that particular feature, but maybe you can.

The Belkin 3-in-1 charger's power plug seems to be a lot bigger than it needs to be.Adam Doud/Digital Trends

How the charging pad gets its power is not ideal. The Belkin Boost Charge uses a cylinder plug that twists into the base to lock it in place. That's fine, but I'd always prefer a USB-C port so it's easier to travel with. The power supply at the other end is also huge. The plug occupies three outlets on my power strip, which isn't ideal. I actually picked some up One foot extension cord to mitigate that. It makes my power strip a little messier, but at least I get my plugs back.

Not perfect

Another thing I would have liked about this charging stand is additional USB-A or USB-C connectors on the side. The base is thick enough to accommodate both types of connectors and given the size of the connector it would be nice to be able to connect other accessories. You might be thinking, "This thing already charges your phone, watch, and earbuds, what more could you ask for?" That's a perfectly fair point, so it's an forgivable oversight.

The Belkin 3-in-1 Boost Charge Pro charger works well, the magnets are solid, and you can charge as much as you need.

All of this comes at a rather high price of $150, which is certainly on the high side. The addition of fast charging for the Apple Watch Series 7 is nice, and it could be argued that with this charger you don't need the extra power brick you would need to buy for your Apple Watch charger. Still, it's difficult to justify the rather steep cost, especially given Amazon's preponderance of three-device chargers. It's a very clean and good-looking charger with some attractive add-ons, but whether it's enough to justify that much money depends largely on your situation. If you have the available desk space and the right devices to make use of it, this could be a nice addition to your charging arsenal.

The Belkin 3-in-1 Charger's Apple Watch charger flips up so you can charge your watch vertically or horizontally.Adam Doud/Digital Trends

Prices and Availability

The Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 Charger is available on the Belkin website for $150. Orders have already started shipping.

Our opinion

All in all, this is a very expensive charging accessory. But it deserves that price with the ability to charge three devices simultaneously and with the support for fast charging on the 7 Series. There's no shortage of three-device chargers available at a fraction of the price of other retailers other than the Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 is solidly built, with strong magnets and fast charging. The plug is a bit bigger than I'd like to see, and I'd rather have a USB-C cable with a charging brick than a barrel charger and a giant plug. But beyond that, this is a simple, understated design that will look good with just about anything in your home.

Is there a better alternative?

This combination of features is hard to find, especially since fast charging is a new concept for the Apple Watch Series 7. So while there's no shortage of great wireless chargers, objectively many of them won't be any better. Remarkable is the Ampere Unravel Wireless Charger, which can also charge three devices simultaneously and fold into a compact cube. But the maximum is 10 watts per charger. The Belkin Boost Charge Pro gives you plenty of power.

How long does it last?

I have no concerns about the durability of this device. There are some minimal moving parts, but otherwise this thing is a solid brick. However, the proprietary barrel loader is a concern. It snaps into place, which is nice, but its shape and the tight confines it's in mean that if it breaks, you'll have to go to Belkin for a replacement. However, Belkin covers most of its devices with a two-year warranty, which should be some consolation.

should you buy it

If you want a good-looking, fast wireless charging trio of pads, then yes. This isn't the cheapest option, but it guarantees to get your Apple devices up and running as soon as possible. Of course, that only applies if you need to charge three devices. The target customer has a MagSafe iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch. If you don't have all three (or at least a set of earbuds that charge wirelessly) then this is probably too much charger for you.

Editor's Recommendations



07 May
Blog

8 Ways To Boost Your Immunity – Pandemic Is back

Immunity plays an important role in fighting disease. This also applies to Corona.

The immune system is supposed to fight off diseases and viruses. Unfortunately, many things can affect the immune system. This prevents our bodies from fighting diseases effectively.

Your physical fitness alone will not harm your immunity, although it does play an important role in building it.

FOOD

Habits

BREATH & MEDITATION

EXERCISE

CONFIRMATIONS

SLEEP

EMOTIONS

PERSPECTIVE

Immunity-boosting foods

These are some of the superfoods that you can use to boost your immune system to fight CORONA:

GARLIC

2 to 3 cloves in raw form once a day

GINGER

Boil 2/3 g of ginger extract in water or tea and have daily

TURMERIC

1 to 2 g with warm milk daily

ALMONDS

3/4 almonds soaked overnight

CITRUS FRUITS

A glass of orange juice or fresh lemonade every day

GREEN TEA

2 to 3 cups a day

exercise

It is known that exercise has a profound effect on the normal functioning of the immune system. For example, every exercise mobilizes billions of immune cells that are able to kill virus-infected cells.

Some exercises you can do indoors:

  • Yoga, stretching, climbing stairs, skipping
  • Make sure you get up and walk 100 steps around your house every 30 minutes.

If you can go outside

  • Walking, jogging, cycling

To sleep well

Our body has an amazing ability to heal itself. We don't have enough time for that. A good night's sleep can do wonders for our overall health and boost our immunity.

When we sleep, our body is in a repair mode and healing of the main organs occurs. Sleeping well not only helps you wake up fresh and full of energy, it also helps you deal with everyday problems much better. It calms your mind and reduces stress. Most importantly, it helps rebuild your immunity.

  • Avoid watching TV 30 minutes before bed
  • Cultivate the habit of reading a book before bed
  • Take a hot water bath before going to bed
  • Put on soft, calming music
  • Don't carry your daily stress and tension to bed. Keep away from all electronic devices
  • Try meditating for a few minutes before you spell

Good habits

Although we live stressful and demanding lives, we can still develop habits that will help us live healthier lives.

Here are some healthy daily habits that can help you boost immunity and fight coronavirus …

  • Wash your hands with soap frequently during the day
  • Drink as much warm water as possible

EMOTIONS

FEAR acts as a trigger for the negative spiral of emotions that is pulling you down. Anxiety leads to stress, anxiety, sacrifice, anger, regret, guilt, and pressing the panic button … which leads to more fear.

This process is detrimental to physical well-being and ultimately leads to a weakening of the immune system.

Here are some tips for dealing with negative emotions, especially your fears:

  • Be in the Right nowbecause fear is mostly about future events.
  • Be grateful for everything you have in the present moment and think that you are Blessed.
  • Let go of all your resentments, anger, regrets, and guilt. Be Kind and forgiveness. This helps you focus on the present rather than the past.
  • Whatever you do love to do it with full attention to this job.
  • Listen to a few enchanting music or better yet, hum songs to yourself that you love to sing
  • Move your Focus from the future to the presentwith the understanding that the future is only in our imagination. What you think cannot happen at all.
  • To have Trust in the bigger plan that we are all part of it.
  • Bring your attention to your breath every few minutes. Focus on your breath will also calm your mind.

Here is a little breathing exercise you can do. This is part of the SKYTM healing technique. It will take about a few minutes to practice and help you return to the present moment and remove all stressful / anxious thoughts from the mind.

You must breathe in a 4C pattern and keep your eyes closed during this exercise. You can practice this as often as you'd like. You can do this while sitting or lying down.

4c breathing

C.continuously, C.connected, C.yclic and C.onscious

(Watch your breath)

Step 1: Breathe eight times in a 4C pattern

Step 2: Before you can hear the sound of your breath, breathe 4 cycles of “Take a Short Breath” and “One Long Breath”

Step 3: Inhale 4 "For Short Breaths and One Long Breaths" cycles when you cannot hear the sound of your breath. This is called breathing in the silence.

Step 4: Return to normal breathing. Without opening your eyes, watch thoughts come and go in your head.

meditation

Here are two simple meditations that you can practice. These meditations will help you better manage your emotions, calm your mind, and focus your focus on the present moment.

Meditation 1: (time 10-15 min)

  • Sit in a comfortable position or lie down. Gently close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Make sure to focus on how you are breathing.
  • Imagine inhaling positive energies, love and light with every breath you take. Everyone exhales all of your toxins, bad feelings, negative energies, stress, anxiety.
  • Keep going until you feel completely cleansed, stress-free, and relaxed.

Meditation 2: (time 10-15 min)

  • Sit in a comfortable position or lie down. Gently close your eyes. Take a deep breath and focus on it.
  • Visualize yourself in every peaceful place in nature. Feel the breeze blowing, the grass under your feet. You breathe and look around this beautiful place.
  • Tell yourself when you run out of thoughts – I am peaceful.

CONFIRMATIONS

Affirmations are positive statements that you can use to combat limiting or negative thoughts. If you repeat them often and believe in them, you can make positive changes. Affirmations are easy to use and are just examples of positive self-talk. As you change your mindset over time, you will become resistant to unhelpful thinking. And the more positive affirmations you have, the better your life will be.

Here are some statements you can use to change your belief systems and negative thought patterns.

perspective

The perspective has many definitions, e.g. B. Understanding what is important and what is not the ability to see things in their true relationship or relative importance. Often times, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Everything in life happens for a reason. Here are some ways you can broaden your perspective on life's challenges.

  • Be good at accepting change. Change is the only constant phenomenon in life. Accept change.
  • Keep it up. Don't let your past baggage of guilt, regret, resentment, and anger pull you back. Let go and keep going.
  • Be grateful for all that you have. You are always blessed. Hold your heart full of gratitude.
  • Trust the universal process. We are all guided and protected in every moment. Have faith.
  • Have a higher perspective and understand the bigger plan. We are all part of this larger plan. Be careful.
09 Mar
Blog

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks

How to Increase Your Pull-ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, Bodybuilding, Goal Setting, Cardio, Bodyweight Exercises, HIIT, Home Training, Pull-ups, Fatigue, Isometry, Consistency, Training Method, Greasing the Groove, Pull-ups, Lockdown

There is no secret or magic trick to increasing your pull-ups, but it's not as difficult as many people believe. You may think that I am another trainer who cannot relate to your situation, but I can. I still remember struggling to do 2-3 pull-ups.

I had problems because I didn't train for them, and when I trained for pull-ups, I didn't train properly.

I'm afraid a lot of people make the same mistakes that I've made. I want to share how to skip the frustration and cope with the pulling up.

Your training should match your goals

Most of the fitness industry is all about HIIT, cardio, bodybuilding, or training until you puke.

I'm not a fan of this, not because there is something wrong with these training styles, but because these methods get the most attention. There are so many different ways to exercise, but your exercise should always be in line with your goals.

The goal here is to increase the number of pull-ups you can do in a row and the methods I mentioned are not working.

When I was learning to do pull-ups::

  • I did it the usual way with 3 sets of 5-10 reps.
  • The goal is to do 3 sets of 5 reps.
  • Then increase reps 3×6, 3×7 every week or two until you reach your goal.
  • What generally happens is that you can probably do five reps on the first set, but after that you will even have difficulty doing 2-3 reps.
  • That was what happened to me, and I would continue to hit plateaus – get stuck on the same reps for a while.

If I could do it all over again I would use a technique called Grease The Groove (GTG). This is how I teach my clients to do their first pull-up and increase the amount they can do in a row.

Grease the groove for better pull-ups

How to Increase Your Pull-ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, Bodybuilding, Goal Setting, Cardio, Bodyweight Exercises, HIIT, Home Training, Pull-ups, Fatigue, Isometry, Consistency, Training Method, Greasing the Groove, Pull-ups, Lockdown

For example::

  • For example, suppose you can only do four repetitions in a row.
  • Throughout the day, you'll be doing multiple sets (4-7 sets) at 50% of your maximum, which is the equivalent of two reps.
  • If one rep is your maximum, then do multiple sets of one rep.
  • Let rest for at least an hour between sets.
  • Do this 4-6 days a week.

After two weeks, test your pull-ups to see how many you can do in a row.

Learning a new movement pattern is like learning a new skill.

The more you do something right, the better you get at it. Performing the repetitions at 50% intensity will limit fatigue and focus more on correct technique.

It won't feel like you're doing much, but your body learns the movement. Frequency and consistency are king when it comes to learning.

In a week you will accumulate a lot of repetitions.

You can do this in addition to your regular exercise. However, if you fail to recover between sessions, you will reduce the workload.

Pull-up technique:

Get Your First Pull Up

If you can't do a pull-up yet, you can still use this technique. In addition to your regular pull-up exercise 2-3 times a week, do GTG with these exercises. Focus on one for two weeks, rest a week, and then do GTG with the other.

Jumping negative pull-ups::

  • Jump up as much as it takes to pull yourself up.
  • Try to drive slowly when you come back down.
  • You might fall straight down at first, but as you get stronger you can go slower.
  • If the jump is too big, jump out of a box to help you.

Isometric pull-ups:

Jump up and hold on to the top of the pull-up. Try to keep your chin above the bar.

You can handle your body weight

Some of you may think that you were never meant to be or will never be strong enough to do pull ups, but you are. Put aside the negative thoughts and feelings and get the job done.

Pull-ups are a natural movement that your body is well capable of.

Exercise your pull-ups frequently throughout the week and focus on correct technique. Otherwise, you're just cheating on yourself. Be patient and you will master your pull-ups. You can also use GTG to improve other exercises.

08 Mar
Blog

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks

How to Increase Your Pull-ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, Bodybuilding, Goal Setting, Cardio, Bodyweight Exercises, HIIT, Home Training, Pull-ups, Fatigue, Isometry, Consistency, Training Method, Greasing the Groove, Pull-ups, Lockdown

There is no secret or magic trick to increasing your pull-ups, but it's not as difficult as many people believe. You may think that I am another trainer who cannot relate to your situation, but I can. I still remember struggling to do 2-3 pull-ups.

I had problems because I didn't train for them, and when I trained for pull-ups, I didn't train properly.

I'm afraid a lot of people make the same mistakes that I've made. I want to share how to skip the frustration and cope with the pulling up.

Your training should match your goals

Most of the fitness industry is all about HIIT, cardio, bodybuilding, or training until you puke.

I'm not a fan of this, not because there is something wrong with these training styles, but because these methods get the most attention. There are so many different ways to exercise, but your exercise should always be in line with your goals.

The goal here is to increase the number of pull-ups you can do in a row and the methods I mentioned are not working.

When I was learning to do pull-ups::

  • I did it the usual way with 3 sets of 5-10 reps.
  • The goal is to do 3 sets of 5 reps.
  • Then increase reps 3×6, 3×7 every week or two until you reach your goal.
  • What generally happens is that you can probably do five reps on the first set, but after that you will even have difficulty doing 2-3 reps.
  • That was what happened to me, and I would continue to hit plateaus – get stuck on the same reps for a while.

If I could do it all over again I would use a technique called Grease The Groove (GTG). This is how I teach my clients to do their first pull-up and increase the amount they can do in a row.

Grease the groove for better pull-ups

How to Increase Your Pull-ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, Bodybuilding, Goal Setting, Cardio, Bodyweight Exercises, HIIT, Home Training, Pull-ups, Fatigue, Isometry, Consistency, Training Method, Greasing the Groove, Pull-ups, Lockdown

For example::

  • For example, suppose you can only do four repetitions in a row.
  • Throughout the day, you'll be doing multiple sets (4-7 sets) at 50% of your maximum, which is the equivalent of two reps.
  • If one rep is your maximum, then do multiple sets of one rep.
  • Let rest for at least an hour between sets.
  • Do this 4-6 days a week.

After two weeks, test your pull-ups to see how many you can do in a row.

Learning a new movement pattern is like learning a new skill.

The more you do something right, the better you get at it. Performing the repetitions at 50% intensity will limit fatigue and focus more on correct technique.

It won't feel like you're doing much, but your body learns the movement. Frequency and consistency are king when it comes to learning.

In a week you will accumulate a lot of repetitions.

You can do this in addition to your regular exercise. However, if you fail to recover between sessions, you will reduce the workload.

Pull-up technique:

Get Your First Pull Up

If you can't do a pull-up yet, you can still use this technique. In addition to your regular pull-up exercise 2-3 times a week, do GTG with these exercises. Focus on one for two weeks, rest a week, and then do GTG with the other.

Jumping negative pull-ups::

  • Jump up as much as it takes to pull yourself up.
  • Try to drive slowly when you come back down.
  • You might fall straight down at first, but as you get stronger you can go slower.
  • If the jump is too big, jump out of a box to help you.

Isometric pull-ups:

Jump up and hold on to the top of the pull-up. Try to keep your chin above the bar.

You can handle your body weight

Some of you may think that you were never meant to be or will never be strong enough to do pull ups, but you are. Put aside the negative thoughts and feelings and get the job done.

Pull-ups are a natural movement that your body is well capable of.

Exercise your pull-ups frequently throughout the week and focus on correct technique. Otherwise, you're just cheating on yourself. Be patient and you will master your pull-ups. You can also use GTG to improve other exercises.