“With the Ventev Wirelesspro Dock it may be time to ditch your standard USB car charger.”
- Low price
- Limited lifetime warranty
- 3 times faster than standard wireless chargers
- Includes fast charging USB charger
- Mount shifts with heavier phones
We all understand the fear of approaching a crucial navigation point in your drive only to find your smartphone sitting at a 10 percent battery charge. You then frantically search the cabin for your phone charger, then fumble to plug it in and reattach the phone mount.
Ventev hopes that their wireless charging phone mount, the Wirelesspro Dock, will help prevent panic moments like this while on the go. Our Ventev Wirelesspro Dock review should help you decide if it is time to ditch your standard USB car charger.
Issues with USB charging
More and more vehicles have begun to ditch the old 12-volt “cigarette lighter” ports in favor of standard USB. While the dozen or so USB ports may seem like a great way to keep all of your family’s devices powered up, most don’t provide enough juice to hold a charge while in use. Aside from a few newer vehicles with USB ports capable of 2.4 amps (about 12 watts), the standard USB port will only provide around .5 amps (about 2.5 watts). This is why you will find the battery actually dropping when charging via a USB port and watching a video or running a navigation app.
Fast wireless charging
There have been attempts to ditch the charging cable, long before Apple decided to get rid of the headphone jack. Going wireless seemed like the right step through technology like the Qi standard, a global interface standard that electronic manufacturers agreed upon to make their devices compatible. The main issue with the early Qi wireless chargers is that they topped out at a meager 5 watts. To put that in perspective, the average wall charger for your phone produces around 12 watts and would charge your phone at more than double the speed.
Thankfully, charging technology has advanced and back in 2015, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) announced Qi fast charging with charging speeds up to 15 watts. The Wirelesspro Dock from Ventev, available for only $59.99, uses this new wireless charging technology to charge capable devices much faster than the competition. Phones that currently allow for the new fast wireless charging technology include the Samsung Galaxy S6, S7, S8, Note 5, Note 8, HTC One M9, and the LG G4. The Ventev phone dock will also charge any standard Qi wireless charging device but at the slower rate of 5 watts.
Mounted and ready to charge
The Ventev kit includes the Wirelesspro Dock itself, a 3’ Micro USB cable, and a 12-volt Ventev Dashport RQ1300 mini USB car charger with Qualcomm® Quick Charge 3.0. Should you choose to charge “wired” at times, the Dashport charger will allow you to charge via USB at up to 18 watts for newer phones that support fast charging.
The Wirelesspro Dock uses new wireless charging technology to charge capable devices much faster than the competition
The Wirelesspro Dock attaches to your dash with a rear air vent clip. Your vehicle air vent design may differ, but most cars with horizontal or vertical vents should be fine. The clip is easy to attach and has a padded support leg that can be situated flush with the dash to decrease vibration and movement while driving. The base is quality black plastic with rear venting to keep the charger cool. The Micro USB from the 12-volt charger plugs into the bottom of the amount, mere inches away from where you would plug it into your phone.
The mount uses two rubber side arms and a spring-loaded mechanism to hold your phone tightly. We tested the system with two wireless charging enabled devices, both the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Motorola Nexus 6. The Nexus 6 is not equipped with the newer fast wireless charging standard but was able to fit in the mount and charge at a level around 5 watts. The mount also had issues supporting the heavier Nexus 6 and would tilt downward while driving, even when tightened completely. However, the S6 Edge+ was able to use fast wireless charging with the Ventev Wirelesspro Dock and charged at well over three times the speed of the old wireless charging standard. The lighter and narrower body of the S6 Edge+ was easy to mount and had no issues moving while driving.
Warranty information
The Ventev Wirelesspro Dock features a Limited Lifetime warranty. The Ventev Limited Lifetime Warranty guarantees to the end user of this product that it is free from defects in material and workmanship – and that if used in accordance with any accompanying labels or instructions, it will perform as specified. The warranty is only valid in the United States and the product must have been purchased through an authorized dealer.
Our Take
The Ventev Wirelesspro Dock may finally deliver a good reason to ditch the cables with the help of fast wireless charging technology. However, phones with the older, slower wireless charging technology will charge at speeds that are as bad, or worse, than most USB car ports.
Is there a better alternative?
No, Ventev is one of the only trusted brands to deliver a fast wireless charger for your car at this price. Other competitors are rather unknown and their prices are double that of the Wirelesspro Dock.
How long will it last?
With a Limited Lifetime Warranty, there will be no worry about the product breaking. However, the fast wireless charging technology is only on a handful of phones and the standards are changing rapidly.
Should you buy it?
If you have a phone that is equipped with the new fast wireless charging system then absolutely buy it! But for phones with the old standard, it won’t be worth the wait to charge and you’d be better off simply buying the Ventev carport USB charger.
