Krafted Connex USB Cable Multi Adapter Thingy
The Swiss Army Knife is an ubiquitous metaphor for “a thing that does a bunch of things,” but it also evokes a very specific form-factor. Its design is elegant, compact and multi-functional in a way that few tools manage to replicate. The Connex from Krafted – a palm sized pocketable pantheon of USB chaos – tries with some success. It is, however, too weird and confusing to be useful outside of very particular circumstances and somehow too bulky to effectively replace a couple of nice flexible traditional cables.
Impress your friends with your flagrant disregard for USB specifications!
It’s a good effort, though, and the concept is simple- a variety of USB-ish connectors that rotate out from a central protective casing and let you connect Thing A to Thing B (ha, literally if we’re talking microB) in an emergency. It will certainly eliminate cable tangles – if you don’t already carry velcro cable wraps or a little zip up case for smaller cables (I do both) – and it’ll clip onto a keyring or karabiner if you just want to conveniently hook it to your bag.
Its biggest flaw, however, is the very design that makes it compact-ish- it’s short, stubby USB connectors are far too inflexible to bridge two devices without resorting to awkward placement or weird hacks to prop them up so they align nicely. It works, yes, but the result is a widely impractical, inflexible kludge that leaves your device (assuming it’s a phone) virtually impossible to use.
If you’re an older iPhone user this is while it trickles out a mediocre 8-9W from USB Type-C to lightning, versus a direct cable with a minimum of 16W. These numbers may not mean much, but the higher the wattage the faster your device charges- and getting a decent charge in fast would have been the saving grace for such an odd setup. Regrettably not only might you need to prop your phone up on a box while it’s plugged into a chunky portable battery (which you might also need to prop up) but you’re going to have to wait an hour for it to charge, too.
Ha peaked at 27w charging my laptop through this mad folding cable!
Fortunately USB Type-C fares much better, and I’ve got to hand it to Krafted – with USB Type-C to USB Type-C I could get my laptop to pull a sustained 25W. That’s pretty decent and means most phones, tablets and fast-charging headphones should be pretty sorted.
Twist it bend it contort it bop it
Because I am nothing if not curious I also contorted (it was difficult!) the Connex to connect my laptop to my JSAUX dual portable display. Predictably it provided (some) power to my laptop and also fired up my keyboard and mouse which worked great. It was not, however, spicy enough to carry the video signals for the monitors themselves. I didn’t expect it to be, but it was worth a try.
The Connex includes two lightning connectors, two USB Type-C (one hidden under a Type-C to Type-A – the big port on your computer – adapter) and a microB connector.
The USB Type-C with an adapter is designated as the input, and all the other connectors are outputs. You can hook things up wrong and they will somewhat work, but treating the input connector as the input gives the best charging speeds and it’s also a little longer, letting it flex a little and alleviate some of the setup chaos.
In short this is probably a handy device for the frequent traveller with poor cable organization – that may be because you’re in a rush, or simply because you’re a different flavour of chaos than me. It’s also built well, with two millimeter thick steel reinforcement plates that no amount of crushing, twisting or bending I could apply (with my hands, I’m not an animal) would budge.
It works, I can’t argue with that. Whip it out at parties and make your USB geek friends wince!
What’s clear is that, despite it being very much a weird, limited utility device, Krafted have put some real effort into Connex. It’s a nice, hefty thing to hold and the grooved silicone cables, while flat and unwieldy, at least have some flex so you can contort them into shape. It works best with smaller things- earphones, but it feels like it would work better if the USB connectors were somehow turned 90 degrees. Weird as a barrelful of ferrets but handy in a pinch- grab one from Krafted for £29.99… ouch!
… now I know I’m going to find myself in just the pinch this would be perfect for, but I’d have left it at home!