I love my strange Belkin wireless charging tree

A $ 139.95 wireless charger that looks like a cross between a bonsai tree and the 2001 decor: Space Odyssey may look like a niche product. But if you have an iPhone 12 and an Apple Watch, the Belkin 3-in-1 Boost ↑ Charge Pro wireless charger ridiculously named with MagSafe is really great.

Charging Apple devices has gotten more complicated recently, at least for me. Now that the Apple Watch tracks sleep, I’m carrying it with a messy cable on my desk for an hour or more when I start the day, instead of overnight. And while I prefer to use vertical wireless chargers to be able to read notifications as they arrive, the iPhone 12 mini is too small for most media – the charging coil is not high enough on the back of the phone.

Belkin’s new charger not only solves these two problems, but makes wireless charging a better experience than ever. The tree-shaped design has two stainless steel “branches” – one on the left with a 15W MagSafe drive for the iPhone and the other on the right with an Apple Watch charger. There is also a 5W Qi charger built into the base, which should work with almost any Qi device.

This is the first official third-party MagSafe charger and I think it is much more useful than any of Apple’s options. It holds the phone at the perfect height for quick glances when you are at your desk, and the charger base is sturdy enough that you can connect and disconnect the phone with one hand without the base moving. The phone looks very safe alone or in Apple’s MagSafe-compatible leather case.

The Apple Watch charger works just as well and I’m glad something like this ended up on my desk instead of Apple’s unfortunate AirPower universal charger. This device should charge the watch as well as the iPhone, but it probably wouldn’t work with the loop bracelets I usually wear, as they hinder the charging element of the watch. This solution works with all watch straps and is much more convenient than fiddling with a cable.

The Qi charger on the base does what you expect. It is ideal for low power Qi devices such as AirPods, which charge only up to 5W, but it is also suitable for Android phones, as long as you don’t need a quick charge. The base is large enough to accommodate larger phones without the steel support getting in the way.

My biggest complaint with this charger is that the power supply uses a barrel connector instead of USB-C, but it’s not a big problem for something that will never leave my desk. It is not yet for everyone, of course. You may reasonably think that the design is too weird or the price too high. I personally like its appearance, although it is certainly not cheap, I think it has a better value than any of Apple’s MagSafe chargers so far.

Belkin also makes a similar MagSafe dock without an Apple Watch charger for $ 100, which is probably the best option for most people. If you have encountered my specific billing dilemmas lately, however, I can recommend version 3 in 1 highly.