Do you work long hours in front of your computer? I do, I start the morning in front of it, and usually till the end of the day as well… I always have my pot of coffee in the morning and some sort of beverage throughout the day, but when I get busy my coffee gets cold or my other beverage of choice will get warm, what’s a person to do? Get the gadget I have for review today that’s what! We’ve seen the USB powered beverage coolers, but how about a warmer and cooler all in one? USBGeek sent me their USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer for review, and it’s one of those gadgets that you could live without but why? Read on to check it out…
USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer from USBGeek
Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos
Sponsor: USBGeek
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer from USBGeek
Keep you favorite beverage warm or cold all the time with this USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer! There is nothing less refreshing than a warm can of cola or a cold cup of coffee,
but this will be a thing of the past with this great cup cooler and warmer!
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Features:
USB interface
Compatible with USB 2.0/1.1
White durable ABS plastic
Stainless steel heating pad
Beverage cup cooler and warmer
Cooler or warmer function switch
Built-in fan
No external power source required
Specs:
Warmer – 10 minutes 13 degrees rise.
Cooler – 10 minutes 7 degrees decrease.
120cm cable length (approximate) (47.24)
Heating pad diameter : 65mm (2.55)
Dimensions: 14.4 x 8.5 x 3.2cm (5.67 x 3.35 x 1.26)
Weight: 382gm (13.48oz)
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A Better Look at Things
:
As usual the first thing we look at is the packaging, the package for the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer from USBGeek is nicely made and attractive, with a picture of the product on the front, with some little icons and a picture of it attached to a computer to show a possible use.
Opening the box we find a brief instruction manual and the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer wrapped in plastic for protection.
And that’s it, all that comes with the product is an instruction manual. The USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer is made mostly out of ABS plastic, with a nice long USB power cord attached.
On the back of the Beverage Cooler/Warmer is a slide switch to choose the mode you want, either hot or cold.
On the bottom we find four thick rubber feet to allow clearance for good airflow of the fan that is located there.
The USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer is lightweight, making it very portable to take with you anywhere you need to. It is made with ABS plastic so it should be able to withstand quite a bit of travel abuse and last for quite a while, the heating pad itself is stainless steel making it long lasting as well.
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Installation, Testing and Comparison
Installation is very simple, just plug it in to any available USB port, select ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ and place your beverage on the hot/cold plate.
For my first set of tests I used the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer from USBGeek on the cold setting to see if it could keep my can of Coca-Cola cool for me while I worked. The ambient room temperature was 22.8C (73.04F) during my testing.
I let the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer from USBGeek sit for about 10 minutes and checked the temperature using my ThermoHawk non-contact thermometer, depending where I took the reading the temperature was between 17.8C (64.04F) and 18.4C (65.12F). The temperatures might not be that cool, but they are below ambient and if we look back at the specs for this product: Cooler – 10 minutes 7 degrees decrease, I would assume that the ‘7 degree decrease’ means a seven degree drop below ambient temperature. So if we look at the ambient and the recorded temperatures we can see actually a little more of a decrease than that seven degrees, between eight and nine degrees Fahrenheit, but if we look at it under Celsius then it is only a maximum drop of five degrees.
In the morning I ran essentially the same test, but used my coffee to test the ‘hot’ setting of the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer, in the morning the ambient temperature was 20.9C (69.62F).
Again here I let it sit for about 10 minutes and checked the temperatures with my ThermoHawk thermometer, it read between 30.6C (87.08F) and 31.4C (88.53F) , depending where I took the reading. Here again we can look back at the specs: Warmer – 10 minutes 13 degrees rise, again, depending what we look at Celsius or Fahrenheit, we can see a temperature rise of about 10.5 C or 18.91F.
Well the results are somewhat inconclusive aren’t they? We would have to assume that since this product is manufactured overseas that their temperature scale would be Celsius, but it could be that since the product is made to be marketed in the US then it could be they mean the Fahrenheit scale of temperatures. So, if they are using the Fahrenheit scale then the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer then according to their specs it works very well, but if under Celsius, then it is cooling and warming a bit under their own specs.
For the review purposes I am going to assume the temperatures they mean are in Fahrenheit and go with that for now, since this is a product aimed primarily at the US market. That would mean it performs very well and above specs to keep your beverage cool or hot, whatever the case may be. Then again though if we look at the actual temperatures. They only reached a coolest point of 30.6C (64.04F), which isn’t all that cool really, when I take my can of Coke from the fridge it is about 45F or 7.22C, but I guess it is still being kept cooler than room temperature. The hot side of the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer does a bit better, hitting close to 90F (32.22C), which is a temperature that is fine for me to drink my coffee at.
On a side note I can happily report that the device is very quiet, you can barely hear the fan in either hot or cold modes.
The overall key to success in using this product is using a thermally conductive cup or container, with that you will achieve the best results. Of course I used a can of Coke, which as you know is hollow on the bottom, so only a small part of the can actually touches the surface of the cooler, the proper use would have been to transfer the the cold or hot beverage into a better conductive container.
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Summary:
Overall the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer from USBGeek is an interesting idea, we know there are other brands of USB beverage coolers on the market, but none that are both a cooler and a warmer in one. While the temperatures I saw in my testing were not that cold, it will keep your beverage cool and coming in at almost 90F for the hot side is more than hot enough to keep you coffee or tea hot.
DragonSteelMods gives the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer from USBGeek a 4 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Small and portable
-Quiet
-Works well
-Easy to use
Cons:
-None really
I would like to thank USBGeek for the chance to review the USB Beverage Cup Cooler and Warmer and for their continued support of DSM.
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