Patriot FUEL iON Wireless Charger

1. Introduction2. FUEL ion Case/Stand3. FUEL ion Car Mount4. FUEL ion Portable Charger5. FUEL ion Charging Cable6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

As the FUEL iON is currently available for just the iPhone 5/6, Samsung S4/S5 and Note 3 smartphones, you obviously have to get the right case. I use an iPhone 5s as my primary device, so was sent the iPhone 5 case, which is bundled with a wireless charging stand.

There are several accessories available for the FUEL iON – such as a car charger and portable wireless charger – but these are sold separately. The base unit is the phone case with a wireless charging stand. All the FUEL iON cases ship with the stand, though the iPhone 6 ships with a charging ‘pad' instead, for reasons which are unclear. As it is, I review the FUEL iON with the iPhone 5s case, charging stand, and the extra accessories.

Packaging for the case and stand is fairly simple, with a clear plastic box allowing you to get a good look at the products before you open them. A microUSB cable is included with the case and stand, which connects from the stand to an AC adapter. The AC adapter itself is not included, but it is a fair assumption that almost everybody should have one lying around somewhere.

The case is a fairly standard affair – a grey plastic shell fits around the iPhone, and has a Lightning connector which slots in to the phone's charging port once the phone is safely inside the case.

Other than being slightly thick – at 12.5mm – the main problem with the case is that certain earphone jacks cannot now connect to the iPhone's 3.5mm jack. For example, ‘L' shaped jack connectors cannot reach the iPhone's jack due to the extra thickness at the bottom edge. It's not a deal-breaker, it can just be very frustrating on a commute or on-the-go.

The stand itself is well designed. Made of textured, matte plastic, it looks very smart and stylish. It is not bulky at all, and would not clutter a desk or workspace. The base of the stand itself is rubberised, which means it does not slip once it is set on a surface – a smart move from Patriot.

At the back of this base section is the microUSB port to connect the charger to the power source. It is not overly tall at just 10.4cm, and weighs just 151g. When the case is attached via the magnets, your phone can be rotated 360 degrees to suit your needs – so you are not limited by one forced position.

The great thing about the stand is that you can just set it down and simply attach your phone to begin charging. Simply press your phone to the stand and you are off.

On to charging performance. Patriot claim that the FUEL ion is just as fast as a wired connection, and our tests proved them 100% correct. My iPhone charged in 107 minutes using the supplied Apple AC adapter and Lightning cable. Using the FUEL ion charging stand, my iPhone charged in 104 minutes.

While this is 3 minutes faster, the difference can be dismissed as we are not going to see identical charging times at every attempt. The negligible difference says to us you can definitely expect top performance from the FUEL ion charging stand.

Become a Patron!