Xiaomi Car Charger

I’ve been using some rebranded Philips charger in my car all this time — I’ve mentioned it before, and it doubles as a mount so you can glance at navigation. I bought it back then because it was one of the few products that could charge wirelessly. But after all these years, a few things about it have gotten genuinely annoying.

• The suction cup doesn’t hold well. When it gets too hot, it falls off. At least 4-5 times over the years — rare, sure, but having it drop while you’re driving is pretty nasty.
• It blocks your view. A big lump like that sitting in the middle does get in the way sometimes.
• Wireless charging power is too low. After I retired my OnePlus 5 for a Pixel 3XL, this thing couldn’t even charge it — it would actually drain the battery.
• Besides not charging fast enough, the Pixel 3XL would also disable LTE data from overheating. I’m using this for navigation, damn it — no data, no navigation. Why does it overheat? Because the thing sits dead center. Fine in winter, broken in summer.

Anyway, it’s been several years. Time to replace it.

So I switched to the Xiaomi car charger. Not much else to say about it. First, the wireless charging is advertised at 20W, though with my Pixel 3XL I seem to only get 10W. Either way, it no longer drains.

For mounting, it supports both adhesive and clipping directly onto an air vent. Obviously I’m mounting it on the vent — what else am I supposed to do, overheat again?

Overall it works pretty well, at least much better than the old rebranded Philips. Of course, it has its shortcomings:

• The clip feels hard to secure. You have to keep trying to find the best position, and even then it wobbles once clipped — though it won’t fall off.
• The clamp that holds the phone for wireless charging is the same as the Philips one: bring your finger near the sensor on the left and it opens automatically, and it grips again when you move away. But the Philips had a tiny built-in battery, so after the car powers off it keeps some juice for a while and lets you take the phone out. The Xiaomi one is dead the moment you park, so you can’t use the sensor to open the clamp. You have to change your habits: grab the phone first, then turn off the engine.

All in all, there are plenty of car chargers to choose from these days, and this Xiaomi one is probably rebranded too. But it solved my two pain points: not charging, and overheating. Money well spent.