HiRise Duet iPhone & Apple Watch Charging Stand REVIEW A powerful accessory for your charging needs

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Pinterest

Having cables all over the place is not stress relieving to me by any means. So when I can find ways to manage the cable mess or remove a cable or two from the pile I do it. I’m really fortunate that some accessory companies think like I do and create charging solutions that help get rid of cable clutter. Twelve South is one of those companies and they have a stand that eliminates one entire cable from my daily charging needs. The HiRise Duet provides a charging stand for both my iPhone X and Apple Watch.

Like the standard HiRise charging stand by Twelve South, the HiRise Duet is made from metal but has napa leather at the base for the watch to rest on. The stand includes both the Lightning connector and Apple Watch charging disk so that you don’t have to sacrifice your own cables to the stand gods. Honestly, aside from eliminating the cable clutter, this was one of the most exciting features to me because I’ve experienced a lot of charging docks that require you to insert your own cables. This in itself isn’t a big deal until you need those cables for something else. Then you have to go through the hassle of dismantling the charging dock in order to remove the cables. The HiRise Duet solves this problem for me and it makes me love the stand even more. Also like the standard HiRise, the Duet has an adjustable back support for the iPhone so that it will work with a variety of iPhone sizes with or without cases. I typically use my phone sans case but having the ability to make that choice and not have to switch charging docks is wonderful.

The addition of the watch charger is epic in my opinion. The HiRise Duet has a slightly wider base and charging stand than the standard HiRise. This is to accommodate the watch. I love being able to slap my watch on the puck and slide my iPhone X onto the Lightning port to charge both at the same time. I really love how Twelve South designed this charging dock because they allowed for Nightstand mode to occur on the watch when it’s charging. Some stands pair the two devices next to each other so that the watch rests in a verticle position rather than horizontal. While it’s effective for charging it doesn’t take advantage of the Nightstand feature on the watch like the HiRise Duet does. It’s a missed opportunity that I’m glad Twelve South recognized and implemented.

Even though I really enjoy having wireless charging available for my iPhone now, it’s hard to ignore that a wired connection still provides a much quicker charge. The HiRise Duet actually provides 15-watts of Lightning power and will charge an iPhone 40% faster than standard USB and almost twice as fast as wireless charging. This is a hard feature to overlook and because the phone is held in a verticle position, I can still work on my phone or even take video calls while it’s charging.

The HiRise Duet comes in a standard Twelve South branded package. Even though I try not to dwell on packaging, Twelve South continues to impress me with their style and efforts to protect products while they are stored there. Twelve South designed the stand so that no assembly was required. I was able to take it out of the box and start using it right away. The other items included in the box were the power adapter, paperwork, and Twelve South stickers. Along with the power adapter were several plug adapters. These were for different country electric standards.

I’m going to pause here for a moment to point out this single power adapter is what eliminated the cable clutter. Since Twelve South incorporated the Lightning plug and the watch’s charging puck into the stand, they could design the power source to be compatible with the stand and not the specific Apple devices. This meant they could use a standard power adapter rather than a USB-driven one. While I definitely appreciate the cable clutter eliminator, it is a massive wall adapter and kind of ugly. I would love it if that could be changed, but if not, I can deal with it and accept the necessary evil for charging the two devices at one time.

The HiRise Duet retails for around $120 and is available in one color — Space Gray. I do hope that Twelve South will eventually release other colors. I enjoy the gray color, but I also really enjoyed my previous black HiRise because it matched my Matte Black iPhone. I could see other users wanting a wider range of color options at some point.

I have used the HiRise to charge four of my Apple devices — my iPad, iPhone, AirPods, and Apple TV remote. While I was successfully charging each device, I never really felt like my iPad Pro was secure. The resting area was narrow and thus made the iPad feel like it might flip off the Lightning connector. Now that I have the HiRise Duet and its wider charging base, I feel like my iPad Pro is more secure while charging.

The HiRise Duet really is the ideal charging companion for Apple users. It’s a quality product and it provides a useful purpose as an accessory. The HiRise Duet is a powerful investment for your charging needs.
BUY FROM AMAZON

For more information, visit Twelve South
Find Twelve South on Facebook and Twitter.

Originally published at macsources.com on November 10, 2017.