culcharge-1CulCharge is a super compact charging and data cable that we can use as keychain. I supported this project back in July 2013 in Indiegogo and finally received my cable few days ago.

Just as we expect, CulCharge is a… cable. The difference is that it’s so light and small, there’s a key ring included with the purchase so I can just join it together with my keys and forget about it. Anywhere I leave my house with my keys, I always carry a charging cable with me.

There are 4 types of CulCharge: micro USB, mini USB, Apple 30-pin connector and Apple lightning connector. The one I receive is CulCharge with lightning connector.

culcharge-2In my test of usage, CulCharge works without any problem. I assume the lightning connector is MFi certified because it doesn’t show the usual warning message “this accessory may not be supported” when we use non-certified cable.

The entire length of CulCharge is less than 6cm, making it about the size of standard key. CulCharge is not the only product of lightning cable at the size of a key. There are other alternatives. Some of them are not MFi certified. Some others have model with cap to protect the lightning plug. However, the key chain is attached to the cap, not to the main body of the cable. If the cable is somehow got separated from its cap, we could lose it.

There are other alternatives like ChargeKey from Nomad that has similar form-factor as CulCharge. Not that I need two super-short cable though.

The 15mm cable is super short yet flexible enough. It’s not going to be our most comfortable experience in charging our devices, but it serves the purpose well as emergency cable.