I’m one of those people who purchased the Belkin Valet for my iPhone 7 / Apple Watch Series 2 and who upgraded to the iPhone XS / Series 4 this year only to find out that for some unknown infuriating reason, Valet will NOT charge iPhone XS / XR.
So, I started looking for alternatives. Link to the Valet: https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F8J183-APL/ ($129)
Nomad’s wireless base station is $99.95: https://hellonomad.com/products/base-station-hub and wirelessly charges the iPhone & Apple Watch and will support the AirPods wireless charging as well (no way to know for sure but that’s their claim).
I was waiting for AirPower but there’s a few reasons why I purchased now.
1. This is black with Leather and aluminum. It’s more premium than AirPower
2. The AirPower won’t work with the Stainless Steel Link Bracelet which is the only Apple Watch band I’ve used since Series 0 and I need the watch charger to be upright and not built into the base because you can’t unhook the link bracelet like you can other bracelets.
Here are some photos:
If you have an iPhone XS/XR, you aren’t even cross-shopping the Nomad and Belkin options but I was forced to upgrade and while I am a dock user 100%. I use a dock at my iMac (official apple dock), a GroveMade dock at my work desk (MacBook pro + 4K monitor) and a dock bedside, I LOVE having the iPhone upright and think it’s stupid laying it down but I wanted to have just one charger for both devices and was excited to try inductive charging.
I think this will fit the bill and it is kind of nice not having to unhook the lightning connector by holding the base down (not an issue with my Grovemade since it’s made of brass).
Anyway, I hope these photos are helpful.