The 4 Best Universal Travel Adapters - Buy Side from WSJ

Oct 25, 2024

Keep all your gear powered (almost) anywhere on Earth

Written By

Written by

Senior Editor, Buy Side from WSJ

Nick Guy is a senior editor for Buy Side from WSJ. He's been reviewing personal technology, accessories and myriad other products for more than a decade.

Updated October 22, 2024, 3:27 PM EDT

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International travel usually means packing gear and gadgets that have to be charged during the trip: a phone, power bank, headphones, even a laptop. Many countries use different power outlets than the U.S., meaning you're going to need an adapter to plug anything in. Thankfully, there are a number of products that offer a solution to both issues.

International power adapters let you plug in U.S.-style prongs no matter where you are. As Ryan Bartley, vice president of business development and marketing at RedSky Engineering in Spanish Fork, Utah, explains, an adapter is a very simple device. "Its only purpose is to mechanically adapt your plug to that of the country you are visiting," says Bartley, who holds a master's degree in electrical engineering. The best of them have multiple USB ports so you don't need to pack an additional charger.

Our pick for the best travel adapter in the category is Epicka's TA-105C Universal Travel Adapter, followed closely by Tessan's International Plug Adapter. If you travel with a laptop and don't want to pack a stand-alone charger, choose either Epicka's TA-105 Max World Travel Adapter or the OneAdaptr OneWorld100.

Buy Side Top Pick

$24 at Amazon

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This power adapter has a great selection of USB-A and USB-C ports in a compact package for a low price.

International travel power adapters all look pretty much the same: They are a plastic block with a face-like array of outlets to accept plugs from around the world on the front, and sliders along one side that push out the appropriate prongs for the country in which you want to charge. Many now have a selection of USB ports as well, and these models are so prevalent that you shouldn't buy an adapter without them. Epicka's TA-105C Universal Travel Adapter is the best of these accessories. For about the price of a book at an airport newsstand, you get a well-built device that will work pretty much anywhere in the world, with a great selection of both USB-A and USB-C ports for charging all your gear.

The number, style and power outputs of USB ports is the biggest differentiating factor in this category. Epicka's adapter has five total, the most available on any competitor, with a total combined power output of 30 watts. There are two USB-A ports-the rectangular kind that's becoming less common these days-both of which support 12-watt (5 volts at 2.5 amps) charging. That'll charge most modern phones a bit slower than their maximum rate, but the speed is more than sufficient for devices with smaller batteries including fitness trackers or headphones.

Each of the three oval-shaped USB-C ports allow for 15-watt (5 volts at 3 amps) charging. You can get faster charging speeds from other adapters, and many devices will benefit from them (the iPhone 12 and later charge at up to 27 watts, for example), but the difference isn't so big that we recommend paying more for it. Especially if you'll be charging overnight, you're not likely to notice you're not getting the absolute maximum speed. You'll want one of our other picks if you'll be charging a laptop or tablet.

The Epicka is otherwise similar to everything else out there, with Type A, I, G and C plugs (see the "How we picked" section below for more detail on the different plug styles). All the adapters we tested are about 2 inches wide and 2⅛ inches deep; this one is just over 2¾ inches tall, which is in the same range as similarly specced universal adapters.

$20 at Amazon

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Choose this adapter if our top pick is out of stock.

Tessan's International Plug Adapter usually costs a few dollars more than our top pick, is just a little shorter and offers a slightly lower 28-watt power across its ports. But it's otherwise a very similar device and in practice, most people won't notice a difference in charging performance. It's a totally fine choice if the Epicka is sold out or its price jumps.

$60 at Amazon

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If you’re traveling with a laptop and don’t want to pack an additional charger, this is the adapter to pick.

Most laptops and tablets draw more power than phones, especially if you want to fast-charge them. The M2-based MacBook Air, for example, can charge just fine from a 30-watt power source, but its battery will charge faster, reaching 50% in about 30 minutes, with a more powerful 67-watt charger. If you travel with a laptop or tablet and want to juice it up fast, choose Epicka's TA-105 Max World Travel Adapter. All three of its USB-C ports can charge at 67 watts, which is the maximum speed or close to it for the majority of these devices (see our next pick if you use a more powerful computer). You can also take advantage of 45-watt speeds on one USB-C port and 30 watts on a second, or 45, 15 and 15 watts if you're using all three. The two USB-A ports support up to 60-watt charging, but expect standard speeds because most cables and devices aren't designed to support that rate over USB-A. It performed as expected in our tests.

$89 at Oneadaptr

$109 save $20

The most powerful travel adapter out there, suitable for larger laptops.

Large laptops like the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro can pull significantly more power to fill their batteries. If you travel with one of these computers, you should buy OneAdaptr's OneWorld100. It works just like all the others we tested, but it supports 100-watt (20 volts at 3 amps) charging. That's the highest level of power draw available on any travel adapter. More powerful laptops can draw around that much wattage or even more, so if you want to ensure the fastest possible charge without carrying an extra power brick, this is your best option. Unlike the rest of our picks, OneAdaptr's adapter only has four USB ports, and it's taller than the rest, but those are fair trade-offs for its power.

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Epicka's International Travel Adapter costs about the same as our top pick, and with four USB-A ports and one 15-watt USB-C port, has the same number of ports. We think most people should buy our pick for the USB-C ports and higher combined wattage, but this is a fine option if you'll only be charging low-power draw devices, like headphones.

$29 at B&H

$29 at Amazon

If you'll be bringing your Apple laptop charger with a removable prong component-affectionately known as a "duckhead"-and want to be able to plug directly into an international outlet, you can use Apple's World Travel Adapter Kit. The pack includes five interchangeable adapter heads that the company says support outlets in North America, Japan, China, United Kingdom, continental Europe, Korea, Australia, Hong Kong and Brazil.

$13 at Amazon

$15 at Amazon

In most cases you'll get more value from an international adapter with multiple ports. But if all you care about is plugging in one device at a time, and want to spend as little as possible, consider Ceptic's International Worldwide Travel Plug Adapter 5 Piece Set or its International Adapter Plug Set. Both come with five international adapters that accept only one plug each; the first kit only accepts U.S. plugs, while the latter can adapt plugs from around the world.

$60 at Amazon

Some high-power-draw devices, including hair dryers and electric shavers, are limited to a set voltage and can't safely be used with an adapter (if at all). The Ceptics Travel Voltage Converter is one of a handful of reasonably priced converters you can find that look more or less the same as one another. We haven't tested it, and we think you're likely better off making alternate arrangements than traveling with your device that needs the conversion plus this large accessory that's not guaranteed to work properly. But if you're set on a certain piece of equipment, consider this converter.

The Ceptics All-In-One International Travel Adapter Plug is more expensive and a little larger than our top and runner-up picks. One of its two USB-C ports supports 18-watt charging, but the price doesn't justify that small difference in speed.

OneAdaptr's OneWorld65 is around the same price as the Zendure, but offers a slightly lower wattage and only one USB-C port.

I've been reviewing consumer technology for more than a decade, including at Wirecutter, where I was responsible for articles and reviews on device chargers. To better understand travel adapters, I spoke to Alexandra Farrington, Las Vegas-based travel adviser at Itinerantly Inspired and Ryan Bartley, vice president of business development and marketing at RedSky Engineering in Spanish Fork, Utah, who holds a master's degree in electrical engineering.

We narrowed down the list of products we wanted to test by sticking to brands that either we already knew had a strong reputation, or we could verify have an online presence, making it more likely they have responsive customer service. You want to feel confident in the manufacturer when it comes to a product that you'll be plugging expensive gear into. We also limited our search to models that have multiple USB ports, especially because they cost about the same amount as those without.

There's not much to test on an adapter like this without taking a trip around the world. What we did test, however, was the USB-C ports' charging capabilities using the Total Phase USB Power Delivery Analyzer. This little dongle records the various power profiles a USB-C port supports and notes if there are any errors in the power transmission (it's rare that there are). We were mostly confirming that each port allowed the advertised power draw, which they all did.

Nick Guy is a senior editor for Buy Side from WSJ. He's been reviewing personal technology, accessories and myriad other products for more than a decade.

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