What’s the big deal about a BlackBerry car charger with a retractable cord?  Well let me tell you.  One, it’s easier to carry.  Two, it’s less likely to get tangled up.  Three, it gives your boyfriend something to play with and keep himself busy while you’re driving.  (OK, that’s not necessarily a reason to get one but it most definitely a side benefit.)

The fact that it’s easier to carry around is a major benefit.  I always carry a BlackBerry car charger with me in my purse, wherever I go.  The fact that the cord is kept inside the charger makes it so much more compact, and therefore easier to fit in a bag.  And it’s not going to get tangled up with anything else that’s in there.

Speaking of not getting tangled up, it’s not just in your bag that that will be a major benefit.  It’s also in the car.  First of all, lots of you are going to keep the charger in your glove compartment, and we all know what that usually looks like.  Most people’s glove compartments are packed to the brim with loads of odds and ends, and if you keep a regular BlackBerry car charger in there, when you pull it out it can bring with it a slew of other things that you then have to sit and untangle.

Once it’s out of the glove compartment, you then have it plugged into your car’s cigarette lighter, and the curly cord is just hanging around.  It always gets tangled up with the many things that you have floating around your car.  But if your BlackBerry car charger has a retractable cord, you don’t have to have that happen, because one, the cord isn’t any longer than you need it to be, and two, it’s a straight cord, not a curly one.

And since it’s a straight cord, there’s one more thing it won’t be getting tangled up with, and that’s itself.  So that’s why having a retractable cord is such a benefit.  I would very highly recommend making the switch over from your old BlackBerry car charger to the new one with the retractable cord.  And since it’s not made by BlackBerry, it’s so inexpensive that the cost is negligible.

While any of those options could be the case, the fact of the matter is that it’s usually just an issue of branding.  The thirty dollar BlackBerry car charger is actually made by BlackBerry, while the models that are less expensive are usually made by other companies.  One exception to this rule is when someone is selling a used BlackBerry car charger on an online auction site like eBay or a local classified ad site like Craigslist.  Then you could get a car charger that’s made by BlackBerry for a very low price since it’s not new merchandise.  Another exception is when it’s an OEM product, so it’s made by BlackBerry, but sold from someone else.

If you’ve come across a listing on an online retail store for a BlackBerry car charger that is very inexpensive and you want to know who it’s made by, you can take a look in the item description that usually appears below the picture of the charger.  Most of the stores that advertise online will give full information about their products and who they are manufactured by.  If you don’t see it right away, you’ll be able to read product reviews written by customers who have bought that particular item from that retailer, and they will say if it’s an authentic BlackBerry car charger or not.

But the real question you need to ask is if you actually need to spend thirty bucks to get a BlackBerry car charger that’s made by BlackBerry, or if a model made by another company will work just fine.  If you opt for the higher priced model, are you actually paying for a better quality charger, or are you just paying for the name?

The answer is that a generic car charger for your BlackBerry will basically perform just as well as an authentic BlackBerry car charger.  You need to check to make sure that your particular BlackBerry model number is listed in the item description, so that you know that it will work.  You also should take a look to see that it’s not made by a junk company, because there are always companies out there that only produce trash.  Reading reviews will give you an idea if it’s a quality product, and make sure to look at the company’s return policy and if there’s a warranty.

One case where you might want to go for a charger that’s made by BlackBerry is if you are working on the go and you’re going to be very dependent on it.  In that case, I think it might be worth the extra money to know that you’re totally covered and not take the risk of getting a lower quality BlackBerry car charger.

First he asked me if I was happy with mine.  I told him what a difference it’s made for me, and how I carry mine with me everywhere I go.  I could go on and on about how many times it’s saved me, but for everyone’s sakes I’ll restrain myself.

The next thing he wanted to know was how well my BlackBerry car charger worked.  In particular, he wanted to know if it would work as well as the regular BlackBerry charger.  He spends three hours a day in his car driving to work and back, and since he doesn’t always remember to charge his BlackBerry at home, he figured it would be a good way for him to make sure that his BlackBerry was always charged.

He was thinking that instead of charging it at home, he would just always charge it as soon as he got into the car.  You know, turn on ignition, check your mirrors, plug in BlackBerry.  An automatic sort of thing.

Now, the truth is that I wasn’t all into this plan, for several reasons.  One is that I really don’t know how well it would work.  A BlackBerry car charger is definitely not as powerful as a regular charger.  It’s an emergency item, and it’s not intended to be your go-to charger.

The BlackBerry car charger only provides about two thirds of the electrical charge that you would get from the regular wall charger.  And that means that you’d have to let it charge about 50% longer on the car charger than on the wall charger to get the same amount of charge.

You also really should keep your BlackBerry turned off while you’re charging it.  This will really extend you’re battery life, especially if you charge it at night.  I said to my friend, maybe he could make it more like a brush your teeth, charge your BlackBerry habit, but he said he usually doesn’t brush his teeth at night.  How male is that!?

But another reason that I don’t think that using your BlackBerry car charger as your main charger for your BlackBerry is such a hot idea is that  most people use their BlackBerry in the car a lot more than they realize.

I told my friend that he’s going to want to be able to talk on it for those hours that he’s in the car.  And while you can talk on it while it’s charging that means that one, you’re depleting the charge as you put it in, two, you’re going to be attached to the wire while you talk, and three, if your battery is particularly low, you’re going to have to listen to that annoying little beep every twenty seconds or so.  And not being able to talk on the phone for three hours of commuting is like having to sit in an empty room full of unoccupied chairs, wishing that someone– anyone!– would be there for you to talk to.  At least, that’s how it is for me.

So the bottom line is that I don’t think it’s a great plan.  The BlackBerry car charger is most definitely not meant to be your main charger.  But what it is meant to be is an emergency back up charger– and it more than exceeds expectations when it comes to that.  So I told him that he should go ahead and buy a BlackBerry car charger, but he should just use it the way it was meant to be used.

What on earth was I going to do for the next few hours?!  I mean, no BlackBerry means no email, no internet, no games, no cell phone for crying out loud!  Not to mention that we didn’t have a GPS anymore.  I actually stopped the car at the nearest shopping strip and started running through the stores looking for a BlackBerry car charger, but I couldn’t find one anywhere.

The entire trip was so horrible.  I was sure that everyone thought I had died.  I have never gone so long without being in touch with anyone in my life.  The only positive thing I can say about it was that it made me realize just how important my BlackBerry is and I was really able to appreciate how much it does for me.  And, that was the day that I decided that I was never– under any circumstances– going to be without a BlackBerry car charger again.

Since then, I never step out of my house without my BlackBerry car charger.  It’s pretty small, so it fits in any purse, and this way, I always have it in case of emergencies.  It’s served me well on countless occasions when I was stuck out longer than I expected and my battery was running low.  All I can say is that if you have a BlackBerry, you definitely need to get a car charger for it.  It will save your life over and over again.