Japanese gadget giant Thanko has joined the likes of the iLuv by offering a dual USB in car charger that lets you juice your mobile devices while on the go. Selling for US$19.99, iLuv charger certainly fills a need. Thanko's iPad compatible unit fills a need as well, at a significantly lower price point: 680 yen or about $8.
Like the iLuv, it has two USB ports to connect with. So while parents sitting up front charge a mobile phone or iPod, children in the back might use it to power their Nintendo DS or Sony PSP on long road trips.
The Thanko DC 12-24V socket adaptor measures 1.3 x 1.3 x 2.4 inches in size (or 32 x 32 x 60mm), weighs in at 0.8 ounces (or 23g).
Thanko is marketing this "Cigar Socket adaptor" as an "iPhone/iPad" compatible charger. If you look closely at the front face of the adaptor, you can see that the first USB port is labeled "For iPad" while the second is marked "others".
Like most products from Thanko this will not be immediately available for sale overseas, but it's not unlikely that specialty websites like ThinkGeek.com or GeekStuff4U.com might carry it eventually.
Scosche also has a USB charger for iPad at $24.99.