Recharging USB Devices Faster

Here's a common sight these days.  Your average office worker discovers that their phone/tablet/iPod/whatever is low on juice so they pull out a USB cable that fits said device and plugs it into their computer.  It wasn't until this week that a noticed something peculiar. 

For the third time in this blog I'm mentioning my (semi) new tablet.  It's important because I got the realization from that.  My office PC has three available USB ports in the front.  One is always in use for my WiFi.  The other is always in use for my wireless mouse (it's mine by the way, not the government's).  That leaves me just one to freely use for jump drives and charging.  Sometimes though I need to charge my cell phone too.  Good thing I bought one of these.

Mine's red :)

I notice though that the device that charges from the wall charger will be fully charged well before the device charged from the computer USB port.  Turns out there's a logical explanation for this.  A typical USB 2.0 port pumps out around 500 mA of power while a wall charger can supply somewhere in the range of 1000 mA.  Car chargers can supply up to 2000 mA (which is why my stuff charges so quickly in the car).

So what do you think?  Is doubling the speed of your recharge worth the price?  I think it is.  A quick search on eBay and you can pick up a wall charger for around $5.  Just watch out for the vendors from China though or you'll be waiting at least a month for your item.