The HooToo TripMate combines three devices into one:
- A mobile Wi-Fi router than can take a Wi-Fi or LAN connection and allow up to five devices to use it. Might be useful e.g. to use a Hotel Wi-Fi with multiple devices.
- A 6000mAh power bank to charge your phone or tablet.
- A NAS (network attached storage) that can share the contents of an USB stick with up to five devices via Wi-Fi. An Android and iOS app is available to allow these devices to access and play multimedia files saved on the USB stick via Wi-Fi.
It is currently sold for $29.99 on Amazon.com which seems to be a very good price. I tested all three functions at home and it worked well. It can be configured directly from the app, e.g. to enter the Wi-Fi configuration of the hotel’s Wi-Fi.
I have also tested in a hotel with a sign in page and it worked well, too. Just connect a phone or computer to the TripMate and try to open a web page. The sign in page will appear and you can enter e.g. the code that you got from the hotel. After signing in once this way you can use it with other devices that you connect to the TripMate without signing in again. It even continues to work when turning the TripMate off and on again.
When it is charged it can operate as Wi-Fi bridge for multiple hours.
When you don’t use it you shouldn’t leave an USB stick connected, because the power bank feature will try to “charge” it, which means it will get power (as if it was connected to a computer) until the power bank is empty. When thinking about it, it is logical that it works this way but one should keep it in mind.