More

    Review: Jeda USB Hub for Tesla Model 3

    If you are fortunate enough to find your way to owning a Tesla Model 3, then you’ll be pretty happy with what comes from the factory. Those few areas that leave some room for improvement, are thankfully being addressed by the aftermarket.

    One common complaint from owners (myself included) is the limited amount of USB ports. While plenty of other vehicles only have 1 or 2 USB ports for charging your phone, the expectations of Tesla owners are higher, as the technology-leading vehicle tries to facilitate our technology-enhanced lives.

    The car has 2 USB ports in the front storage bin, and another 2 for rear passengers to charge their devices.

    The reality of 2020 is that we now travel with an increasing number of devices that need to be charged. As an example, I’ve already had the need to charge 2x mobile phones, a Nintendo Switch, Smart Watch, 2x GoPros, a drones and more.

    It is important to remember that one of Tesla’s best feature, TeslaCam that records footage from the car’s cameras to a hard drive, consumes one of the two front USB ports. This leaves you with just 1 USB-A port, so immediately you have a problem if you have a passenger and they need to charge, let alone any of the other requirements listed above.

    Thankfully Jeda has a product that addresses exactly this need. From here you can either choose to watch the video review or read on, it’s up to you.

    The Jeda USB Hub for Tesla Model 3, is perfectly designed to slot into the storage bin, as if it came from the factory, providing that perfect OEM look.

    It integrates to your car by slotting on to the existing USB ports. Once you’ve done that an internal USB hub is activated, making no less than 5 USB ports available to you.

    Inside a magnetic door on the front, lies a USB-A port and provided USB-A to USB-C cable. This short cable is perfect to attach a drive (I used a 500GB Samsung SSD T5). To avoid any movement, Jeda has supplied a magnetic patch to attach (using included 3M tape) to snap your drive to the internal wall of the hub. Once the drive is installed, simply replace the cover and your Sentry Mode / Dashcam will work again.

    Now you’re faced with the new USB ports, 2x USB-A and 2x USB-C ports. This easily accommodates charging cables for both the driver and passenger. Grab a couple of USB-C to USB-C cables and you’ll be charging accessories like GoPro cameras while you drive to your next location.

    The design is seriously well-executed, not only does it look great, but it perfectly addresses the shortage of USB ports in the car. Given how well it integrates into the center console storage bin, should anyone break into your car, it’s likely they won’t know about the drive stored inside, which should enable you to retrieve footage and help Police find the offenders.

    Below is a comparison of the before and after.

    Price and Availability

    The Jeda USB Hub for Model 3 is available now from https://getjeda.com. The device costs US$79.00 which for the functionality you get, I think is a great deal. It is a one-off cost and one that’ll serve you well for years.

    Those of us in Australia will pay a flat shipping fee of $28.00, making the total cost to your door of US$107.00. That translates to around A$151.99 based on the exchange rate now, but I think it’s absolutely worth it to have something look and feel like it came from the factory.

    Jason Cartwright
    Jason Cartwrighthttps://techau.com.au/author/jason/
    Creator of techAU, Jason has spent the dozen+ years covering technology in Australia and around the world. Bringing a background in multimedia and passion for technology to the job, Cartwright delivers detailed product reviews, event coverage and industry news on a daily basis. Disclaimer: Tesla Shareholder from 20/01/2021

    2 COMMENTS

    1. Worth considering getting the JEDA wireless charging pad as well and save on 2 X shipping costs if ordered individually. I got both at the same time and both look like they were factory installed and work very well.

    2. I have the same set up as mentioned in the article for the last 3-4 months. As good it is, there are few negatives as well. It not easy to remove the SSD with the magnet cover for n that tight space. The other negative of having SSD is to connect to a Mac or PC to get the Sentry cam or Dashcam videos. I know this is nothing to do with Jeda Hub. Until videos come on display we have to work around these. Related to Hub, if Jeda adds a pull out string to easily remove SSD that would be helpful

    Leave a Reply

    Ads

    Latest posts

    Reviews

    Related articles

    techAU