Apparently the 4 way sockets are just for looks, because when I plugged 4 items into it, it burnt up. I only got about 10 minutes of use out of it. I had 2 cellphones, 1 DS, and 1 DVD player plugged into my van's lighter. It died right at the beginning of a lengthy trip with my kids. They were disappointed, as was I. I would like to have known that it wouldn't power so many items before I bought it, because then, I wouldn't have bought it.