If you’ve had any confusion over what devices will or won’t charge your iPad and what the best way to charge it is, welcome to the club. You’ve probably also noticed that the iPad takes quite awhile to fully recharge. Long battery life = long recharge time.

Charging tips direct from the Apple website:

“The fastest way to charge your iPad is with the included 10W USB Power Adapter. iPad will also charge, although more slowly, when attached to a computer with a high-power USB port (many recent Mac computers) or with an iPhone Power Adapter. When attached to a computer via a standard USB port (most PCs or older Mac computers) iPad will charge, but only when it’s in sleep mode. Make sure your computer is on while charging iPad via USB. If iPad is connected to a computer that’s turned off or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPad battery will continue to drain.”

Gizmodo took things one step further and actually ran tests to see just how long it took to charge the iPad through various methods. They timed the charge from 0% to 80% which they say is the baseline for a “quick charge” through; iPad’s standard 10W charger, Griffin’s PowerBlock iPad charger, the iPhone’s standard power adapter, and via a MacBook Pro’s USB port. Here are the results:

The Griffin Powerblock for iPad is the winner taking the iPad to 80% in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Keep that in mind if you need a spare charger or you leave yours at a Marriot in Detroit and rather than buying another Apple charger buy the Griffin for the same price ($29.99). The standard Apple charger came in second. If your like me and you’re having a hard time telling your iPhone chargers from your iPad charger than you’re probably clocking a 5+ hour recharge time. I need to get a labeler . . . And finally, the Macbook charges the iPad the slowest. But remember, according to Apple the iPad will only charge when hooked up to a Macbook that’s on and awake.

While all of this might seem a bit complicated it’s a small price to pay for 10 hours of battery life.