Duracell Instant Power Charger for USB Compatible Devices by Duracell
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List Price: Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Duracell Instant Power Charger for USB Compatible Devices
Digital camera Review: Lifesaver for my music
Summary: 5 Stars
This little device is great. Totally saved my MP3 player from silent oblivion on a recent long road trip. I have a Creative Zen and it gave me 2 full charges (about 40 hours of music total). Definitely recommend to anyone who has a power-hungry device that charges via USB. It's easy to use, charges pretty fast and is very compact and light. I would recommend getting a 110V AC --> USB adapter (like the kind that comes with an iPhone) if you're using it a lot, because it will charge faster when plugged directly into a wall outlet. USB ports on a computer don't have that much power, and if you only have an hour or so to charge up you can get a lot more mileage if plugged into the wall. iPhone adapters are $40 or something insane like that, so just search here on Amazon or Google or wherever. Should only be $10 or so.
Happy charging!
Digital camera Review: My test:
Summary: 3 Stars
Ok, so I bought 2 of these just in case one was nonfunctional. Good news, both of mine were just fine...so far. On the back it states Capacity: 1150mAh. I don't know what that number relates to but it seems to relate to 5 volts...I don't know for sure.
***1st: allow me to state the reason for the 3 stars...the unit operates properly but my testing is incomplete; therefore I can warrant neither a great 5-star review nor can I warrant a poor 1-star review. For now, I am on the fence. So far the device functions properly and provides a significant benefit to me, the user. How significant will depend on the full testing of this device.
My test:
My phone (Samsung M610, a simple flip phone; no bells and whistles) has a fairly new standard cell phone 3.7V 800mAh battery.
Once my phone started beeping that the battery was low, I shut off my phone, I then connected the fully charged Duracell unit and it began charging as indicated by the manufacturer...switch on, green light on. It charged my flip phone for 1 hour and 15 min.
My phone did not indicate that the battery was fully charged so I connected the other spare. It continued to charge my battery for another 45 minutes before my phone indicated that it was fully charged. The unit's green light went off indicating a full charge as well...just as the manufacturer states.
*My next test will be to connect the Duracell unit to my phone "on a call" when my phone beeps the first warning that my battery is low and record the time until the Duracell unit can no longer charge "and" until my battery indicates it is low again.
** I will also test the time it takes for my phone to indicate that the battery is low with the unit connected at the beginning of a call; both the unit and phone fully charged...no Bluetooth or other extras enabled. Of course I will record a baseline of how long I can talk on my phone before it warns me of low battery to make the comparison.
My theory is that connecting the device at the beginning of a call will not significantly lengthen the talk-time as someone else indicated on another post because the unit connected after the phone battery dies causes the device to work double. My theory is that this is not true but I have to prove it first. My theory is based on the fact that connecting my laptop to my ac/dc adapter draws 68 watts regardless of whether or not the battery is dead or full charged. Thus my phone should draw the same watts from the Duracell device regardless of whether or not my batter is dead or fully charged. As I don't know the math for this or have devices to connect and read this, I will just simply do a real time real world experiment. Yes this requires talking on the phone a lot...
**2nd Test...I just finished a good real world test.
on blue-tooth which is what I need...at the first chime that battery on phone was dying-Blue-tooth enabled while on a call, I connected this device and it charged for 1 Hour and 15 minutes. After disconnecting I was able to talk on blue-tooth for an additional hour. My phone battery lasts for 2.5 hours. This diveice gave me an additional 2 hours and 15 minutes give or take a minute...with blue-tooth enabled...which uses more juice...Total talk time = approx 4.5 hours
Digital camera Review: Not enough power
Summary: 1 Stars
As another review said, there are several issues with this charger; in addition to the previous complaints, there is not enough output for some devices. The Kensington has 1800mAH, I would recommend it over the Duracell.Digital camera Review: Not the best, but it's still a life-saver.
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought two of these portable chargers, one for myself for my BlackBerry 8900 and one for a friend with an iPhone 3GS.
Both work well, but do not deliver on the promise of a whole charge for any device with which I've used them. On my BlackBerry 8900, I might get an extra 2 or 3 bars of battery life, which is certainly enough in a pinch. On the iPhone 3GS, it gave the device an extra 70%. On my iPod 4th gen., I can get about 80% charge from nothing.
This product has worked with all USB chargers that I have.
From what I have read of similar products, this one is a portion of the price for only slightly fewer results.
Also, I have found that this product works slightly better after each use. Li-Ion batteries tend to do this, and they also have about a 500 charge life-cycle, which can take about 2 years to get near that number, for most users.
Overall, this product falls a bit short, but it's certainly better than carrying around an extra battery that must be charged in-device. Especially for my BB, this is nice, as removing the battery initializes a reboot, which can take away critical time. I just plug in this charger, and my phone charges quickly, generally within 45 minutes or less. I would certainly recommend this charger, but only keeping one's expectations in check. Don't expect this to give you a full charge, but it is great for those times when you just don't have a charger.
Digital camera Review: OK for what it tries to do
Summary: 3 Stars
This gadget does what it tries to do, but the price has been dropping because what it tries to do isn't enough most people these days. The power rating for this gadget is 1100mAh, which is fine if you have a basic cell phone or MP3 player. Modern smartphones have a battery rating of 1400mAh and up, so this thing can top off a half-discharged battery, but it won't fully recharge a dead battery. If a half charge is enough to get you through the rest of your day, then this product may be a good value for you. If you want more power, there are lots of similar products with a lot more power, but for more money and a little bigger size.
On the other hand, almost all modern smartphones (other than Apple) have replaceable batteries and a spare battery is a lot less bulky than this thing. Either way, you have to remember to keep the spare charged and ready to go.