It's what you'd expect. It takes your choice of 4 AA batteries (rechargeable/not included of course) and has a female USB jack to charge your stuff. Has a nice on/off switch that glows blue when on. The + battery labeling could be better but whatever, you'll figure it out. Works great with my iphone 4 when I'm camping without mains for a few days. I'd give it 5 stars if were $9.99 but it's not so, 4 stars.
I bought the AA battery powered version of this charger after having had to rely on the generosity of a neighbor with a generator to keep my phone charged during the 4 days I was without power after hurricane Sandy. I had a single AA-powered charger that I had picked up as an impulse purchase at TJ Maxx that was pretty much totally useless, but I liked the idea of a battery-powered charger and figured that capacity (number of batteries) was the real issue.
The tricky part of using this device is getting the battery cover back on after you install the batteries. Other reviewers have already mentioned that it's very difficult to determine the correct battery orientation the markings inside the battery compartment are virtually unreadable under any lighting conditions due to reflections from the glossy black plastic case. But what is worse is trying to slide the cover back on, getting it set correctly in its grooves, while keeping the batteries compressed down on their spring connections. It took me so many tries that I almost gave up on ever being able to try out the charging capability the cover either just slid off, or went on crooked, or didn't snap into place completely. I was afraid I was going to break it before I would ever get it put back on correctly.
The picky part is that the unit seems to only work with the newest, freshest batteries you can possibly find. I put in a set of Duracell alkalines that were guaranteed fresh until 2017 and only got a 5% test recharge out of them before the unit's LED turned red indicating that the battery charges were too low to be used then the LED refused to light at all implying that the batteries were drained. However, all of them subsequently tested fine on a battery charge tester and worked fine in a flashlight. I tried another set with the same 2017 date and this time the LED lit up blue, indicating that they were good, but as soon as I plugged in my phone to charge, the LED changed immediately to red and shortly thereafter turned off and charging stopped. However, the batteries again tested fine and worked fine in a flashlight. I finally tried a set of batteries with a fresh through 2022 date and they actually worked I was able to charge my HTCThunderbolt from 46% to 97% over the course of an hour or so (sorry I didn't pay attention to the time). After that, the charger indicated that the batteries were drained but once again, they tested just fine with a battery tester and worked fine in a flashlight.
Bottom line, this charger does actually work and will re-charge a phone, but only if you have super fresh AA batteries to put into it and even then it won't drain them completely, so they'll be usable for other purposes afterwards, but just not to keep charging your phone like you'd want or expect.
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So, I thought it would be nice to have something like this. i.e., a device that takes 2 or 4 high capacity AA batteries, and, with the help of a simple circuit board to boost and regulate the voltage, to provide a nice charging current for my smart phone. I noticed there were three price points for this type of device: There's one that's only like $3 or $4, then there's one that's around $10-$12 that I saw on another site, then there's this one by well-respected Verbatim on the top end. It was clear from reviews that the cheap one needed some slight mods to be useful, and the mid priced one seemed to have some reviews saying it was "cheaply constructed". So, I said, WTH, I'll just buy the "good" one.
My thinking on buying a device like this: I play a lot of long poker tournaments, and it's just not really possible to get a charge in on the phone in the middle of the Venetian or other casinos. It would be helpful if I had a backup to charge my phone.
I think if I could do it over, I'd buy the one that costs about half as much as the Verbatim one. The device is all plastic, I sort of expected maybe I would have something a little more sturdy if I got the Verbatim one, but I didn't. It does have a pretty pimp blue and red LED light around the port (indicating a "good" charge remaining, versus a "nearly dead" charge), so maybe I paid an $8 premium for pimp LED.
A lot of people complained that the cheaper devices got hot under load. This one does not--it barely warmed up at all whilst charging. Clearly, the output is steady voltage, even as the batteries discharge, and I popped her up on an oscilloscope under load, and they've clearly made a decent circuit here. I put four 1600 mAh tenergy premium NiMH batteries in here, and I got just about one solid charge on my Samsung Epic. Maybe a little more.
The device is about exactly the shape of a lipstick tube, plus 50% in all dimensions. It comes with a very short (4 inches maybe) microUSB to USB cable, which apparently has the data pins shorted out (this is normal and necessary for high speed charging). I don't know if the device USB jack has the pins shorted, or if the cable did, I didn't check it; if it is the latter, then the cable that comes with this should not be used in a computer USB jack since it will draw more than 500 mA rating.
All in all, I'm happy with it, it does what I expected...I think though that I would have been 90% as happy with the devices out there that cost half as much.
There is an admonition in the instructions that says NOT to use it on an iPad. I am not sure why--maybe you can't get a full charge. But, it will definitely charge your smart phone. The other guy that dropped a 1-star rating on this because of the iPad thing, that's really out of line, since the device otherwise appears well enough constructed, and does its job.
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To use this, load in 4 AA batteries, I prefer Sanyo Eneloop NiMH cells. They seem to last longer, hold a charge longer, and also charge quicker than the equivalent cells from Energize, Rayovac, or Duracell. The battery cover is one of those that slides in from the side, but it is tricky because one has to push the cells in fully against their spring contacts before this can be done. Many times, I will put the cover on, and find that it only engaged on one side.
There is a switch on the side to activate the output. When this is switched on, the translucent plastic around the jack glows either blue (fully charged cells) or red. (getting worn down) If it doesn't glow, then it means the cells haven't got enough juice to help charge.
One thing I like about this in favor of the fancier, higher capacity, more expensive models is that it takes AAs instead of a proprietary lithium pack. AAs = it will never be obsolete, as long as there is something that can be charged by USB.
I keep this in my bag that accompanies me to work all the time; it is perfect to charge my phone on the train commute home when my phone has run itself down by looking for a signal when in my pocket.
Even with the cheap battery door design, it is worth the money. Just don't be too shy to invest in a set of Sanyo Eneloop batteries for it, and you'll get the most this little guy has to offer.
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I use my iPhone 5 continuously through out the day, and was really hoping this would extend my battery life a reasonable amount, when coupled with a total of 8 new 2700mah rechargeable batteries. Both sets of batteries in the power pack gave me ~20 minutes of charge time, (~20% battery gain). To see if it was the batteries, I bought a pack of Duracell batteries, same result. After testing the batteries, I found that all the batteries were at 80-85% of full power. Needless to say, I'm returning this.
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