Before Hurricane Sandy made landfall, forecasters in my area warned of prolonged power outages that could possibly last a week or longer. Thankfully, my area didn't take the brunt of the storm, but it got me thinking about what I would do for communications during a prolonged outage. I have a couple external, rechargeable batteries I could use to charge my iPhone, but what would I do once they were dead? Solar chargers are available, but the technology doesn't seem to be quite there yet and most reviews indicate they can take up to a week of clear, blue skies to recharge fully.
The Energizer Instant Charger is a practical choice. Although it comes with single-use Lithium batteries (expensive), you can use any brand rechargeable AA NiMH batteries in it (I personally like Rayovac's Hybrid AA batteries, which can be found for under ten dollars for a 4-pack at many stores). This allows you to keep as many backup batteries on hand as you like in the event of a power outage (you can use alkalines as well). So if it comes down to it, you could keep your phone charged with batteries from your remotes, clocks, etc. And for times when you don't need it, you can use the batteries in your Wiimotes, digital cameras, and other devices, so you don't need to keep batteries specifically dedicated to this charger.
PROs
+ Three NiMH batteries can take my iPhone 4S to a full charge.
+ The charger only turns on when it is connected to your phone, so you don't have to worry about it accidentally turning on and draining in your pocket
+ When your phone hits 100%, this charger automatically shuts off. You can override this by hitting the power button on the charger if you want to "trickle" charge your phone.
+ No internal battery to worry about eventually "wearing out" from too many charge cycles. Simply buy new AA rechargeable batteries if the ones you have start to wear out.
CONs
Connector is flimsy, so you probably don't want to carry your phone around while it's charging for fear of the connector bending and breaking off
I know it's only a matter of time until I lose the cap for the connector
It uses the Apple 30-pin connector, so it will not work with the new iPhone 5 or any Android phones (however, I believe this is also keeping the price of the device fairly low at the time of this writing)
If you have an iPhone 4S or earlier, and you wish to prepare for disaster, this is the charger for you. It accepts alkaline disposable, NiMh rechargable, and lithium disposable batteries. Energizer thoughtfully provided a set of its own lithium disposable batteries. This type of battery is great for disasters because they will wait happily for 10 years or more for the disaster to start.
Being able to accept alkaline cells is also great. Personally, I hate alkalines because they frequently leak on me. But in an extended disaster, you will want to be able to use whatever battery type is available. Alkalines are available everywhere.
No cable to lose, and the protective cap grips reasonably well.
I like the "slide out" battery tray. When you change batteries, you do not disassemble the charger so you won't lose any pieces. Well, except for the protective cap. Watch that one.
Durability seems OK. It looks strong enough to survive a fall of a few feet. If you sit on it, you'll probably smash it.
The only negative I can find is that this charger might be too specialized for some people. It will only charge Iphones and iPod Touches, and is not compatible with the latest models such as iPhone 5. The fact that there is no cable means that your iPhone and charger form one very long and slightly unstable unit while connected. That's the trade-off for having no cord to lose.
If you do not have landline telephone service at home, then it would be useful to have this charger at home. Change the batteries every 10 years or so, and don't forget where you stashed it.
Buy Energizer Instant Charger Made for iPod/iPhone Now
On a set of 2650 mAh (milliampere-hour, a measure of battery capacity) rechargeable batteries, I was able to bring my iPhone 4 from a charge of 52% to 100%. That's more than I was expecting to get out of 3 AA batteries, so I'm satisfied.
Now, Energizer recommends AA Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries (non-rechargeable, and comes included in the package), but you CAN use alkaline or rechargeable batteries. Take note that alkaline and rechargeable batteries have lower charging capacities than lithium batteries.
If you plan on using the charger regularly as your primary power source to power your device, think again. This charger is best used as a backup power supply in an emergency (since lithium batteries are expensive, and alkaline/rechargeable batteries won't fully charge the iPhone). Personally, I take it along on my hikes because I use an off-road GPS app on my iPhone. Having this charger with me gives me the peace of mind of knowing that if my iPhone battery runs low, I can still keep my GPS app going by powering it on a few AA batteries (I always bring loads of spare AA batteries with me as backup power for my flashlights, geotagger, and other devices).
● Construction
The construction is pretty descent, although the charger looks and feels a bit on the cheap side. Still, I think it will hold up quite nicely, as long as you're not putting it in your back pocket or anywhere the charger might get banged around. The iPhone connector doesn't jiggle, like a few people claimed in their reviews. I wouldn't leave the charger dangling on the iPhone however (or vice versa). It's best to hook up the charger to the iPhone and set both on a flat surface.
● Function
The 3 included lithium batteries can recharge a dead phone (i.e. 0% charge) to 100%. The batteries are pretty much spent after that. NiMH rechargeable batteries can add 50% charge to your phone. I haven't tried alkaline batteries, but I reckon the charge capacity of alkaline batteries to be between that of lithium batteries and NiMH rechargeable batteries (75%). The phone takes about the same time to charge on the Energizer charger as it does on the USB port on my computer.
The charger comes with a cap for protecting the connector on the charger (cap not shown in the picture on the product page). After you remove the cap to access the connector, you can pop the cap on the other end of the charger, where it will stay on securely, so you won't lose the cap.
The battery sliding cover allows you to quickly and easily change out the 3 AA batteries. The sliding cover cannot be removed, so you don't risk losing it.
● Portability
The charge is compact, measuring only 3-7/8" x 1-7/8" x 3-1/4" (Length x Width x Thickness). It weighs 1.6 oz without batteries and 4.8 oz with batteries.
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This charger does exactly what Energizer says it will do on the product page. It gives the iPhone 2 times the run time when the charger is used with lithium batteries (i.e. after you've run down a fully charged phone, this charger will fully charge the iPhone once. The charger thus helps to double the run time on the iPhone).
However, this charger when used with alkaline/NiMH rechargeable batteries won't fully charge an iPhone whose battery is fully depleted (It's not the Energizer charger's fault. 3 alkaline/rechargeable AA batteries SIMPLY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH POWER to fully recharge an iPhone. It's a wonder they work to charge the iPhone at all). And the recommended lithium batteries are expensive.
But the charger serves as a very practical backup power supply for your iPhone in an emergency. Recommended as long as you don't have unrealistically high expectations of this charger.
Read Best Reviews of Energizer Instant Charger Made for iPod/iPhone Here
Let me say that this charger works well... but keep in mind, you should use this charger for emergencies only. why? Well the connection can be quite flimsy and if you have a particular case which is not completely open at the bottom, forget it... You'll need to remove your case completely. Why do I say use for emergencies? There are so many other battery/chargers around you can easily get something that would work better (like a Zagg Sparq), However, this shines when you have no access to outlets, need a charge and only have AA batteries.
Now as for does it work? Yes it works well with lithium batteries. I havent gotten the 2x performance, but will say i have been able to fully charge the device after being down to about 30%. Now keep in mind they recommend you use lithium batteries, which have a price premium hence another reason to look at other chargers for daily use.
Last thing to not... if you have an iPhone 5 don't buy this, it wont work with it unless you have the apple adapter.
All in all 3/5 stars
pros:
small
good for emergencies
cons:
poor connection
expensive batteries
compatibility issues with newer iProducts
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This unit is not meant to recharge rechargeable AA batteries ...it's only meant to be a conduit to channel power from any AA batteries to the battery in your phone or small notepad (I used this successfully on both my Nexus 4 phone AND Nexus 7 tablet). And that's exactly what I wanted........extra power that I could carry around and would not have to worry about keeping charged up all the time for that moment I needed it. With this charger, if my phone needs an extra boost (even while I'm using it) or if I use up all my power and need to make a phone call, or if I just need to "top it off", I can go into any store and buy three cheap alkaline AA batteries and get a charge out of it. They also include 3 high-powered lithium-ion non-rechargeable batteries (which cost about $2 a piece when purchased separately) which actually provide enough power to fully charge a dead phone; I'm estimating that regular alkaline batteries would probably recharge the phone to maybe 75% (and again, any batteries would be useful to keep it going awhile longer when using any power draining apps). I would not really recommend this as a regular way to re-charge a totally dead phone.....it will work, but will nearly totally deplete your batteries each time you do this). But for providing emergency or extra power when needed, it's excellent.
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