Gadgets are all around us today from tiny music players to GPS navigators to cell phones to bluetooth headsets to the latest tablet computers... and the one thing they all have in common is they all need power. I know it's happened to me, and I'm sure it may have happened to you you need to charge that phone or your bluetooth headset or you're on a plane and your shiny new tablet is running low on power and you don't have the charger or even if you do, you have no place to plug it in! Well, this may be a helpful item for you. This compact, lightweight battery pack carries 4000mAh of portable power. That's enough to fully charge my power hungry BlackBerry Bold 9700 over two times. It supplies it's power through two standard USB ports and you can use them both simultaneously. I've already used it to charge both my Cowon S9 and my BlackBerry Bold 9700 at the same time! I also used it to power my HP TouchPad last night when it's battery was getting low the Belkin didn't have enough power to flat out charge the TouchPad, but it could run off this external battery for hours. For most devices I use today, plugging into this portable battery is the same as plugging them into their charger. The important thing to consider is that this device supplies USB power. So if your phone or GPS or bluetooth or whatever has a mini or micro USB plug, you can likely power it or charge it from this battery. But if your portable devices require an older-type power plug, usually some type of barrel connector (round), this portable battery will not work for you. The Belkin battery pack charges in about three hours and there are four bright blue LED lights to indicate the charge level of the battery. And that brings me to the only thing I don't like about it it comes with a large, obnoxious wall transformer to charge itself with! It is ironic when you consider how slim and compact this battery pack is, that it should come with such a large, foul wall tranformer! For me, it pretty much kills traveling with the transformer. That power adapter needs to be much smaller IMO. Aside from that gripe, I can see keeping the battery charged and throwing it into my attache case. It's a little extra piece of mind knowing I have extra power with me if I need it for my phone, my pad, my gps, my bluetooth headset or my music player!
Update: 2011-02-21
The reason for this update was to remove a star from my rating (three stars down from four) based on the price of this unit (currently $99). Comparable units with a similar size, weight and even higher capacity are down to as little as $25. I simply cannot justify the price of this unit in comparison.
This device proved itself to be very useful and showed that it works quite well. I charged it as the instructions say for 8 hours before first use, and then it takes about 3 hours to charge after that. It has 4 blue LEDs on it that blink and when all 4 are solid that indicates a full charge. As it decreases the amount of lit LEDs drop so you are always aware of how much charge the device is holding. This is a good indication function. It is charged by using the AC power cord that comes with it, and it also has 2 USB cables with different size ends on them for use on devices that have different sized charging inputs on them.
I took it with me when I was out with my 2 nephews when they visited. One of them has a Metro PCS phone that he texts constantly on, and the other has an iPod that is attached to him at all times. I was able to use the Belkin 4000 to not only recharge both those devices but my Kodak Easy Share M580 digital camera as well during our day out. Now the devices were not at total dead battery, but very low, and the Belkin boosted them all up for use for the entire day. Having this saved the trouble of needing 3 separate power cords and use of an AC outlet. Also the Belkin has 2 USB charging outputs so you can charge 2 separate devices at the same time, which is also a plus as this eliminated them fighting over who was gonna get their device charged first and who would have to wait. Not having to listen to 2 teenagers fighting is a blessing in itself.
Also the size of the device is good, it is small enough to travel easily yet not so small it can be misplaced by accident.
The only reason I didn't give this product a 5 star rating is due to the fact that the AC power adapter that is used to charge the device is much larger than it needs to be and the design of it is not great. A 12 volt DC charger can be made much smaller, and also the charger has what is called a 'barrel connector' that slides onto the AC device that actually has the prongs on it that allow it to plug into the wall. It is my opinion this extra piece is not needed, the AC adapter should have prongs on it like a regular plug and not need a small slide on attachment that can get lost or damaged making the cord useless. Also the price for the device is a little high. However, Belkin makes quality products and maybe the higher price compared to others is due to the fact it works better and holds a charge longer than the cheaper models similar to it. This I am not sure of.
I find this to be a very useful device, and great for the person who might need to recharge something while not near a power source or without the cable at the time.
Buy Belkin F8M160 Power Pack 4000 Now
I was recently gifted an iPod Touch which I soon discovered drains its battery fairly quickly. So it was perfect timing when I was able to snag one of these a few days later. On the packaging it claims to provide 4 cell phone charges or 2 smart phone charges. Here are the results I got:
1) iPod Touch charged from 20%->100%
2) iPod Nano charged from 0%->100%
3) iPod Touch charged from 0%->100%
4) iPod Touch charged from 15%->50%
At that point the Power Pack finally ran out of juice. So it does deliver as promised.
It's very compact, only marginally bigger than an iPhone 4. That makes it ideal for tossing into a backpack and carrying around for spare power. It has a nice black matted finish. I forgot to time it exactly, but it took roughly 3 hours to fully charge. As another reviewer noted, the power adapter is pretty large. It has a simple 4 led display which displays the power level. It's usually best to press the reset button when plugging in a device for charging. Sometimes it starts charging as soon as I plug in a device, other times I need to press the button first.
The one downside is that it is rather expensive compared to the competition. I haven't tried other brands, but there are alternatives that have very high ratings and cost significantly less. If it were priced more competitively, I would definitely give it 5-stars.
Update 10/22
I've noticed that the LEDs which indicate battery power aren't real accurate when the device is in use. When I plug in my iPod I often get 3-4 bars, indicating it is mostly full. But then it dies relatively soon. When I plug it back in to recharge, it shows it is charging from 1 bar, indicating I had drained it completely. This doesn't affect the runtime as it still seems to be giving me the appropriate amount of charge, I just can't depend on the indicator to accurately reflect the amount of power left.
Read Best Reviews of Belkin F8M160 Power Pack 4000 Here
I think this is a great thing to have if you have cell phones or ipads or MP3 players. I mean we all need a charge at some point or another and this thin being only slightly bigger than your cell phone is perfect.
Ladies keep this in your purse for you or a men/lady friends need to Jack on... (that sounds bad) when in need of a charge. It will save the day maybe 20+ days a year and if that is true it = win.
Guys keep it in your glove box/brief case/jacket (only if your knowing you are running low on charge. But still it will save the day 20+ days a year soooo WELL WORTH IT'S PRICE!
The A/C plug (wall wart) is not very easy to carry so that sucks & YOU CAN NOT CHARGE THIS FROM YOUR LAPTOP OR COMPUTER BY THE USB.... so it is AC current reliant so u need the big Wall Wart. (biggest draw back)
So if you travel or are gone most of the day from your home and RELY ON DIGITAL DEVICES... then buy this now!
Be well "The random reviewer"
Chuck
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Update "Power Pack Saves the day!" On a recent trip with 3 changes of planes, my iPhone conked out. I hooked it up to the Power Pack, and it almost immediately re-charged the iPhone battery. Up until now, I've been using it as a supplemental power source, but it works wonders as an almost-instant charger.
While airports are getting better about having charging stations for portable devices; trains are not. A trip to NYC for me involves a drive to New Haven and a ride on Metro North to Grand Central. From there I usually walk to my destination as long as it's no further than a mile or so. Often, my trip involves both my iPhone and MacBook Pro. On the train, I can both work on my computer and listen to music on my iPhone with both plugged into or recharged with my Belkin Power Pack. I have run out of battery power before I got the Belkin just listening to music on my iPhone. If the trip involves the use of my computer in a presentation in NYC, I can still do touch-ups and practice runs on the train ride in.
Now that airlines have very few amenities, like new movies, I can either take a NetFlix DVD or download a flick from iTunes to my MacBook for in-flight entertainment. DVDs really drain batteries since they require a mechanical movement; so I'd probably opt for an iTunes rental for $4 or $5. On a X-country or overseas flight, I can keep the flight short by enough movies to fill in my time from take-off to touchdown. Likewise, if I want I can plug in my computer to the Belkin and my iPhone into the computer.
Of the features on the Belkin F8M160 Power Pack 4000, I like the LCD lights the best. Once my phone and computer start getting low on battery power, I can easily see how many of the 4 LCD lights are lit. All four indicate full power and one light means I'd better get to a charging station. On even a short layover to change planes, the Belkin can fire up pretty quickly. It took about 15 minutes to initially to bring it to full power out of the box. My second favorite feature is the dual ports for simultaneously using/recharging my computer and phone. If my wife wants to re-charge as well, I can always use the two ports on the Belkin and a USB port on the computer to run everything at once.
I put the power pack in my computer case, along with the recharging cables and adapters--and the computer itself. I'm not crazy about the big fat AC/DC Power Supply Adapter, and I'd like a smaller, lighter one. However, the Power Pack itself is pretty light, and with the whole kit, it fits nicely into my computer case. So, I'm very happy with it so far and looking forward to my next trip to the City.
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This charger fell apart the first time I used it. Charger would not work in my car. I do not recommend this item at all!
