Customer Reviews

Duracell 852-0217 MyPocket Charger for Cell Phones

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This little gadget is a very cool idea, but unfortunately it seems to trigger a fault protection if a cell phone tries to draw close to (or more) than 5V/0.5A out of it. I tried a bunch of different HTC phones and this little device seems unable to feed any juice into it. On the flip side, all bluetooth headsets I tried charge fine.

Also this thing only works with real batteries - it refuses to turn on if one feeds it NiMH rechargeables. Tried with Sony CycleEnergy, Sanyo Eneloop, Duracell rechargeables. It only wants real alkaline batteries. That's a pitty, since NiMH batteries have a lot more juice to feed into a gadget...

I use this to charge my BlackBerry on the go if I don't have any other options available to me -- it works very well, and you can store batteries in the device without worrying about killing them - just leave the cables unplugged. I wasn't excited about having both the mini and micro USB cables, but now that more devices are standardizing on the micro USB, I'm glad that I have it!

Do not buy this product. The light indicating that the charger is working only comes up about 10% of the time. When I am lucky enough that they light comes on and stays on, as soon as I connect the other end to my phone or MP3 player, the light immediately goes off. 2 HUGE, COMPLETELY UNRELATED PROBLEMS! The sign of a truly bad product. Save you're money and buy something you know will work well, like an extra battery.

I use this to keep my Garmin Forerunner 305 charged during events lastin longer than 9-10 hours. Lasted 54 hours at a temperature of -35f with 2 battery changes. Blue light goes out when the AA batteries die and need changing. What a great find.

I found this item at a warehouse club during Christmas and thought it would make great a stocking stuffer, so I bought several of them. The club store version includes both tiny connectors for the iPod and Blackberry (mini USB.)

I was eager to test this charger and had an excellent opportunity since my Blackberry was nearly dead. Upon inserted two AA batteries and connecting it to my Blackberry (Bold), the indicator light turned green and the unit became warm. It ran for about 15 minutes and then turned off. I thought it was defective since it only added one bar to the battery meter on my phone and turned off so quickly. I removed and reinserted the plug and the green light quickly turned on and then immediately off. Believing the batteries might be defective, I inserted an additional 2 cells nnd the process repeated itself, while adding another bar to my phonne. Thinking the unit was defective, I opened another new unit and tested it again with the same results.

I'm was surprised by the small amount of power generated by two AA cells, and using such a method for even emergency charging would likely take 8-10 batteries for a full charge. I tossed this unit and bought the Duracell USB Charger DR7000LI, which contains a sealed lithium ion battery and functions the same. The difference a lithium ion battery makes is remarkeable.


While this unit might charge small electonics like iPod (about 75% charge from 2 AA cells,) I cannot recommend this product, particularly if your intended use is to charge a Blackberry device.

This charge my ipod nano 4 generation in one hour,perfect for long days hikes,just recycle the empty batterys.

I am really stoked with this product! I purchased it as a backup charger for my cell phone to use during power outages.
I researched many of these type of items and was a little apprehensive about it. But, there was no need to be! It arrived and I followed the incredibly easy and fast instructions (put in the 2 AA batteries that are provided!) and then use either the Ipod cable to charge the Ipod or use the cell phone cable (BOTH cables are provided!) to charge the cell phone. That's it! As advertised! It is fantastic! It seemed to bring up the Ipod to 100% pretty quickly although the Ipod was not completely drained. The cable provided for the cell phone is the mini port, not the micro - I don't know if you can purchase the micro cables and use it with this product - it has a DC out 5V opening for the charger (it's a small circle) and then the other side of the cable fits either the cell phone or the Ipod, depending on which cable you are using... The only thing I did think about once I got it was that you can't charge them both at the same time since the charger only has the one hole... but I don't really think that will be too much of a problem.
I was going to use generic AA batteries in it, but the instructions say to use only Duracell (makes sense!) so I will follow the instructions.. I am very happy with the product and will keep it in mind for gifts!! Fantastic price for such an awesome item!!

I've been using Eneloop rechargeables for several years now and am thrilled with their performance. I saw this as an excellent opportunity to put them to use in a new way. But nope, they don't work at all with this device. I don't buy alkalines anymore if I can avoid it so this is now a useless product for me. On top of that, my enthusiasm for this product completely died when I tried using it with my iPhone. Forget it. No iPhone support. Sigh. Anybody want some cheap plastic junk? I won't be needing it. Won't work with my Samsung phone either. Duracell needs to rework this product completely for it to be any use in the real world.

In a cynical attempt to get you to buy their alkaline batteries, Duracell has made this product so that it won't work with rechargeable batteries. In this day and age, for economic and environmental reasons, that is deplorable.

This unit seems to have been tuned work only with disposable batteries and that is very disappointing. From what little I know of the technology being used here, it is pretty easy to find a DC-DC inverter that will accept 1.25V in as well as 1.5V and still put out 5V. It looks like a deliberate attempt on Duracell's part to sell more alkalines. Boo, hiss.