Customer Reviews

I-Up 5400 External Battery for Select Cell Phones

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

First thing to know about this product is that it is exactly the same as the Major Mojo 3GJuice (two company names, same piece of hardware) - except that it costs about $20 less - cool! Second it has 5400 MaH which means it will go much longer than other charges before it needs to be refilled.

I bought this to recharge my iPhone 3GS. It works but there is a trick to it. You must power the batter charger on first, THEN attach it to your iPhone. If you attach it to your iPhone then power on the charger you will get a message "Charging is not supported by this accessory." As long as you know to do things in this order (not very clearly explained in the documentation that comes with it) it works great.

As of this writing (9-17-09) there is one, 2-star rating, and one 3-star rating. I read their reviews but I still cannot understand why these people rated this product so low. For the money, and versatility (far beyond charging your iPhone) this product should get no less that 4-stars.

I purchased the device in mid June. I took it to Pennsylvania where it kept my iPhone and my son's Nintendo DS going for days. We were staying in an ancient cottage with no lighting except candles -- so the LED bulb really came in handy too. My son was fearful, so I'd leave the bulb on all night, providing just enough light. Ten hours of burn time, according to the indicators, would only use 1/5 of the battery.

It is now September and I've used the device again during my Yellowstone adventures. What really impresses me is how quickly it charges a battery. Whether iPhone, DS, or other. You can plug this baby into your device that is nearly out of power, KEEP USING the device, and you will still quickly build up a positive battery charge. (I honestly thought it would charge my iPhone as sloooowly as when I charge it via USB/computer. I was pleasantly surprised! It charges every bit as fast as the standard wall outlet charger for the iPhone.)

One of the reviewers who rated this product low complained about the lack of documentation for all of the various adapters that ship with this battery. Well, there is really no way you could document what each adapter is capable of being used on. There are too many electronic products out there -- use your eyes and find the right connector; it's not that hard.

This thing is amazing, it can charge all sorts of devices. (I only wish it could give my MacBook Pro a little extra life.)

What you need to know:
-This product is significantly cheaper than the Major Mojo 3GJuice (which is the same product, only re-branded.) I'm very thankful that someone pointed this out on the 3GJuice comments, because I was about to spend $20 more.
-This product is solid; very well made.
-It does not come with a case. If you want to keep up with all of the adaptor accessories, I recommend finding a cheap leatherette camera case or equivalent.
-It must be charged from a wall. Unfortunately, it can't be charged from a car's cigarette device.
-Sometimes your iPhone will give you an error message saying something about this device being unsupported. Don't panic, just try again. I can't remember the order, I think that you need to plug the iPhone into the battery and then turn on the battery. Or maybe it's visa-versa. Either way, it's no big deal, just try again and it will work fine.

Overall, a great value for the money, esp considering that it charges so much more than just an iPhone.

I got my iPhone 3G in March of this year, and use it constantly, so battery life has been an issue. I'm usually able to get access to a computer's USB port or an AC outlet to charge it, but I'll be taking a trip across the country later this summer, and wanted to get an add-on power device like this to keep the iPhone working on a long plane trip. This device, as far as I can tell, is identical to another one that has received more publicity under the name Major Mojo, but this version costs less, though it's still pricey. It has a very solid feel, and has good features, including an array of 5 red LEDs that light up to show you how fully charged it is, and another LED that shows whether it's outputting a charge to the iPhone (or other device; it includes power tips for a good variety of other phones, etc.).

One criticism I have is that the small instruction pamphlet is badly written in a form of fractured English that is hard to decipher, though it's really not too hard to figure out how the charger works with a little bit of experimentation. My other issue is that the charger at first did not seem to work. It charged up okay, but then would not output a charge to the iPhone. I plugged it back into the AC outlet for a while and tried again, and then it worked fine, and has worked fine ever since. It has so far charged up the iPhone twice, and still seems to have around half its power left. The indicator lights work well, and the connector cable and tip are solidly built and seem to be reliable. Also, the bonus LED flashlight on the side is quite bright for its size, and I can imagine it coming in handy in a hotel room or elsewhere at some point. It would have been good if a carrying case had been included; I plan to look for a small camera case to hold the charger, its AC cord, and the cable to charge the iPhone. I should mention the weight, also. The charger with the iPhone charging cable attached weighs about 5.6 ounces, which is just about what my iPhone weighs, in its own case; it weighs 5.7 ounces in its case. So, this charger is somewhat bulky and heavy, but if you want a reliable and abundant source of power, in my opinion this device is worth the fairly high price.

There's not much I can add that isn't in the other reviews posted here. The battery is compact and well-made. I would estimate it is capable of charging my cell phone (with a 1320mAh battery) about 2.5 times, so its battery appears to be rated properly. 5400 mAh at 3.7V translates to 3996mAh@5V. It you guesstimate the voltage regulator to be 90% efficient, then you get about 3600mAh out of it. Given its price, this makes it a good value.

There is only one thing that keep this from getting 5 stars in my book: The data pins on its USB connector are not shorted together. Devices that charge from USB need to know if they are connected to a computer or to a simple charger. A 'dumb' charger or battery simply connects the two data pins together with a resistance under 200 Ohms. If you connect a device directly to the battery without using the included cable (which does short the pins) then your device will not charge. Since the battery does not come with a micro-USB adapter, I had to use a regular data cable connected directly to the battery's USB port. I then had to cut up a USB extension cable to make an adapter that shorted the data wires together. Using the adapter, the device works flawlessly. And since connected devices now 'know' they are not connected to a computer, they are free to pull as much current as they want. The result is very fast charging compared to a computer's 500mA limit.

If the manufacturer had simply put a bead of solder across the data pin connectors inside the battery, then an adapter would be unnecessary. If I ever have to open it up, that's the first thing I will do. This design change would not affect people using the included cables, and would save me (and others, presumably) a major headache.

I ordered this to use while on a bike tour. It is far and away the best thing for charging electronics that I have seen. The device had enough power to fully charge my Ipod, my cell phone, and my bike GPS, all off of a single charge. I have tried using solar cells on the bike, on a previous tour, and could barely keep the cellphone charged, let alone bring it to a full charge. In a touring environment, you could charge this at an outlet every other day, or every third day charge three devices like I did. If charging a single device, I believe that this device, fully charged, could keep a single cell phone charged for a week even under heavy use. I cannot recommend this device enough.

I bought this battery to be able to power up my iphone on long flights, and at the same time be ale to use it for my partner's Blackberry Pearl flip. Unfortunately there is no adapter that fits the blackberry eventhough the seller described that it works with Blackberries. The battery is charging my iphone right now and seems to work well and fairly fast. I hope the seller can supply a little adapter plug for a Blackberry Pearl flip. Then I will be happier. If not, they really need to remove this from their advertisement!

It takes some getting used to and the instruction were not specific, but it has worked well.

UPDATE July 2010, re Moto Droid:

This product is fine for some items, but keep it away from your Droid. I relied on it, for months, with my Moto Droid. Then weirdness started-- the screen would spontaneously jump up and down; actually make selections as if I had clicked an icon, when I hadn't touched the screen; etc. When a series of soft reboots and factory resets didn't cure the problem, I contacted Verizon. At the time, I had no clue why my baby was sick. In any event, Droid #2 arrived shortly thereafter.

Because I would sometimes go a week or two without using this product, I didn't initially make the connection. Then one day, I attached it to Droid #2 and immediately saw that screen weirdness again. *That's* when I realized what probably caused my woes with the initially purchased Droid. Fortunately, my quick disconnect prevented further/prolonged screen hassles.

Please accept my apologies for the earlier review. In my own defense, I note that everything was fine for months. Looks to me like -- at least with the first batch of Droids, some sort of build up occurs before the Droid has its version of a resulting nervous breakdown. With later released Droids, you get immediate clues to what amounts to "wrong charger, Sherlock!".

Meanwhile, I grabbed two SPN5334A wall chargers (long cord, thankfully), a car charger, plus a spare battery -- all OEM. (Note: a trip back to the Motorola site confirms the 5334A *is* compatible with the Droid X. {huge grin})


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One word: amazing! I have juiced my Moto Droid about 3 times, and only now have I replugged this device into an electrical socket. Even then, there was still some juice left prior to the recharge.

Initially, I had planned on getting a spare battery and battery-specific charger, but decided to chance this item for the overall convenience factor. Just seemed it would be much easier to toss this into my bag, than the whole spare-battery deal. After *studying* the assorted reviews here, I can only say I'm soooo glad I bit the bullet. The bonus factor is that I can charge dang near anything, given the assorted tips in the box, including hubby's decidedly non-hiTech phone. Tried it on my iPhone 3GS, which is headed to CraigsList (yes, the Droid is THAT good!); also worked as advertised.

I assume you're looking here for the best bang for the buck. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. This thing is great!

Final point: This was not available to purchase directly from Amazon, but a 3rd party merchant yielded the same effect (Prime membership, free 2-day delivery). Up-front cost appeared higher, but it was actually comparable given shipping/handling cost considerations.

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[I am a member of Amazon Vine. However, I learned of this device only by running assorted searches via Google and here at Amazon. I paid out of my own pocket, and for the record, would do it again-- in a heartbeat! In short, Vine had nadda to do with this purchase.]

I can't add anything that hasn't been said before. So to sum up:
Pros -
*battery life: Charged my iPod and Nokia phone from dead to full 4 times and the I-Up 5400 still indicates about 80% juice remaining. It packs more juice than much more expensive models and is in fact the most powerful battery extender/charger I could find on Amazon at the time of purchase (although the 6400 model 6400mAh External Battery Pack for Ipod, Ipod Touch, Iphone, Iphone 3g, Iphone 3gs, T-mobile G1, Ipod, Sidekick, Blackberry, Nokia, PDA, and GPS later became available on Amazon.)
*charging speed: My iPod ran out of battery on an outing. Hooked it up with I-Up 5400 and continued to listen to music the entire time. In about 1 hour my iPod's charged to the full.
*built-in flashlight: nice feature, may come in handy.
*style/weight/price: Pretty good considering the power it packs!

Cons -
*documentation: Poor, poor, poor on small folds of paper in broken English. But then again the product is simple enough to operate without detailed instruction.
*1-button operation: A bit confusing at first. Just have to try a few clicks to get the desired effect.

Special note -
Photo 2 on Amazon is misleading! This model doesn't come with all the tips in Photo 2, only 1 each for Apple, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia for a total of 5 tips! That's ALL, despite the fact that the manual lists 2 tips for Motorola and a DC connector for PSP (another reason the documentation sucks. Because of the poor representation on Amazon and in the manual, upon first receiving my order I thought I was missing a few parts! After digging through the maker's website, and comparing the info on 5400 and 6400 models, I concluded that Photo 2 is actually the accessory pack of the 6400 model. But at the time of this review the product info on the maker's website changed again, and the newly available 6400 model on Amazon also only lists 5 tips, so...I guess the accessory packs included with the products change over time and across different regions that the products are marketed to...but the maker should at least update the "manual" that comes with the product! Sheesh. For those who're interested, the maker's webpage for I-Up series product are at [..]

Update September 2011 -
After about a year and a half, it died. When trying to charge my almost completely drained iPod with it, the DC Out LED lit green indicating my iPod was fully charged and didn't charge iPod at all (I could still charge it and let it soak up power, just couldn't get it to *give* power.) Don't know if it's not detecting a not-fully-charged device, or the charging function actually died. No sign of deterioration, just up and died one day. Tried turning it and various devices off and on and reconnecting, no dice and no charge. I'd been using it on a weekly basis mainly to charge my iPod, so didn't use it that heavily. 1-1/2 years is pretty good considering, much better than those who had theirs die within weeks. Oh well, was a good run while it lasted. RIP, you've served me well. (Amazon doesn't allow mention of external websites?! The maker's name's u2o global, from there you can easily find its website ;))

I keep the I-UP 5400 in my backpack, ready to go at all times. Nice to know I can be charging my iPhone at any time and at any place (even at 35,000 feet). It's small enough to keep in my jeans pocket too, so for those heavy phone use days it's like having an unlimited power supply always available. Best iPhone accessory I've ever purchased.