Customer Reviews

Motorola Dual Slot Rapid Desktop Charger for Motorola Startac Phones

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The dual slot charger is a good idea if you need to keep a hot second battery. I use mine with a StarTAC ST7867 and an extra Lithium Ion extra capacity main battery. The documentation that Motorola provides consists of a single sheet sectioned into 15 1.5" x 2" rectangles printed front and back in 27 different languages (this is not an exaggeration). Something that is not made clear is that there are two spring-loaded black plastic tensioners in the spare battery slot. Since they are not readily discernable, if you are not aware of them it will seem as if the extra capacity main battery will not fit into the slot. It takes some jockeying, but the plastic tensioners move toward the phone charger slot to make room for the spare battery, which is inserted contacts down and facing toward the power supply connector. After the battery is inserted, the tensioners keep pressure on the battery so that the battery contacts are held firmly against the charger contacts.

I disagree w/ a previous review. I have had no problems RECEIVING calls and simultaneously charging the phone using this desktop charger. In fact, if you have the phone set to vibrate, it rings in the charger anyway...

However, unlike the regular charger, you can't talk and charge at the same time. (It would be pretty funny trying to hold a desktop charger to your face to talk anyway.) So whenver the phone rings, just pull the phone out and talk!

Note 1: There is no "release button" you need to push to disconnect the phone. So it's easy to grab the phone in a hurry...

Note 2: Charging an additional battery is really weird. Just like a previous review, it is spring loaded, and you need to load it at an angle. I too looked all over the 1 pg. manual w/o luck to try and figure this out...

Be aware that the phone is NOT operational when using the desktop charger! (You won't receive incoming calls.) The portable charger (AC or 12VDC) does allow the phone to be used (send and receive) while charging.

Never assume. What you get is pretty much just what you see in the picture. There is no cord to plug this unit in. You must still use the charging cord that came with the phone to connect it to an AC outlet. As such, this cannot be used as a second charger. The only advantage is the ability to charge an extra battery along with the phone. Once you know this, it is apparent from the description, but I guess I didn't read closely enough and assumed too much. All other comments accurate.

This item has few redeeming features, and lots of problems. First, it is extremely cheaply constructed with very thin plastic. It probably would not survive a fall from a table onto a hard floor. Second, you can't really use it as a spare charger, since it does not come with its own cord. You have to use the one that came with your phone or fork out the extra bucks for a spare cord. Third, the battery is held in place by a flimsy spring mechanism. It's hard to get the battery seated properly, and if you bump the charger even slightly, it dislodges from the electrical contacts. Fourth, it was apparently only designed to charge standard-size batteries. It does not accomodate the auxilliary-size Motorola batteries. Fifth, the documentation is almost non-existent. For the cost, I expected something with better construction and design. Dont' buy this one; here are higher quality 3rd party chargers out there that are cheaper.

For those of you that use TrueSync software and cable to synchronize your phone contacts with your PIM software, the True Sync cable can be plugged into the charger and the AC adapter can be connected to the TrueSync Cable.

The charger has an indicator on the front (along with the battery indicators) for True Sync activity.

Not much to say here. My experience with the device shows it's tricky to use, easy to break, and does not do a great job of charging. Being able to charge two batteries at once -- a spare and the one on the phone -- nice. Maybe it would be more useful if it came with decent instructions.

The charger I got from Amazon.com came without a single word of documentation. The manual for my phone helps a little. The charger comes with snap-in templates to fit different phones (I guess), but not a word of explanation about which one to use, or what the others might be for. Maddening. I just played Garanimals(tm) until I had a good fit, but why was that up to me to figure out? At these prices, write some instructions!

The item that I received is different from both the one in the manual and the one pictured on Amazon.com even as I write this review, so any docs about what the lights mean would be useless anyway.

Kudos to the guy who figured out that there's a status light for data sync activity -- go to the head of the class! :-)

Oh, the charger seems to work fine. The "drop in" slot for the phone is more like "pin the tail on the donkey", though, same as with my Nextel phone. All in all, I'd expected a better consumer experience from Motorola.

I have returned my chager to Motorolla under warranty two times. Each time Motorolla customer service was very nice about replacing it however the rear pocket for charging batteries has never worked. I've tested it with three batteries - 2 Li ION and 1 NiMH and it doesn't work with any in the rear pocket. It acts like its charging the battery but does not. The front pocket does a fine job of holding the phone and I haven't had trouble with the back holding the battery. If it worked it would be worth owning.

I bought the charger, along with 2 spare batteries. The charger is simple, and easy to understand, good since there was no instruction sheet. It can be used in a car with the standard charge cord. However it will not fit anything larger than the 900ma battery that comes with the startac phone. Not nearly what I expected.