Customer Reviews

V Tech - V.Smile Pocket Power Pack

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

The Pocket Charger is inexpensive and a must for a child that uses the pocket more than once a day. Regular batteries do not last long in the Pocket and this solves the problem and the expense of regular batteries.

It comes with a battery pack of rechargeable batteries and a new back cover which replaces the one already on the Pocket. Once you dock the Pocket onto the charger, give it a few seconds to "connect." You will know it is charging when the red light begins blinking and when the red light stays on, the charge is complete. It takes 2 to 3 hours for a full charge.

Cheap alternative to regular batteries and a must have to go along with the Pocket.

My children just love playing on the V-Smile Pocket (even the Main system isn't seeing as much action these days!), but I was concerned that we may be looking at a "fortune" in batteries! Before the first set of batteries expired, however, the
"V-Smile Pocket Charger" was released. I ordered it immediately and put it right to work.

After replacing the batteries with the enclosed rechargable battery pack and new battery compartment cover, I simply plugged in the unit and docked it. The initial charge did not take long at all, and the kids were busy playing in no time!

It is extremely easy to use - even our 3 year old can place the unit on the charger and make contact (we've all had experiences with finicky chargers that want the units to be placed "just so" for the charging process to begin! This charger is NOT finicky!) When the light blinks, it means the unit is being charged (although you can use the unit without the full charge as well!) and the solid red light means charging is complete. Just make sure to give the charger a few seconds to respond to the unit being place upon it - it took me a few tries to realize this (I thought it wasn't making contact, but it indeed was!) Also, make sure the unit is turned off before charging (instructions state this), or you might be listening to the opening sound effects over and over and over.......

This is a great charger unit - V-Tech continues to earn their great reputation. I give this the highest recommendation - you'll save a fortune in batteries!

A word of user error because of the experience i had. I purchased a charger for christmas and quickly needed to put it to use. When i put the vsmile pocket on the charger the light flashed and then nothing. I emailed vtech who responded quickly but didnt solve my problem. I purchased an additional charger docking station to see if mine was messed up and they both worked the same(an initial fast flashing light for about 5 or 6 seconds) then no light at all after that. So I decided chances were that it was not the units but how I was using them... I pushed down on the vsmile pocket and it kind of engaged (I felt it kind of click - not really click but I felt something)then the light came on and is now blinking on both units after I pushed down on them. YEAH!!! We were charging! So after an initial frustration, due to user error, I am now totally thrilled with this product. This is a definite buy. My children each received a vsmile pocket for christmas and there is no way i'd want to spend the bucks on batteries. BTW, extra rechargable batteries and door covers should be available in late Jan 2005. This would only benefit you of course if you have more than one of these in your home,as i do. I rate 4 stars only because of the initial frustration. The product is great!

I bought this charger for my son's Vsmile game. The first time I tried to use it, it seemed really sensitive to how the game sits in it to make it start charging. After switching outlets, checking connections, etc. I just started jiggling it around to get the connection. It finally started charging and luckily was all charged up in time for Christmas morning! But the next time I went to use it, I couldn't get the light to come on at all! After going through everything again, I decided to send it back and get a replacement. Amazon was great and sent it right away, before even receiving my old one.
I got that one today. It was doing what one reviewer said theirs did...the light flickered for a few seconds before going off and not coming back on. I played around with it for a good hour or so. It finally started working after I put quite a bit of downward pressure on it. But then I had to hold it there for a minute or more before I could take my hands off it! It charged after that, but twice during the duration, the light went off completely and I had to push it down again.
I don't know if this is "normal", but I think it's a little inconvenient. I will still use it because it's better than constantly buying new batteries.

We bought the V-smile pocket for our 5 yo daughter for christmas,but I didn't buy the charger unit for it because sometimes it's a hit and miss on what she will like. Well it was a major HIT and she loves it so much that the batteries were dead by 2pm on the 26th of Dec. So We went to the local Toys R Us store and got this charger. Silly me, I didn't come and read any reviews on this until yesterday and have been unsure if the thing has been charging. My hubby has been balancing things on it to get it to charge, but I just KNEW there was something I wasn't doing right. We would put the V-smile on this thing and it would light if you held it down but would stop if you lifted your hand. Came here, read the review and now I got it so it "clicked" on to it and now it's charging fine. I must say however, that our daughter faithfully played with this at least 2 hours or more every day since christmas and has put it on the charger but it never died on her even though we were sure it wasn't charging correctly. So even incorrectly it held a good charge. I rated this 4 stars rather than 5 only because I feel it should be easier to figure out.

I love the v.smile systems...but just to let you all know, so you don't make the same mistake I did. I ordered this thinking that it would be compatible with my children's v.smile CYBER pocket, well it's not. as far as I know the one that is for the cyber pocket is not available online as of yet. I hope that this helps all you looking to see if this is the correct power pack, I sure wish that if someone else had made the mistake of ordering this posted a comment, would have saved me time and disappointment.

I didn't have any problems with it right out of the box, other than the battery cover being meant for a different model V-Smile Pocket, which I resolved by putting the old one back on... a little tricky, as the part the docking station connects to, on the battery door you had to push back on where the holes are, but no problem... I had it hooked up and charging in less than a minuteV Tech - V.Smile Pocket Power Pack

When a company locks you into a proprietary charger, you'd at least expect it to work well... Well, this one does NOT. Like many of you, we got a lemon. Charger light acts like it is charging, but it isn't. As such, it's only real value is that of a paper weight... have email into VTech... we'll see what happens. In the interim, I'd suggest just getting the 9V converter and power the thing with a plug when possible. Many of you already know you can buy an inexpensive inverter for your vehicle and simply power this (and other electronics) from the 12V in your car. And let's hope VTech fixes the design flaw going forward because this thing is Great in Theory, but as many of you and I know first hand, in practice this thing JUST DOESN'T WORK... wish it wasn't so...

Santa ;) gave my daughter the Pocket, games and charger for Christmas. Until this morning I thought there was something wrong with my charger since the light blinked a few times then went off. My poor daughter waited all night to play the Pocket and it would not charge. This morning I came here (Amazon) and read the reviews and now it is charging just fine. You really need to push the Pocket onto the charger and the light MUST blink. I could not imagine the money I would have to spend on batteries.....this charger is a MUST HAVE!

I read the other reviews and was hesitant to purchase this item becuase of all the problems people reported. But I did purchase it. I'll admit that I couldn't get it to charge at first. I had to jiggle the pocket unit around a little bit. Now it works fine every time with little adjustment. It easily gets placed in the charger as long as I remove the playing cartridge from the unit. It charges fast and saves us money on batteries. I recommend it.