[vertigo_2_20]

I bought a VersaCharger PRO about two years ago, and initially thought it was a great product. The idea behind it, I still believe, is a fantastic one. Externally, the design is great, including putting the AC prongs so close to the edge so it doesn't block two outlets.

Internally, however, the design is not only flawed, but it is unforgivable. First of all, making it so the charger has to be disassembled to replace the fuse, exposing capacitors and circuitry as well as quite possibly leading loss of loose pieces, is ridiculous. So many car chargers have screw on/off caps that make this task so much simpler, there's no reason for them not to have done this.

Second, and this is what prompted me to write this, as well as what made me notice the poor fuse replacement design, is the design of the AC contacts is just plain horrid. My charger stopped working, needing to be forcefully pressed into the outlet to get power. After a brief look, I immediately spotted the problem: The contacts inside are just bent pieces of metal resting on a sheet of plastic, and the AC prongs, when flipped out, press against them. Over time (and I've only used this charger a few times, which makes this even more upsetting), the prongs didn't make contact with them any more.

So I disassembled the charger, bent the contacts to make them easier to be reached by the prongs, then reassembled it. I even had to use two of my own screws because the ones it came with wouldn't go back in. One was too large for the hole it came out of and one was too small (no, I did not switch them), because they apparently were barely the right size to begin with. Once I had it all reassembled, I found I had tightened the screw holding the plastic plate (I still can't believe the design with that) too much, to the point I couldn't extend the AC prongs, so I had to disassemble it again and loosen it up a little. And after all this, while it does work as it should now, it still has a loud, electrical hum, which I had also noticed when I first discovered it wasn't working properly.

All in all, a great product idea, with a lot of promise, and the few times I used it it seemed to work quite well. However, the lack of quality in the design and construction make what could, and should, have been a great charger into a second-rate product I would definitely not buy again as is and I would not recommend to others. My intent is not to bash the company or its products, simply to give my honest opinion on it through my experience, in the hopes it will result in changes for the better.