Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=2725&t_mode=des' target='_blank'>http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P0...2725&t_mode=des</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger charges from any standard USB port (so it works with ALL Proporta power/charging products in your car, home, office) and stores an impressive 3400 mAH of power for when you need it. Plug any USB powered mobile device (phone, iPod, digital camera etc.) into the battery's standard USB port and recharge anywhere. Even power hungry devices like the iPod 5G will recharge and play for up to three times longer when connected to the Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger and you can recharge your mobile, Smartphone or PDA anywhere. Use as an emergency charger which can be recharged from any convenient USB port and never run out of power again."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/USB-Mobile-Device-Charger.jpg" /><br /><br />Having just returned from a long trek, I ran into all sorts of issues related to powering my various mobile devices. Although nothing was catastrophic (I was fairly well prepared), this exact device is something I could have really used. Anyone own one, or something similar? How do you find using it?

[MitchellO]

I have had AA based ones before, and they sucked because you had to recharge the AAs all the time, which was just plain annoying. This would be much better, with a builtin rechargeable battery. And 3400mAH! Very nice.

Just hope the cells are not made by Sony :D

[Jason Dunn]

Just hope the cells are not made by Sony :D

:grumble: haha, great point!

[Gti]

Just hope the cells are not made by Sony :D
LOL!
Ciao, Gianni.

[Duncan]

Anyone own one, or something similar? How do you find using it?

I have something similar from Mobypower - a 3600 mAh external battery for charging portable devices. It has started to go bad on me - so this release from Proporta is well-timed.

The Proporta battery is much nicer looking and a better size and weight than mine:

http://www.firstloox.org/moby.gif

It has been fantastically useful though - I never take individual chargers with me when going away - just the battery and its charger. It has saved me from low batteries often and is far better than attaching some bulky extra large extended battery.

[MitchellO]

The Proporta battery is much nicer looking and a better size and weight than mine...

I was very fond of the extended battery for my iPAQ 4355. Made the device nicer to hold, and was easier to type on the brilliant thumboard.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/4204/1000153smallia6.jpg

Now that was a truely fantastic device. Only sold it because I wanted to go to a Pocket PC Phone device.

***long quote and embedded image edited out by moderator JD***

[JvanEkris]

I use a socket external adapter. I used it during the flight to last MVP summit (16 hours of traveltine), and saved me from having to watch onboard entertainment.

Jaap

[markh1]

I have a Socket Mobile Power Pack (7200mAh). I hardly every use it, though it has been useful when I've gone treking through mountains. It recharges the PDA-Phone and GPS device twice giving you around 3 days use. I also can attach a solar charger to it which might allow me to stay away from mains indefinitly if the sun is shining. I didn't really need the solar charger for my last trek since I had mains power at least every 2 days. For general use I find a 2nd battery more convenient to carry around, the Socket product is a little bit on the heavy side (375g).

[MitchellO]

For general use I find a 2nd battery more convenient to carry around, the Socket product is a little bit on the heavy side (375g).

Yeah I find a second battery far more convenient too. No charging time :D

[salem]

I have had AA based ones before, and they sucked because you had to recharge the AAs all the time, which was just plain annoying. This would be much better, with a builtin rechargeable battery. And 3400mAH! Very nice.

Just hope the cells are not made by Sony :D

I got an AA battery USB charger too and it works really nice. Sometimes i forget to bring up a new set of AA batteries, and i can buy it in a convenience store for emergency.

And compare the price, my Sanyo 2500mAh battery is around $US25. I've heard that there's 2800mAh batteries coming. And the AA box is only US$4.

[Jason Dunn]

I got an AA battery USB charger too and it works really nice.

I have one of those as well, but when I tried to use it on my trip to Thailand, it wouldn't charge anything I needed it to. :-(

[kzemach]

I have had AA based ones before, and they sucked because you had to recharge the AAs all the time, which was just plain annoying. This would be much better, with a builtin rechargeable battery. And 3400mAH! Very nice.

Just hope the cells are not made by Sony :D

For the average person, you're probably correct in that it takes a little more discipline and effort to use the AA scheme. However, for someone like Jason going on a long trek, it's ideal.

I did 9 months throughout southeast asia in 2000 with a digital camera, PDA, GPS, headlamp. I could run ALL of them off the same battery recharge scheme. The longest I was ever without AC power (to recharge) was 14 days (Nepal), but I was still able to use my headlamp, GPS, PDA, and digital camera every day. Good resource management can get you through!

I use the same scheme now too, as for work I travel with a PDA, electric razor (which I converted to run off AAs), electric toothbrush (that runs off AAs), digicam (which of course runs off AAs). For long trips, I simply bring an AA charger. For shorter trips, if one runs out, I can scavenge batteries/power from the other. It's quite nice actually.

Still, I'll agree with you that for the average person, this system reviewed is probably much easier.

[kzemach]

I have one of those as well, but when I tried to use it on my trip to Thailand, it wouldn't charge anything I needed it to. :-(

Really??? You had a AA holder that had a USB output port and THAT wouldn't charge your stuff, or you had a AA charger that used a USB port to charge the batteries? I could see the latter not working at all, but the former should have been fine if you had the right charger. I found Thailand to be the easiest for recharging the AAs, whereas places like Himalayan India and Pakistan were a bit rough.

[Jason Dunn]

Really??? You had a AA holder that had a USB output port and THAT wouldn't charge your stuff...

Yes, that was the problem - the AA charger just wouldn't recharge the device I connected it to. It was a Gigabeat S, so I'm not sure what the problem was...

[kzemach]

Yes, that was the problem - the AA charger just wouldn't recharge the device I connected it to. It was a Gigabeat S, so I'm not sure what the problem was...

That's very interesting. I wonder if the gigabeat was wanting a USB signal as well? Does it work with one of those purely power output cigarette socket USB thingies? I find my phone sometimes doesn't want to charge off the cig socket, requiring a reset. And when it does charge off of the cig socket, there's a delay before the red charging light comes on. But it ALWAYS charges immediately (right charging light comes on instantaneously) when I plug it into a full USB port.

Anyone have any insight into that? Might be the same issue.

[Idahoski]

Order several weeks ago. Still on back order. Cancelled it.

[Jason Dunn]

Order several weeks ago. Still on back order. Cancelled it.

I just got my review unit, and it's not Proporta-branded, but the "real" ones are coming in 1-2 weeks. So they should be shipping to everyone fairly soon...I'm working on a review, I like it so far (though it's definitely a one-trick pony).