An inexpensive gadget that can charge your EXPENSIVE gadgets!

Daily Giz Wiz, Week of March 29, 2010, Netcast 1056

I bought one of these gadgets after I received one of those “Deal of the Day” email offers. It was about $12, including shipping. The device is called the Encore Music Power Dual USB Port Charger. Although the battery is not marked with its actual capacity it was advertised as the “Extended Rechargeable Battery”. This is the only device charger I know of that has a replaceable battery. That’s the good news. The bad news is there is no place listed to buy a replacement battery for this unit. But for the price, it’s still a good deal. The company says the rechargeable battery from Encore provides extended play for your iPod or other audio player provided it charges with a USB cable. It doubles your runtime and provides 2 USB charging ports to keep you powered up where ever you are. (Provided you charged the Encore!) It’s a fairly thin unit with a folding AC plug in the back for greater portability. On one website it says: 500mA output at each USB port and on another website it says 500mA output at the USB port. There’s one LED light that changes from green to yellow to red to give an idea of the amount of power left. The unit is totally self-contained and you provide the USB charging cables for your devices. Just before we recorded this Daily Giz Wiz episode I thought I’d check to see if the price was still $12. Surprise! I found it for a lot less! It's just $8.54 at Wal-Mart! This seems like a really decent price for a unit you can easily carry around to charge several different portable devices. I read a large number of customer reviews and most everyone was very happy with their purchase. There was one negative comment, which I also found with this unit. It doesn’t sense when the unit it’s hooked to is fully charged. If you don’t disconnect when your phone or MP3 player when it shows fully charged, the Encore stays on until its battery dies. It’s not a deal breaker, just something to keep in mind. You just need to recharge it again.  

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Music-Power-Encore-Rechargeable-Battery/5750793#ShortReviewTitleBar 

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1056

Update on March 29, 2010 by The Giz Wiz

I've received a few emails that there seems to suddenly be a price war over this gadget. First the price was lowered on Amazon and then on Wal-Mart.  Was it due to the Daly Giz Wiz? Who knows, but I do know that Wal-Mart has already dropped their low price by another buck to $7.54.  

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Music-Power-Encore-Rechargeable-Battery/5750793#ShortReviewTitleBar