Turbo Charge TC² Portable Charger for iPod and iPhone
by Turbo Charge
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Turbo Charge TC² Portable Charger for iPod and iPhone
Customer Review: Great idea but doesn't work AT FIRST
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a great product, but it isn't assembled correctly.
Luckily, there's an easy way to fix tour turbo charge with a piece of aluminum foil.
First, open up the battery area and find the battery contact that's covered by a piece of plastic with half a circle cut out of it. This contact doesn't work because the bumps on the metal behind the plastic isn't directly lined up with the half circle.
To fix the problem, take a bit of aluminum foil about 1X4 inches and fold it over both ways to make a long strip. Size doesn't really matter that much.
Next, bend the two ends and put the strip into the end of the battery compartment (without springs) so that it lines the wall and blocks both metal contacts. Now, put the batteries in, but push the springs in more so that the batteries pin the strip to the wall but don't move it out of place.
You can now put the battery cover on and the charger should work.
This works because the metal at the end of the battery case only has the job of connecting the two batteries.
If it didn't work, check that the ends of both batteries are touching the foil. Also check that the foil is at the side of the battery case without springs and that the batteries are aligned the right way (one of the batteries has the positive end touching the spring unlike most battery cases).
If that didn't work, then the problem with your charger wasn't the contacts at the end of the battery case.
Customer Review: Great for power emergencies
Summary: 5 Stars
I fly a lot for work and enjoy my iPod Touch, but find it runs low on power after a few hours of watching video. I originally learned of the accessory power device for iPods from an ad for the Richard Solo unit - a fancy $50 device made of brushed steel with a built-in laser pointer or something. The problem with that, though, is when it is attached to the Touch it blocks the headphone port - there is no cable as it is apparently designed to add a couple of inches of length to the unit (it was really made for the iPhone, where I presume one would be holding the phone next to one's face or using a Bluetooth earpiece).
I then searched on Amazon to see what else might be available, and found this Turbo Charge unit. Besides being more affordable, it's designed with a cable attachment so I can plug it into the iPod and still plug in my headphones, and it uses standard AA batteries so if I were to run out of reserve power I could just replace the AA's at any time.
I have since used it a few times, and find it quite effective. One set of AA's was able to add at least a few hours to the Touch's video time, and I have not yet had the occasion to require changing batteries (though I always carry an extra pair just in case). I can recommend this unit.
Customer Review: Works for me, on iPod touch.
Summary: 4 Stars
Works for the most part as advertised. Used with my first generation 16 GB iPod touch. As some have mentioned the power switch does easily move and switch from off to on too easily, you can have it in your pocket or bag and it will switch to on or LED mode by itself. However, to me that is not a big problem, I just turned around one of the batteries while not in use and 'switching' problem solved. I am using Duracel batteries and they don't last as long as maybe they should, I get about one or two good charges per pair of batteries. Later I'll buy 4 rechargeable AA's. Used mine on a long flight from the U.S. to Asia and it worked great, when wanted was able to listen to my iPod at any time. I suggest only listening to audio while charging, if watching video it will never charge enough and drain your AA's quickly (or turn off the iPod until fully charged). I couldn't get a "full" 100% charge on mine, got up to about 50-60%, but that was enough for me and simply recharged when the iPod battery got to 10% life. This is a much cheaper alternative than some Ion $100 chargers that some buy.Customer Review: Didn't Work on Touch G2
Summary: 1 Stars
Based on some positive reviews stating this item would work with G2 Touch, I ordered this as a backup up power source for traveling or whenever I didn't have access to a usb port.
Just received this in the mail and since my my touch was down to 20% power, it seemed a perfect time to give it a try. I installed a new pair of AA batteries (Energizers) and followed the included instructions . I noted that the remaining power indicator on the front of the unit showed that the AA batteries were full.
I plugged the unit into my powered down touch, came back 30 minutes later and noticed that the Touch's screen indicated that the battery level was down to 10%. After unplugging and turning the charger off, I slid the power button down to check the level of power remaining in the AA batteries. The indicator showed that they were now at 1/2 power. I'm not sure where the other 1/2 charge went since my touch's battery level went down also.
Needless to say, it's going back.
Customer Review: One of the worst electronics I have ever purchased!
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this for a two month trip overseas. I tried on numerous times to charge my iPod touch (2nd generation). Each time it would appear to charge my iPod but did not. Instead I just went through several sets of batteries. I tried ALL the recommendations others have said in their reviews (battery brand, fixing the metal connectors, etc. etc.) but none worked. The worst part of all is seven weeks into my trip the thing overheated and melted in my suitcase! The batters were burnt and I am surprised nothing else was damaged in my suitcase nor did it catch on fire!! The packing material says there is a guarantee for this but the companies website did NOT work when last checked ([...]) This is the only contact information the packaging has. I called Amazon customer service and they themselves did not have any contact information for this company. DO NOT WASTE your money!
Also this is the very first amazon.com review I have submitted because this product really was that bad!