Review: Joytech Wii Power Station

Joytech Wii Power Station
Manufacturer: Joytech
Site:
Price: $44.95


Overview : Bring order to your Wii™ Remote with the Power Station™ from JOYTECH. Rechargeable Battery Packs removes the need for replacement batteries and when you're finished gaming, the Power Station™ charges, stores and protects your Wii™ Remote, so you'll always have power when you need it most!

Features :

• Rechargeable Battery Packs and Docking Station for your Wii™ Remote
• Two rechargeable Battery Packs remove the need for standard batteries
• Store, protect and recharge your Wii™ Remote

Quality/Usability : Joytech has entered the Wii rechargeable battery market by releasing the Wii Power Station. The Joytech Wii Power Station includes two rechargeable batteries, charging dock and power cable. The power cable actually plugs into the back of the Wii's power port and the consoles power cable connects to it. So its pretty much a pass-through port and does not use USB like the rest of the rechargeable battery packs which results in a faster charge. The controllers will charge whether the system is in standby mode or turned on.

On each side of the dock are two extendable arms that holds your Nunchuks. Personally, there was no need for this as it took up space and didnt do a really good job of holding as you still had the cords dangling. Each port has a small LED that lights up. Red means it is charging and green when the controllers are fully charged. Whats nice about the Joytech Wii Power Station is that with the controllers placed in, you can leave the wrist strap on. The wrist strap comes out from from the bottom of the controller and works with both the thin and thick straps.

According to the instruction booklet, it stated that it takes 5 hours to fully charge the Wiimotes. It seem to take a lot less to charge. Unfortunately, there is no mention of what mAh the batteries are so it is hard to gauge how long the batteries will last compared to AA alkaline batteries.

Conclusion : Overall, the Joytech Wii Power Station is a nice charging station but there were some things I didnt like about it. Joytech could have done without the Nunchuk holders. Would of been also nice to have stated the batteries rating (mAh). What I loved about the Joytech Wii Power Station is the way it charges the batteries using the pass-through port cable. This allows for faster charging and no need to find a USB port or AC wall plug. The cost is also slightly $10 higher than its well known competitor, Nyko.

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