Review: Wii Blue Light Charge Station

[bandit]

Wii Blue Light Charge Station
Manufacturer: PEGA
Site: Buy from Goldenshop / Buy from DealExtreme
Price: $15.00

Overview : Charge two Wiimotes at the same time. Includes 2 1800mAh battery packs.

Features :

• High quality 3rd party product.
• Comes with 2pcs of 1800mAh rechargeable batteries for the Wii remote controls - no need to take out the battery when charging.
• No need to add extra power supply - get the power from the USB port of the Wii console.
• 2pcs of Wii remote controls can be charged simultaneously.
• Light indicators to show the charging status.

Quality/Usability : Yes, another review on a batter charger (COME ON NINTENDO! Where's yours?!). This time is from the popular 3rd party peripheral manufacturer, PEGA HK.

All the battery packs that we have reviewed such as Penguin United Remote Charging Dock + Rechargeable Battery, Wii Remote Battery Charger & Stand or Wii Remote Charge 'N Play, all have the same type of look...plain. Nothing stands out. Nothing fancy. Well, PEGA went and took it to the next step, lights.

The Wii Blue Light Charge Station comes with a dock, USB cable and two battery packs. Both battery packs are 1800mAh's which is pretty much standard for the 3rd party batteries.

The battery are ordinary battery packs and looks similar to Wii 1800mAh Rechargeable Battery. Instead of the 1800mAh being printed, the PEGA version is stickered. Also on the battery pack is a sticker that informs you that before using the battery pack for the first time, you must charge the battery for over 12 hours, or else the battery life will be reduced. Honestly, whether you use it first or charge it, gradually the battery life will be reduced like any other battery. I personally use the battery first and let it die out completely before doing a full recharge. Like the Wii 1800mAh Rechargeable Battery, there is a hole on the battery pack for easy access to the SYNC button.

The dock is what makes the product stand out from the rest of the crowd. Did you purchase the sweet looking Wii Crystal Blue LED Cooler Stand and change the casing of your Nintendo Wii to the Team Xtender II-Case Chameleon? Well your lighted collection isnt complete without this. Thats because the dock lights up also! No, not those cheesy small GREEN LEDs that goes on and off to let you know if its fully charged and done. All around the bottom of the dock is a clear window. This lets the lights from the LED shine through. There are 4 LEDs on the bottom of the dock. To turn on and off the blue lights, there is a switch on the back of the dock. On the top of the dock near the Wiimotes, are two more LED lights, one for each dock. When the battery packs are charging, the light will turn RED...more like pink. When the battery pack is done charging, the light turns blue.

In order to charge the battery pack, you need to have it inside the Wiimote. Sorry, but you'll also have to remove the wrist strap or the contact on the dock wont touch the contacts on the battery pack. Like all other recharging docks, it wont work with silicon skin/glove on. So you'll have to take that off as well.

Charging time took approximately 2-3 hours like all other docks but I left it on there for 12+ hours as recommended even though it wasnt necessary. During game play, I was able to get about a 4.5 hours out of a full charge.

Conclusion : Overall, the Wii Blue Light Charge Station ups the ante in looks for rechargeable docks. The blue lights look great! The battery packs? Well, they're just battery packs. Nothing special. Nice to have an ON/OFF switch for the lights on the bottom of the dock but the lights to show you if the Wiimotes are charging is permanently on. There is no way to turn them off. Placing the Wiimotes on the dock can take some fiddling around so that the contacts on the dock and battery pack touch each other. Having to remove the wrist strap off the Wiimote can be annoying for some Wii'ers. The price of the Blue Light Charge Station of $15 is fairly reasonable considering it comes with two rechargeable batteries and the dock lights up!

Images via comments

[Demolition49]

Great, i just ordered one on ebay got it at £12 including postage not that bad ^_^. I have paid a fortune to keep my wiimotes power running so these will save me a few bob.

Edit: that bottom picture looks pretty rubbish, thats not how it looks in other pictures.

[diddydonn]

having used 2 of these for just over a month, i would not recommend it, since first bought the batteries now last about 30mins even when fully charged, the lights keep flickering on and off even when nothing is on the base, oh and if you leave the controllers left in the dock when not in use the batteries drain to nothing, not to mention that when charging it will just stop for no reason until you wiggle the remote in the dock

good to begin with but not worth it in the long run

[acn010]

it looks nice... i have rechargeable batt

[bandit]

having used 2 of these for just over a month, i would not recommend it, since first bought the batteries now last about 30mins even when fully charged, the lights keep flickering on and off even when nothing is on the base, oh and if you leave the controllers left in the dock when not in use the batteries drain to nothing, not to mention that when charging it will just stop for no reason until you wiggle the remote in the dock

good to begin with but not worth it in the long run

Havent noticed anything but I did notice that the lights would flicker from blue to red or vice versa when placed on dock even when you're not touching it. But with a slight readjustment of the controller on the dock, all is good.

[Demolition49]

hopefully i wont have those problems. and maybe you didnt charge them properly in the first place?