Moixa USBCell batteries

Is this the answer to your recharging needs?

Reviewer: Stuart Miles
Review Date: 8 May 2007
Manufacturer: Moixa
Price as reviewed: £10.99
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Our score

9/10

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Reader score

4/10

Full Review

8 May 2007 - Batteries are pretty boring but a necessity of our gadget-filled lives. While most gadgets have gone the way of the built-in rechargeable, some, especially kids toys, are still AA powered.

So in steps the USBCell from Moixa, a solution to the problem of forever having to buy new batteries, or if you have got rechargables, finding a power socket to charge them.

But how is this possible?!? Well lurking under the top of a humble looking AA battery lies a secret ... a USB dongle.

The idea, and it's one that works so pay attention, is that you plug in the battery into your USB socket. A couple of hours later (there is even a light to tell you how you're getting on) you've got a battery that promises 5 hours of charge to power your latest gadgets.

It's so simplistic yet effective that its that easy.

Verdict

The USBCell is one of the gadgets that you can't spend much time talking about because it doesn't do much.

There is no multifaceted features, no convergence, no built-in storage, just the promise that for your £10.99 and a spare USB socket you'll get powered devices.

What's the catch? So far in our tests there doesn't seem to be one. The only thing we would say however is make sure you've got enough USB sockets free when you need to power them up.

Top Marks.

Comments

These USBCell's are a bit gimmicky and they have few real world advantages.

With the built-in USB plug you lose significant capacity (notice how mAh ratings aren't stated on USBCell website or packaging?). These are expensive to purchase and are probably less eco-friendly to manufacture than your normal rechargeable batteries. Hence the eco credentials of the product are overrated.

Charging via a standard USB socket (5V 500mAh) is also woefully slow and if the USB socket isn't already powered up/on, uneconomical

What people should be buying are the newer generation of low self discharge (LSD) batteries like Sanyo Eneloop, Sony CycleEnergy, Uniross Hybrio, etc.

Traditional rechargeable batteries would lose their charge relatively quickly and hence had to be recharged just before use and they where no good for low drain devices such as clocks. However LSD batteries can be recharged and stored as they are able to keep the majority of their charge for well over a year.

LSD batteries therefore work just as well in a low drain remote controls to high drain digital cameras. Hence there's really no excuse not to replace all your household batteries with (LSD) rechargeable batteries and to get rid of single use, un-eco, alkaline batteries. LSD batteries saves you time, money and they do help the environment too.

If you really really... really... need to recharge your batteries via a USB port then there are compact USB battery chargers on the marke you can buy (e.g. Eneloop do a nice compact 2 x AA/AAA USB travel charger)
Posted by Henry, United Kingdom

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