POWERSTICK – USB POWERED PORTABLE CHARGER

Ever forget to charge your phone? I have, too many time to count actually, I do it all of the time with my portable devices, it’s just not one of those things that I think about often, though I have been getting better at remembering. I went and got a USB car charger as well so I can charge my gadgets on the go, it’s nice because it’s pretty much universal with the USB port there for you.

What happens though when you don’t have access to a car charger, or AC outlet to charge your gadgets? You’re kinda stuck with a dead device then eh? What if you’re camping, or hiking or somewhere without power, you’ve only got the battery you have and that’s that, well not anymore. The product I’ve got today is one that I’ve come to like quite a bit, it’s very portable, easy to use, and it not only provides power for your phone, but comes with tips to provide power to many other devices as well, so it will not only charge your phone but yourMP3 player, and even GPD as well.

It’s called the Powerstick and it’s from a company called Ecosol, it gets it’s power from a standard USB port, so you can charge it via a computer jack or if you’ve got a USB adapter in your car as I do, you can use that as well. So read on to learn about what is possibly one of the best portable power solution on the market today…

First off let’s check out the specs and features from the Powerstick site:

POWERSTICK – USB POWERED PORTABLE CHARGER

The Powerstick is the winner of the CES Award for Best of Innovation. It charges mobile devices such as BlackBerrys, cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, iPhones, iPods, digital cameras, GPS and MP3 Players. It is simply charged from any USB port including computers and laptops and then used to charge mobile devices; no disposable batteries or wall chargers are required.

FEATURES:
* The Powerstick is the greenest charging solution – no disposable batteries, and no wall chargers.
* The most convenient solution for charging – charge it by using any USB port including your laptop.
* The most convenient charger to carry with you. The size of a stick of gum, it fits easily in your pocket or purse and weighs only 40 grams.
* Provides you with the freedom of not worrying if your mobile devices are running out of power.
* Introduces to the market a top-notch, essential, trendy, and innovative product.
* And finally, the Powerstick is safer for mobile devices, as it has a micro-controlled processor that provides power only as needed.

The Powerstick comes with 9 connectors to charge most popular cellphones, pda, mp3 players and gps devices. Check the compatabilty section to see if the Powerstick charges your device.

The Powerstick fueled by Ecosol transcends the traditional battery-in-a-case charger. Over two years of research and world class engineering have led to the most sophisticated, smallest and alluring portable charger yet. Designed to be reliable and to fuel your mobile lifestyle.

Tech Specs:
Battery Type: Lithium Polymer
Output Voltage: DC 5V max
Output Current: 700mA max
Operating T˚: 0 to 40˚C / 32 to 104˚F
Storage & Transportation T˚: 20 to 50˚C / – 4 to 122˚F
Charge Time (to 90% capacity): 0 to 90 minutes
Discharge Time: 0 to 60 minutes
Dimensions: 25x110x14mm / 1.0×4.3×0.55″
Weight: 35g / 1.23oz
Cycle Life: 1,000+
Charge Input Voltage: 4.5 – 5.5V
Charge Input Current: 10 – 500mA
Capacity: 750mAh

Price: $60.00 (depending where you look)

Ok, now that’s out of the way, the Powerstick comes in a nice little box with a window so you can see the Powerstick itself, of course there’s also specs and features listed as well.

Opening the box we find a bag of tips, user manual and the Powerstick itself.

There are nine tips in total, and of course there’s a mini-USB connector to use with my Tilt, or any other phone or device that uses the mini-USB for charging.

If you read the specs above then you’d know the Powerstick is rather small, it’s a bit bigger than most USB flash drives and it looks like one as well.

On the front is a small display and a power button, the display is used to monitor the power level when charging the Powerstick and when charging your device, it goes up or down depending what you’re doing.

There’s not much special about the back of the Powerstick, just an id label, the top of the Powerstick is a cap that comes off to reveal a standard USB connector, on the bottom you’ll find a hole where the adapter tips get plugged into.

First thing you’ll need to do is charge the Powerstick via your computer or whatever via the USB port, when it’s charging the bar will blink and fill up as it charges, when it’s full it’s done obviously.

Of course I use the Powerstick primarily with my AT&T Tilt, hook it up and you’ll see the charging LED light up and the battery indicator turn to a plug on the display.

The Powerstick then is charging your device, the power bar on the display then goes backwards to let you know it’s charging, the bar will get shorter as the power is transferred to your device.

and as I mentioned you can charge other devices as well, like my iPod nano 4th gen:

The Powerstick works well, it seems to take about the same amount of time to charge my phone as it would if it was plugged in, it also seems like a well made and sturdy little gadget.

It’s nice and portable so you can toss it in a bag, glove compartment, or even your pocket to take it with you so you’ll always have power.

For the price, around $60, I think it’s well worth it, especially if you’re like me and forget to charge your devices. What makes it worth it though really is that is can be used for many other devices as well, so it’s not a dedicated device that only works for one thing like many other options out there.

My only suggestion would be to add a tip with a female USB connection on it, this way it can be truly a universal portable charging solution, the main reason I say this is because it doesn’t have a tip for my Zune, and if it had a female USB tip then I could just charge it that way, and yes I prefer my Zune over the iPod…. 😉

Anyway, the Powerstick is a great solution for portable power on the go, it’s easy to use, and it charge quite a few devices.