Section: Reviews, Originals, Consoles, Wii, Gear, Accessories, Controllers, Hardware

Product: 4x Quad Charge Station for WiiMotes

Price: $44.99

Rating: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 80/100; B-; * * * out of five.

Pros: Charges four WiiMotes at once, removable power cable, looks pretty cool and works well.

Cons: No wrist strap slots, difficult to read charge status LEDs and sometimes hard to properly seat the WiiMotes.

Overall: A good option for those who like to have four charged WiiMotes at the ready. Not for finicky, power-conscious gamers.

 

Keeping your wireless controllers ready and charged can be a problem for some gamers. You have the odd controller sitting around that invariably loses its charge mid game and you have to either plug it in and wait (and usually watch everyone else continue with the fun) or scurry around the house like a squirrel in the Spring unearthing scattered batteries.

Accessory and peripheral maker Penguin United has attempted to solve the problem for Wii owners with the 4x Quad Charge Station. It charges four WiiMotes at once, which is nice, but the setup does have a few flaws.

Nice and Shiny

The system ships with the core charge unit, a detachable power adapter, four individually colored WiiMote straps (black, light blue, pink and green), four “high-capacity Li-ion polymer rechargeable” battery packs and a manual.

The base measure 6.5 in. in diameter and is approximately 2 in. tall at the tallest point. The power cable is detachable from the base and measures 73 in. from tip to tip. The cable is white, as is the charger base which also has an extra clear plastic layer around the four WiiMote charger ports.

When plugged in, the core of the base glows blue, like the Wii console, and the mini LEDs (for for each WiiMote port) glow green.

The battery packs look nearly identical to the standard WiiMote battery cover with the addition of a white Sync button (pressable with a pin, pen or extended paper clip end) and

WiiMotes are plugged into the base by placing the base of the controller into a formed port, lining up two small metal wires with the charge slots (electrodes?) on the back of the rechargeable battery packs.

Ready, Set, Charge!

When you first plug in the charge station it looks impressive. Everything lights up so it has that Wii-y blue glow to it. The only off putting part is that all the mini green LEDs under each WiiMote dock also light up sans WiiMotes. Of course for those who might be a bit energy conscience, you’ll want to uplug he system when not in use. Of course, since the lights are low-energy LEDs, you won’t be consuming much until you plop in a few WiiMotes.

When you put in a WiiMote, some of the LEDs dim near that slot, indicating how much charge is depleted (1 LED equals 25% of a full charge, two is 50%, three is 75% and four for 100%). This seems counter intuitive since it can be difficult to tell if you have a WiiMote docked properly. The only indication will be that some of the LEDs will blink out if the charge is depleted. If, however, you have a well-charged WiiMote, it’ll look the same. Since the WiiMote straps can get in the way of proper controller docking (there is not a notch for the wrist traps in the charger ports), this can be a frustrating issue. (Note that the wrist straps are not shown in a charging WiiMote any of the company’s product shots).

The tiny manual that comes with the system indicates that it takes up to fur hours to charge each WiiMote, which appears to be pretty accurate. The charge also lasts a pretty long time (promised 13 hours of game play). That’s half the charging time as the Nyko Charge Station promises but also half the promised battery life.

I do like two of the small added touches, specifically the four colored wrist straps and the Sync button. The former is certainly useful for those who like to use a certain controller and the latter, although rarely necessary, does make syncing controllers a just a little easier. The detachable power plug is also nice for those who like to stow their peripherals when not in use and deplore attached cables that are hard to wind up. It also has the Penguin United logo on it, which helps identify it as the plug to use with the charger (in case all your plugs get jumbled in your favorite storage bin). Also, the battery is attached to the cover so theres no need to keep trac of two parts (like Nyko’s setup).

4x the Usefulness?

Obviously, this is really only useful if you own more than two WiiMotes. Being able to charge four WiiMotes at a time is certainly convenient and the Penguin United 4x Quad Charge Station is convenient even if the chances of four being equally depleted are pretty slim. The little niceties - the Sync button, colored straps, single battery-cover combo units and the all white power cable with Penguin logo - certainly helped keep this system’s rating slightly above average. 

The blue glow is certainly nice but the mini green LEDs are the system’s biggest drawback, making it a but confusing to determined whether or not a WiiMote is even properly placed in the base. The lack of a wrist strap notch in the charge ports - though they nicely provide four colored straps - also means you need to wrestle with the wrist strap for each WiiMote you plug in.

If you own more than two WiiMotes, this can be quite a convenience and will look pretty cool when plugged in. Otherwise, if you are especially energy-conscious or get annoyed with the little things, you might want to stick with a different charger.

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Full Story » | Written by PJ Hruschak for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »