Une Bobine for iPhone 5s Review

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Fuse Chicken Une Bobine Charge Cable and Stand is a very special iPhone dock, charging cable, synching cable, and stand all-in-one device.  In fact, its the most flexible product of its kind I've ever tried.  No wonder the Kickstarter campaign last year was so successful! 

$233,921 pledged between all 3 versions
4,955 Total Backers
13,000 Une Bobines shipped as rewards
Kickstarter Rewards shipped to 80 countries

$233,921 pledged between all 3 versions 4,955 Total Backers 13,000 Une Bobines shipped as rewards Kickstarter Rewards shipped to 80 countries 

Its so simple, its genius!  Take a coil of flexible tubing, make it nearly indestructible, run a Apple certified lightning cable, and a simple docking clip on the end and you got the most flexible stand and dock in the world.

So, how functional is it?  

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Tenergy TN160 12 Bay NiMH Battery Charger Review

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The new Tenergy TN160 battery charger is a god-send for strobists and battery hungry mobile devices that run on AA or AAA NiMH or NiCd batteries.  It features 12 independent charging bays which allow users to charge anywhere from 1 to 12 batteries of the NiMH / NiCd variety.  (Most chargers charge them in pairs, and don't monitor batteries individually for maximum charge.)
The The Tenergy TN160 12-Bay AA/AAA NIMH/NICD LCD Smart Battery Charger is a great deal for around $30 USD.  I recommend getting some Sanyo Eneloop batteries to go with your charger.

Tenergy TN160 features 12 bays of independent charging power.
Video review portion goes over the charger in further detail.
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Monster Cable Leather Charging Case for iPhone Review

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Monster Cable Leather Charging Case for iPhone retails for $99.99.  I would typically say that Monster Cable products are overpriced for what they do, but seeing as most of the competition that makes iphone batteries are about that price they don't seem out of line.

 

First, the important stuff.  Does it work?  Yes, it brought my less than 10% battery left iPhone 3G to full and had power to spare.  The official rated capacity printed on the packaging is 1800 mAH.

It is heavy, and noticeably thick after everything is inserted, and measured.  I compared it to the iphone and total thickness appears to increase by 4x.  About 3x if you don't count the non-detachable (but rotatable) belt clip.

The case feels very well constructed.  The leather is well stitched on all seams.  Inside there is a suede soft surface that covers your screen when the cover is velcro'd over the unit.  On the front there is the Monster logo embossed.

Altogether the entire package has a high quality weighted feel to it - it feels and looks expensive if a bit bulky.

The charging cable is a USB cable that is a bit more difficult to find, but not impossible.  Its the same connector used by some of the newer smaller cameras.  One such cable is provided.

So far I give the unit two thumbs up.  Just don't pay full retail for it!

Callpod Chargepod System Review

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I've had the Callpod Chargepod Bundle for several months now. The following would be my experiences in using the Chargepod mostly on travel, but sometimes at home.

For those of you that don't know, this device was supposed to be the end of tangled messes of wires running amuck, and multiple wall warts by allowing you to power / charge up to six devices at once off of one wall adapter.

Setup:

It's really simple as long as you have the proper proprietary device adapters. All you do is plug in the relatively large AC adapter (or car adapter) into the small puck's mini-usb type plug. Then plug in the proprietary device adapters into the puck for each device that you want to charge. Plug your devices in, and you're done. A blue LED lights up for each cable plugged in, regardless of whether its charging anything or not.

The way the proprietary device dongles are designed (a couple of inches long for most) makes a tangled mess nearly impossible for each device plugged in. They also plug in a round the clock manner, and evenly spaced.

Good:

It simply works. One device that can charge all your devices, at home or on the go.

Generous AC Adapter cable length.

Callpod customer service is quick to respond and helpful.

Gripes:

Adapters aren't available for everything. This is primarily designed to charge small personal electronic devices so things such as your laptop, portable DVD player, kindle 1.0, digital camera battery charger, etc are not supported. (They do have a new Chargepod type unit for laptops to be released this year).

The little adapters are easy to lose, and over time come off the chargepod a little too easily making them difficult to find like say, under the bed at a hotel.

The proprietary adapter cables are expensive, often running $10.00 per device or often about the price a real dedicated adapter would run.

The AC adapter is a few times bigger than the Chargepod. If they could manage to shrink the AC adapter down to the size of the Chargepod, I would like the entire setup a lot better. Because the AC adapter is so big, I don't casually bring the charger out with me regularly in my laptop bag making it less useful to me.

No airplane adapter included.

Expensive. I bought the bundle, and at the time it cost me close to $100 USD. Unfortunately I don't use most of the adapters it came with. But it did come with the car charger, which is not included in their cheaper bundles that they offer now.

Other notes and recommendations:

The LED indicator lights are really bright! I often need to cover it with a hand towel if I'm charging by bedside at a hotel or it'd light up the room.

They sell a universal USB adapter so that you can plug in your own USB charge cables for your devices. Buy a bunch of them in bulk online so that you can make use of your already existing USB charge cables which you might use to synch anyway. The ziplinq ones work great because they retract and allow you enough room to use the device a few feet away from the chargepod.

Buy a separate mesh bag to hold the valuable little adapter cables and tie them together with a rubber band when storing. I find some of the REI outdoor equipment stores have stuff that work well.

To use the chargepod effectively you really have to have a flat surface of about 1.5 square feet to work with if you are charging up to 6 devices.

Recommended:
Yes