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Choiix Power Fort Backup Battery Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Testing and Conclusion
Testing
Testing was pretty simple and rather unscientific. I currently use a Blackberry Pearl which is several years old now and as you can image battery life isn't as good as it used to be. With normal usage I get maybe 2-3 hours of talk time and have to charge it up every 3-4 days.
The times listed below are symbolic of a completely charged Power Fort until the internal battery dies
With the Power Fort I can completely charge my Blackberry twice before the internal battery dies. So far I have never been able to talk long enough to completely drain Power Fort while it was plugged in to the phone.
The Power Fort can power my CoolIt beverage chiller for close to an hour, due to the higher output wattage the chiller actually got colder than if it was plugged directly into my computer.
Solar chargers do work with the Power Fort, but at painfully slow rate. It is much better to just plug it in when you get a chance. Of course if you are on a hiking trip and need some power for the evening that might be your only choice.
Travel with the Power Fort is a breeze. I did take the device thru US airport security and had it tucked away in my laptop bag. I wasn't given a second look. This is important considering that building your own power device using batteries and plans you can find online have landed people in trouble. (Saw something on the webbytubes about that)
In terms of the longest battery life it is relatively unclear if you should run the Power Fort as a charging source only, or have it plugged in while you are using your device. Considering that the Power Fort offers up more power than many devices need it may not matter. Of course if you are traveling, the car charger can be used and will bypass the internal Power Fort battery. Simply place the Power Fort between the car charger and your device and enjoy uninterrupted power.
Here is a handy chart that outlines some of the basic run times you can expect when using the Power Fort.
The times listed below are symbolic of a completely charged Power Fort until the internal battery dies
With the Power Fort I can completely charge my Blackberry twice before the internal battery dies. So far I have never been able to talk long enough to completely drain Power Fort while it was plugged in to the phone.
The Power Fort can power my CoolIt beverage chiller for close to an hour, due to the higher output wattage the chiller actually got colder than if it was plugged directly into my computer.
Solar chargers do work with the Power Fort, but at painfully slow rate. It is much better to just plug it in when you get a chance. Of course if you are on a hiking trip and need some power for the evening that might be your only choice.
Travel with the Power Fort is a breeze. I did take the device thru US airport security and had it tucked away in my laptop bag. I wasn't given a second look. This is important considering that building your own power device using batteries and plans you can find online have landed people in trouble. (Saw something on the webbytubes about that)
In terms of the longest battery life it is relatively unclear if you should run the Power Fort as a charging source only, or have it plugged in while you are using your device. Considering that the Power Fort offers up more power than many devices need it may not matter. Of course if you are traveling, the car charger can be used and will bypass the internal Power Fort battery. Simply place the Power Fort between the car charger and your device and enjoy uninterrupted power.
Here is a handy chart that outlines some of the basic run times you can expect when using the Power Fort.
Conclusion
The Cooler Master Power Fort by Choiix is a very versatile device that clearly fills the need for extra power while you are on the go. We can see this device getting heavy use by road warriors that find themselves always charging their mobile devices (iphone anyone?) or families traveling with children. We all know how important entertainment can be on those long road trips, now you can keep everyone happy a little longer and make sure their devices are kept charged and happy.
Good Things
Portable USB Power
Travel Pack with Wall and Car Charger
Compact Design
Universal Usage
Travel Pack with Wall and Car Charger
Compact Design
Universal Usage
Bad Things
Larger than most smart phones
Fuzzy carrying bag collects everything (hair, fuzz, dirt)
Fuzzy carrying bag collects everything (hair, fuzz, dirt)
We would like to thank Cooler Master for helping to make this review possible
