Usage
I used the Choiix Power Fort to recharge my Nexus One approximately twice, and there was just a little juice remaining. The device has a capacity of 2700 mAh, which is generally enough to charge a phone two and a half times. My Nexus One battery is 1400 mAh, and my G1 stock battery is 1100 mAh (expanded I use is 2600 mAh!). It takes about four hours to recharge.
The car adapter is convenient, too, as I was able to recharge the Power Fort while driving.
Weight is a very important thing when considering the mobility of portable battery packs. Each year at CES, I’ve taken a pair of Black and Decker Pocket Power battery packs (frequently seen on Woot.com) and easily killed them both daily. They are heavy, too, probably around 10 oz each at least. The Choiix Power Fort weights a mere 3.6 oz (102 g for you non-Americans).
The Power Fort and its accessories will likely negate the need for me to bring the Nexus One’s charger with me wherever I go. I can keep the Power Fort and its cords in my pack and not worry about forgetting something to charge it. This is especially important because I’m the only person I know who has a phone new enough to use a micro-USB connector, so no one else’s charger works with my phone!
The flashlight is alright. It’s likely enough for getting stuck late at night walking home, or looking for something in the closet of your hotel room, like I am here.
I own a power pack similar to this that I purchased from Circuit City during their huge liquidation sale. It's made by Kensington and I've honestly used it more times than I can count. So many times have I used this on LAN party trips or vacations. It doesn't have the flashlight but it's one of the best electronic purchases i've made in a long time.
The reason for purchase is kind of funny. It was at a LAN party and I needed a way to charge my phone because I didn't have a charger and the USB output on my laptop was strong enough to turn the dead phone on to start the charge. So I purchased this device and charged it through my laptop. I then plugged it into my phone and the output was so much that my phone didn't know the difference from the battery to the wall.
Every time I go on a long trip with my laptop I take the battery pack. It's come to the point that I only take the one “USB to USB-mini” cord with me. I charge the battery from my laptop with the cord and then reverse it in the battery pack and hook my phone to it. (my phone uses a mini-USB connection). Very Awesome Product
I own exactly the product reviewed. I used it on me recent trip to Europe and it worked as expected. It kept my phone/gps alive on several occasions where I didn’t have access to car/power for a long time.No six months later I decided to take it with me on another trip and found that it’s dead. Wouldn’t take charge, wouldn’t turn on. Dead. Contacting CoolerMaster for warranty replacement proved to be a nightmare. It’s one of the worst customer service websites you can imagine. I assume it was designed in Chinese and then (badly) translated.
So it took me several weeks to get them to send me a new one.