Nyko Charge Station Review

[AtariJr]

Apology in advance, sorry its a bit long.. just wanted to discuss all the points.

 

 

Well, I picked one up after finally finding one, and I thought I'd go ahead and do a bit of a review on it. I know that many people out there like me have surpased thier third 8 pack of batteries and are getting fed up with having to shell out moola just so the system runs. In fact, like many people im sure, i find myself playing both controllers instead of having "mine" just because when one dies i know the other has batts in it,... so i play the second one till both are dead and im forced to replace them.

 

First of all if you want to find one, and of the GameStop stores (GameStop, Funcoland, EB...) are probably the WORST place to find one. I have been looking for WEEKS and its either "we just sold the last one" or its "we have yet to get any shipments in actually". I found mine (along with 4 others hanging by thier pegs waiting to be bought) at Walmart, so I suggest going there.

 

Now the product. For something NOT made by nintendo, besides the logo on the front proudly displaying "NYKO" i woudlnt have known. The plastic is very wii like as it is just as shiney and the silver base mimiks the look of the verticle stand. The battery covers on your original unit CANT be used , trust me i tried. the rechargable bat inside has a sensor that allows it to hit the sensor on the stand, letting it charge through the hole in the replacement battery covers in the package. Unfortunately, they are coated in rubber.... lots of rubber. now i know that you can buy these seperately, so im assuming someone out there REALLY has slipery hands and would love this, but for me, its just not really feeling right. i really liked the semi-smooth feel of the underside plastic of the wiimote, and im disappointed that it now feels like im holding onto the bottom of a sneaker. I will be trying to play it more though to see if i get used to it and ill tell you guys if it grows on me.

 

Charging the initial charge went well, and the ease of putting this together was only difficult as im running out of space in my gaming area. simply plug it in, put the new bats in the wiimote, and put the new covers on and your in business.

 

IGN said thier first charge only took 30 minutes... thats bullshit for the rest of us regular customers. It took my 2 wiimotes at least 3 hours , like the box said, to see the nice green light blink on telling me the wiimotes were ready.

 

So far im really liking them. the one battery cover takes a bit of effort to get on for some reason, while the other does not... so im assuming the manufacturing process on the covers was cheap. However, the station itself is wonderful, and VERY nintendo, and i recommend it to anyone. My charge, on either , has yet to die, which is a bit of a relief as i was hoping the battery usage time woudlnt diminish at all. I hope this has helped you all out there who were bouncing back and forth like i was to purchase this. at 29.86 at walmart, it feels steap, but im sure ill be loving this soon when i get a low batt warning and i dont have to worry about buying new batteries again.

 

Edited May 29, 2007 by AtariJr

[Shannon]

I picked up one of these on the weekend as well. Didn't have a chance to try out the remotes once they were charged yet. It took about 3-4 hrs.

 

It'd be nice to be able to pick up extra packs for extra controllers. We have at least one other that needs charging.

[KrazyKaiju]

Newegg has these for $25. I thought about getting one, but I've grown used to my silicon controller gloves. I wonder if you could poke a hole in the back for the charge port?

[Lord Helmet]

I thought about getting this, but traditional rechargeable batteries work just fine for me, and they are cheaper

 

Nice to see a good review of this product though. Seems like a good solution.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've seen these things everywhere, Gamestops, EBGames, Targets, Wal-Marts, and Circuit Cities all carry these locally that I've seen. I am amused by your complaints about a 3 - 4 hour charge time however. In my case I have been using rechargables practically since day one I've gotten my Wii. My rechargables take about 48 hours to get a good complete charge. Then again I can charge 4 at once and have about 8 total. So both of my remotes usually have a full charge at all times with another set ready to go. They last far longer than 2 days on a charge so I haven't thought about the charge times being a pain.

 

In your case I would have just made sure I had a good set of batteries and charged one Wii remote while playing with the other. Then when the first one was charged, I would swap them out. This way you stand the risk of having both remotes run out of juice on you at the same time or same day.

 

I have also seen at circuit city here a pak where you can buy just the Nyko rechargable batteries and covers for the Wii remotes to be used with the charge station. So it is possible to get an set and use them as a backup for when you run out of power. The good thing about this is that since the cover and batteries are more or less one unit, you should be able to stick just the batteries and cover on the charger so that you can charge up the spares and still use the Wii remotes.

[AtariJr]

I've seen these things everywhere, Gamestops, EBGames, Targets, Wal-Marts, and Circuit Cities all carry these locally that I've seen. I am amused by your complaints about a 3 - 4 hour charge time however. In my case I have been using rechargables practically since day one I've gotten my Wii. My rechargables take about 48 hours to get a good complete charge. Then again I can charge 4 at once and have about 8 total. So both of my remotes usually have a full charge at all times with another set ready to go. They last far longer than 2 days on a charge so I haven't thought about the charge times being a pain.

 

In your case I would have just made sure I had a good set of batteries and charged one Wii remote while playing with the other. Then when the first one was charged, I would swap them out. This way you stand the risk of having both remotes run out of juice on you at the same time or same day.

 

I have also seen at circuit city here a pak where you can buy just the Nyko rechargable batteries and covers for the Wii remotes to be used with the charge station. So it is possible to get an set and use them as a backup for when you run out of power. The good thing about this is that since the cover and batteries are more or less one unit, you should be able to stick just the batteries and cover on the charger so that you can charge up the spares and still use the Wii remotes.

 

i wasnt complaining about the charge time in general, im just saying that IGN said their batts only took 30 min to charge out of the box... all i was saying was not to expect the same type of pampering, as the batteries we get come uncharged and dead.

 

yea i know that rechargable batts are cheaper, but i like how these set a place of the wiimotes. anywho, im getting used to the grips to the point where i dont even know they are there, so i guess they werent as bad as i thought .

[bdog_147]

Excellent review! Iv'e been thinking of getting this but wasn't really sure on it.....seems worth it!

[rockman_x_2002]

I got one of these things some time ago, but one of the batteries on it is messed up and won't charge. I was going to take it back and get a replacement on the thing, but the store was out. So their waiting to give me a call when the get one in so I can make the exchange. Maybe the one I got was a fluke or something though.

 

One thing I did notice about the battery packs is that they fit kinda snug, and so do the covers. Should they be that way?

[AtariJr]

I got one of these things some time ago, but one of the batteries on it is messed up and won't charge. I was going to take it back and get a replacement on the thing, but the store was out. So their waiting to give me a call when the get one in so I can make the exchange. Maybe the one I got was a fluke or something though.

 

One thing I did notice about the battery packs is that they fit kinda snug, and so do the covers. Should they be that way?

 

yea my one was fine, but the other batt cover was really snug, so i think your ok. the batteries are supposed to be snug so i think your good to go. Ive been playing mine a lot recently, and ive not had any trouble, and the overall quality is very nice, so i think you just have a fluke. good luck finding another, i know how hard it is to get one. id return the one you have though before your return date expires and just pick up another when they get one in.

[Shawn]

Wow, these look sweet. Gotta go to Wal-Mart to pick up my son's new glasses today anyhow so it looks like I'm taking a quick dip to the electronics dept before I go.

[moycon]

Can anyone confirm you can use this without having to take off your Wii-mote Gloves?

[rockman_x_2002]

yea my one was fine, but the other batt cover was really snug, so i think your ok. the batteries are supposed to be snug so i think your good to go. Ive been playing mine a lot recently, and ive not had any trouble, and the overall quality is very nice, so i think you just have a fluke. good luck finding another, i know how hard it is to get one. id return the one you have though before your return date expires and just pick up another when they get one in.

 

Unfortunately, the expiration date has just passed but I already spoke with the manager of the GameStop where I purchased it and he said that they could still do an "exchange for same item". So I'm just waiting on the call for when they get new stock shipped to the store.

 

Maybe I'll have better luck on the next one.

[PressureCooker2600]

I HIGHLY recommend the Nyko Charge Stations. They save you money battery-wise and charge fast and effeciently IMO. As for using it with Wii-Mote gloves, I tried to put mine back on but it wouldn't fit so I'm guessing 'no' would be the answer but I only tried once. I have two of these things for the 4 Wii-Motes and they rock.....don't know what I'd do without them.

Not really a problem, but they are a bit touchy.....you have to lay them in the cradle JUST RIGHT for the Wii-Mote to make a connection and start charging.

[AtariJr]

I HIGHLY recommend the Nyko Charge Stations. They save you money battery-wise and charge fast and effeciently IMO. As for using it with Wii-Mote gloves, I tried to put mine back on but it wouldn't fit so I'm guessing 'no' would be the answer but I only tried once. I have two of these things for the 4 Wii-Motes and they rock.....don't know what I'd do without them.

Not really a problem, but they are a bit touchy.....you have to lay them in the cradle JUST RIGHT for the Wii-Mote to make a connection and start charging.

 

yea ive noticed that.. and there seems to be a like a 2 second delay for the light to go on to show you its charging. so you put it on and have to wait and see if it charges. if you have ANY part of the chord in on the wiimote under the remote it wont charge.

[Shannon]

The manual says to place the cords on either side of the charging units when placing it in. They do fit better this way but don't necessarily lock in. My son running around the house was enough to make it loose connection.