# Portable iPad charger and other cool stuff



## kindlemama (Jan 5, 2010)

I was just messing around, and came across an interesting site with an array of iPad accessories, including a portable battery charger which got very high ratings. Does anyone have any experience with anything like this?

http://www.ipadaccessories.com/other-ipad-accessories/zaggsparq-2-0-ipad-portable-battery-charger


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## corkyb (Apr 25, 2009)

Crap, I could have bought that with the 50% off coupon that NogDog posted and I used on a second pair of ear buds.
Paula


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## kindlemama (Jan 5, 2010)

corkyb said:


> Crap, I could have bought that with the 50% off coupon that NogDog posted and I used on a second pair of ear buds.
> Paula


I didn't know about a code. I see that NogDog has posted another code for 40% off, which is almost as good! It's enough to push me over the fence to try the portable charger, I think. Thanks for mentioning it -- and to NogDog for posting it. 

buzjyk is the code.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,27513.0.html

Edited to add: I just tried to order it, and they're sold out. Apparently they don't take preorders, but they did take my email address and will notify me when they become available.


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## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

While we have two additional battery extenders of this type for the iPhones, I can't see needing one for the iPad.  The 10 hour + battery life so far means I've never run out of juice.  I guess it might be a problem on a really long flight, but at that point, I'd pull out my Kindle, or my iPhone, or, heaven forbid, a paper book.  I'm simply never far enough away from a power source for that long to justify the price, short of a major power outage...at which point, my wifi will be down as well!  LOL  Even at $50, it's overpriced in my opinion.  At $99, I think they're nuts.

When we flew overseas last year, we brought along our own power strip and used it in the airports to make sure everything was fully charged before the next leg of the trip.  For less than a quarter of what this would cost, we recently bought two travel power strips that are compact, dual voltage, and have a lifetime warranty.  And they're not device exclusive.  For devices with a short battery life, chargers of this kind are invaluable, but for something like the iPad, I think there are generally better ways of dealing with the issue.


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## kindlemama (Jan 5, 2010)

VictoriaP, you're right, the price tag is pretty hefty.  And truth be told, I didn't even notice it till I went to click on the link to order it.

I figured even if I didn't use it for my iPad, my son could use it for his iPod (which he's forever forgetting to charge), and if Verizon ever gets the darn iPhone, we could use it for that.  But even then, it's probably not something I really NEED.  I'd just never seen anything like it before, so was curious about it.  Thanks for sharing!


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## VictoriaP (Mar 1, 2009)

Similar iPod/iPhone battery extenders are around $30-40 on Amazon, and because of the shorter battery life, they're pretty useful.  As I said, we do have them;  our 1G iPhones have 3 year old batteries at this point, and those just don't hold a charge that well under heavy use, so it's good to have a spare along for emergencies.  Even then though, we mostly use them on plane trips when we've been sitting around with headphones on for extended times while playing games.  LOL  Of course, you still end up having to remember to charge the spare...

I am, however, a big advocate for extra power bricks all over the place, and for car chargers.  I find I'm better about keeping my stuff charged when there's a charger available in all my usual hangout spots.  So I did buy the extra iPad brick at Apple's outrageous markup for my end of the couch in the living room, and we do end up using it.  Both iPads are also plugged in overnight, every night.


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## kindlemama (Jan 5, 2010)

VictoriaP said:


> So I did buy the extra iPad brick at Apple's outrageous markup for my end of the couch in the living room, and we do end up using it. Both iPads are also plugged in overnight, every night.


Are you talking about the 10W/USB Power Adapter? I ended up with 2 of those. I bought one when I bought my iPad, then went back the next day and got another one. One's by my couch, the other's by my bed. My outlets were too hard to reach to keep moving the cord around. I do use both of them daily, so the money wasn't wasted.


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## ayuryogini (Jan 3, 2010)

I'm pretty sure that if you enter their iPad giveaway, you will receive your own 50% off discount coupon; right now the ZAGGsparq is out of stock but you can sign up to be notified when it comes back in.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

A couple of years ago I flew from the USA to Tunisia.  Going and coming back was over 24 hours each way, and this would've been a godsend if i'd had an if I'd had an iPad. When next I take such a trip, I'm sure I'll take one of these or an equivalent.  But for the next year or so at least, I'm sticking with flight times that my iPad can handle without help, or at least with a booster charge on the ground while changing planes.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

We discussed the Zaggsparq battery pack for use with the iPad awhile back. The woot.com offer for today is for an Everyready Energizer product that is similar, but a bit bigger (8000 milliamps versus 6000 milliamps for the Zaggsparq). Woot has the Energizer product for $44.95 after shipping. I've ordered one. Allegedly the Energizer product will power an iPad if it is plugged in.

I have a lower-energy version of the same product (2000 milliamperes) that works fine for powering my EVO cell phone. It is not powerful enough for me to bother trying to plug into my iPad. The Energizer products come with a variety of different plug types so they can be hooked to different sorts of electronics. My 2000 mA version has an apple connector (as well as micro USB, miniUSB, and another one or two I don't recognize), and I assume the 8000 mA version does also.

Here's the manufacturer website for the XP8000:

http://www.energizerpowerpacks.com/us/products/xp8000/

They claim it will power a netbook for four hours. I suspect an iPad would use less power than that.


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## Monermaje (Aug 3, 2010)

I think you should buy one online, because they're much cheaper, even if with the shipping fee.

I just did a search for you on Amazon.com for iPod wall chargers and there we're a lot results that we're only $10-20.

If you're worried about quality, you can definitely buy the one in this link, because I bought this same exact charger a year ago for 17 bucks and it works great:


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## GinnyB (Dec 19, 2009)

I never seem to have iPad battery problems, but then I'm sorta stuck at home awaiting shoulder surgery, but... I am an avid foreign traveler, so at some point I'll need something. We are planning a road trip in a couple months to the Grand Canyon so in anticipation, I bought the iPad car charger.

I also took delivery of my new Nikon D90 camera, the Delsey NB16 bag (thanks Hooded Claw for helping me spend money) and the Camera to iPad connector. (Everything but the connector has arrived.)

Our son, who recently returned from Tunisia on a Star Wars commemorative tour is now the proud owner of my Canon XTi Rebel that's been all over the world and was a real work horse. 

I'm planning a trip to the South Pacific and that's a long dogged flight process, so the iPad battery extender will be necessary. I just hope they're not as pricey by the time I leave. I plan to leave my MacAir behind and take only our iPads for connectivity to the world.


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