The myCharge Trek 2000 is a portable charging dock that you can take anywhere you go and add battery life to your dying Apple product should it be dying. It is available from myCharge for $55 at Amazon. Let’s see if it’s the right charging solution for you.
Form
The device may only come in one flavor of color, white and grey, but it does look like it is well made. Of course, that is because it is well made. The product has a white, glossy top with green buttons that light up and tell you how much charge it has left to give to your devices. It has a grey dock that unclips from the back and and comes up in a 95-100 degree angle, giving your device the perfect viewing angle. The cords that clip into the device are rather short but one of them is to charge the myCharge and the other is to charge the thousands of devices out there that use Micro-USB. The cords may be short but they seem as though they won’t fray anytime soon, or ever, which is good, a charger with a frayed cord won’t work nearly as efficiently. Of course, the aesthetics aren’t nearly as important than it’s abilities to charge so let’s dive into how the charger performs.
Function
The first thing I noticed about the charger is that it charges fast. My iPod touch went from 0 to 100 in about an hour, on my computer it would be charged in 2 hours and on it’s own charger about 2 hours. My iPhone was similar, charged from 0-100 in an hour and a half to 2 hours while on it’s own charger charged it fully in 3. There is a great speed that this dock charges at. I can not make a claim for an Android device since I do not have one, however, it does charge 1000s of Android devices because of the added Micro-USB cord that it has. It has a charge indicator which tells me if I need to charge the myCharge or not, which is nice since I will now know exactly how much charge the charger has before I leave for somewhere. It also plays a sound if a device is put on it, if a device is taken off of it and when it is plugged in. The first and third sounds are useful since it gives you a confirmation that either the device is charging or the charger is charging which is useful since with most chargers like this one, you can not tell if it has charged or is charging until you have wasted time. The fact that it plays a loud sound when it comes off the charger is necessary for two reasons. One, if the device is in the charger and you want it to charge, you don’t want it coming off so if it happens to come off when you don’t want it to, you will know immediately that it has been unplugged. Similarly, benefit two is that if someone tries to steal your device while it is on the charger, it will tell you like a car alarm tells you of a burglar. With some luck and an incredibly stupid robber, you can prevent your device from being stolen while it is on the charger. One bad side that I do see about the device is it’s practicality. iOS device’s batteries, at least for newer devices, are built to last. You also probably charge your device at night anyways, so when it is night time and your phone still has a charge from the morning, it’s going on the main charger anyways. Another thing is that you can not use the device effectively while it is on the charger. Of course, this is a dock and that is why it won’t be very comfortable using your device on it, because it is a dock. My iPhone 4S, after extensive use, does drain so I do find myself using the dock to charge it but I want to be able to use the device while it’s charging and that can not be effectively done. An old iPod touch I used to have lasted maybe half an hour off of it’s charger, it’s battery was toast. This charger would have made the device much more effectively used since it did charge fast (the old iTouch could charge in 30 minutes, probably due to he fact that most battery cells were dead and charging the remaining ones was a snap). However, despite the fact that I can’t use it on the charger, does it really matter if I can’t? The device can charge my device is about an hour or two anyways. The charger, despite the flaw in practicality, works really well and I would recommend it.
Conclusion
Pros
-FAST Charge
-Great Aestethics
-Not just for Apple products
-Charge an Apple product and Android product at the same time
-Different sounds to indicate different actions
-Portable and light
-Great dock viewing angle
-Wrist strap to attach to your wrist
Cons
-Can not use device effectively while it is on the charger
-Wires are very short
Recommendations to improve the Product
This is probably a section I should have added a little while ago, when I first started reviewing but we learn along the way. Anyways, recommendations to the company would include to lengthen the wires perhaps by utilizing the space that the cord currently uses to put a retractable wire. Also, putting a USB port on the device would allow the user to plug in his or her cord to the charger and still effectively use the device. Of course, they can leave the dock there since I know people prefer to dock their device whenever possible, perhaps when they are at a desk and working. When their phone rings, they can pick it up off the dock. I think a dock/USB power bank is what I am going for here. It would be a great improvement.
This charger, for $55, will serve you well. I would consider other chargers from myCharge since they have USB power banks too but if you are a dock person, I would recommend this charger to you. I give the charger 4 stars for doing what it should being doing quickly, charging. The effectiveness of using the device on charger or a lack thereof, prevents from it receiving a five star rating.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Image Courtesy: myCharge and Amazon