Duracell Personal Power

I love gadgets. Gadgets are brilliant. But sometimes my gadgets just don’t last long enough on their battery life.

Duracell has introduced a range of new personal power products, designed to help us go beyond the usual limits of our devices. The range includes portable chargers, battery chargers, rechargeable batteries and long life disposable batteries. I have been sent a selection of the new range to try out.

Duracell 5-Hour Portable Charger

The new portable charger range is designed for convenient mobile charging in a small enough product that you can keep in your bag. This 5-hour charger powers from a traditional plug socket. Once fully powered you can charge up to two devices whilst on the go – and the detachable plug means it is small and thin and light to carry around. It is for devices that charge via USB such as smartphones, MP3 players, e-readers, digital cameras and other similar items. The charger comes with a USB to mini-USB cable and micro USB tip, or you can use the cable that came with your gadget.

Duracell have tested this and found that it can give the iPhone4 an extra five hours talk time, hence the name.

I gave it a try (of course). My iPad was on 30% battery when I plugged it into my fully charged Portable Charger. After 30 mins (without using the iPad at the same time although it was connecting to wifi and I was receiving email and twitter notifications by the dozen) my battery was showing 41%, and there was still charge left in the charger – so an increase of 11%. I allowed it to charge for another half an hour, this time with my iPhone plugged into the other side too (again without using either device while they were plugged in), and the iPad went from 41% to 45% while the iPhone went from 81% to 87% – not quite as much but the juice was being used by both gadgets at once.

Added: On another occasion I plugged my iPhone with 39% battery left into the fully-charged Portable Charger, and it charged to 100% with a little juice (one bar) left in the charger. I was really impressed by that.

Once I’d used all the power in the charger I found it took a while to charge again, I plugged it in and ended up leaving it overnight.

Maybe you’re going away for one night, camping or something, and so won’t have access to “real electricity”… use this to charge your iPhone, Kindle, digital camera or even sat nav (if it charges via USB this will work). Obviously you can’t charge everything all at once, and the power within the device is limited, but it’s really useful for top ups. I can imagine myself carrying this as a “just in case” for long trips or days out when it would be a disaster if I ran out of power on one device or another.

Duracell Speedy Charger and Rechargeable Batteries

The new Speedy Charger is designed to charge AA and AAA rechargeable batteries really quickly. Like any other battery charger you simply put your batteries into the case and plug it in… two batteries charge in one hour, and four batteries charge in two hours.

I used this with the Duracell AA 1700mAh Rechargeable Batteries that I was also sent. These are designed to be used and charged repeatedly, up to 400 times in fact, which saves a lot of money long term. I got excellent use from these batteries, it’s difficult to quantify it but I’d say they lasted slightly longer than the disposable batteries I normally use before I needed to charge them. When I did charge them I did all four at the same time and they took just over two hours, it’s a real bonus that they charge so quickly.

The charger itself is small and compact. It “unfolds” to reveal where the batteries go for charging, meaning it takes up very little space when you need to store it.

There are two other sorts of rechargeable battery available in the range, the Supreme are 2450mAh and the LSD Staycharfed are 2000mAh. The latter are capable of retaining their charge for up to a year when not in use, which is quite impressive.

Duracell AA Plus Power Disposable Batteries

Batteries are batteries right? The Plus Power range (available in AAA, AA, C and D sizes) is said to offer long lasting and reliable power for your everyday needs. You should choose the right battery depending on what you are wanting to charge – for Duracell it goes Simply Duracell, Plus Power, Ultra Power and Ultra Lithium. For these ones think remote controls, CD players, battery powered toys, torches, toothbrushes and so on. In fact mine are doing a great job in the battery powered light we have in the loft.