Accessory review: myCharge Trek 2000 Rechargeable Power Bank
The Trek 2000 is a portable charger for most Android devices and iDevices pre-iPhone 5. The charger contains a 2000mAh battery, and can charge up to two devices simultaneously, as long as one uses the Apple-style connector and micro USB connector at the same time.
All of the cords to charge and discharge the battery are in the unit. The Trek 2000 can charge devices at about 1000mAh, or standard wall-charger rates, but unfortunately cannot push 1000mA out to two devices at once, leaving two devices to slow charge at 500mA.
The Trek 2000 charges off of your computer’s USB ports, or any USB-A style standard port, which means recharging the device is going to be limited to the times when you’re around a powered USB connection. For some this is fine, as you can walk in, plunk it into the computer, and grab your charger and phone on the way out. For others, it will be a device that takes effort to charge and maintain.
One of the problems I have with this device, and I had it with the sister-device I reviewed on Tuesday, is that it has an implementation flaw. You can assume that everyone who is charging off of this device has either an Apple connector charger, or a micro-USB charger. You cannot assume that all of them have computers or even the need for a USB-A charger.
What would have made significantly more sense would have been a micro USB input to charge the charger, or even an Apple cable input to make things go. It seems a bit strange that I can’t recharge the device off of devices I obviously have to own in order to charge it anyway.
On the plus side, the charger is small, sleek, and neat looking. It fits in a pocket, is light and easy to carry, and if you just need something occasionally to give your phone some juice, it really does what you need it to. It also has a neat flip-around charging dock for Apple devices that is pretty nifty.
On the downside, it is nearly $60 MSRP from the manufacturer (and not very discounted at Amazon), especially when you can get a product from the same product line with triple the battery and a micro USB charging input for $15 less.
I did not get a chance to test if the sync-passthrough worked on the Trek 2000. It does on the higher-end products they sell; however, it’s not mentioned once that I can find on the official site.
In the end, I think it’s a well made product, and a great gift for someone who only needs power occasionally. It’s not for consistent battery hogs and people always on the go, as the recharging of the charger does take some specific conditions (powered laptop and a couple of hours to charge).
[myCharge]
