Noma Pocket Power Charger

Before leaving on my last trip to Europe, I found at Canadian Tire a battery recharger by Noma. It's available in 3500mAHr or 2000mAHr versions, and comes with about sixteen different power tips for cell phones and generic devices, as well as normal and mini USB plugs. Many of today's electronic devices can be recharged through their USB connector, including my GPS, Palm, and one digital camera.

I decided on the 2000mAhr recharger, because it was cheaper ($35 instead of $55) and smaller -- little fatter than an iPod Nano. It has 4 LED status lights that show how much power is left in its lithe lithium ion battery.

This device is particularly useful for my Palm TX, which doesn't allow its battery to be replaced, something that's sometimes necessary on long trips with no access to power oulets for recharging. The Noma package includes a tip that works with the Palm TX and Treo devices. On the trip to and from Europe, I found that the Noma unit really does work!

Perhaps the only drawback is that its AC power pack lacks international power plugs -- just the North American style. Also, the powerpack is not travel-friendly: the plugs don't fold into the unit.

(Noma has a cheaper but much fatter version of this recharger for $25 that runs off 4 standard NiMH rechargeable batteries. That design is potentially attractive, because it would allow me me use additional AA batteries for even longer recharging -- potentially. The problem is that NiMH batteries loose their charge over time, while Li-ion ones don't. The other problem is packing along extra NiMH batteries.)

Comments

[Judy]

i actually bought the power charger and for me it isn't working. on the package, it said that it can charge ipods, but it doesn't include a tip for ipods and it doesn't have a tip for my cell phone.
also, after fully charging the pocket charger, it fails to work for any of the products which it does include tips for.

if you can help or have a contact for Noma or the distributor Trileaf, it would be greatly appreciated.

[adllto]

I bought the cheaper Noma R4 Sale $14.99 Reg $24.99 on sale at Canadian Tire. I've completed 2 trips with it powering mine and other peoples ipods. But when it came to charging I plugged the power adapter into the wall to speed things up. It coped with 240 and 110 supplies But I had to travel with my ipod USB-ipod cable and a power plug adaptor!

This R4 also has the advantage it can charge any rechargeable AA NiMH batteries so my razor, clock and camera were covered.

I'd give it a 4 stars out of 5 for performance and value for money. It would get 5 if the Power adapter prongs folded down or it was truly selectable international prongs