Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, iPhone
Monoprice iPhone/iPod Battery Backup: Such a deal
In a previous post about offshore iPhone chargers, a few astute TUAW readers mentioned Monoprice.com as a good source for chargers, connectors, and computer, TV and audio cables. In searching their site, I found a real deal. The Monoprice Backup battery pack is the simplest of devices. When your iPhone or iPod is running low on juice, just plug this battery pack into the 30 pin connector. You can then either keep running with a fairly large dongle hanging off the bottom of your device, or wait and the battery pack will charge your device in 3.5 hours according to Monoprice (or about 2.5 hours according to my tests).
Yes, there are a lot of battery backups that do this, but how many are sold at US$14.50? You read that right, only US$14.50, and for that you get pack with a capacity of 2200 mAh.
For comparison, the capacity of the iPhone battery is 1150 mAh, so this battery should be able to charge your device twice. Due to my ignorance of the vagaries of electricity, mine winds up charging the iPhone about 1.75 times, which isn't bad at all.
This is especially impressive when compared to some of the more elegant competition, like the Mophie juice pack air with a capacity of 1200 mAh and a selling price of US$79, or its larger sibling the Mophie juice pack holding 1800 mAh and selling for US$99. The Monoprice battery backup gives you more power for a whole lot less money.
True, the Mophie cradles the iPhone while the Monoprice just hangs off the bottom, but the Monoprice works with most iPods along with the iPhone and iPod touch. I plugged it into my 80 Gig iPod Classic and it worked just fine. The connector is longer than most, so I didn't have to remove the case on my Classic to charge it up. You should note that since the battery pack is the width of an iPhone, if your iPod has the 30 pin connector on the same side as the headphone jack, you won't be able to charge and listen at the same time since the headphone jack will be covered while charging.
The Monoprice battery backup has a female 30 pin connector at the bottom for charging, which is quite convenient. When charging or discharging the battery backup flashes 4 lights that provide an indication of how much charge is left, similar to the battery displays on MacBooks. When not in use, pressing the right side of the battery display lights up the cell indicators and shows you the remaining capacity.
I really recommend this inexpensive accessory and now keep a couple of them in my computer bag. Monoprice has reasonable shipping prices and a sliding price scale. Buying 2-9 at a time brings the price down to $14.08.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
jerome said 4:42PM on 10-26-2009
I've had one of these in a more generic chinese casing for about 6 months. You can get them for $10 on eBay. Same 4 blue LEDs, but in a different place. Works great.
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ethan316 said 10:43AM on 10-27-2009
Hey thanks for this update! This battery pack sure does sound like a good deal. The price seems too awesome!:)
dashiel said 4:47PM on 10-26-2009
monoprice makes very high quality stuff, i outfitted nearly my entire home theater with their speaker and hdmi cables, as well as other various bits and bobs.
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Level 5 said 8:28AM on 10-27-2009
I can't get enough of them either. 100ft of terminatedCAT5e so I can wire my game consoles and have much better streaming performance for let's see now.. $12 shipped? I don't really believe in stationary machines using Wi-Fi when they don't need to be movable like a laptop so; yep, count me in. I couldn't touch that amount of cable for under $20 un-terminated at any hardware store. I also lumped in a few RCA couplers for my PSP-TV hook up and a few of the other bajillion goodies on monoprice. I've been mulling an iPhone, and if I do go for it, this will be purchased the day I bring the phone home.
mark said 4:49PM on 10-26-2009
Thanks for the write up on this! I'll be heading over to monoprice right now.
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MJZimmer88 said 9:55AM on 10-27-2009
Too bad they're all sold out... damn
totoro said 4:56PM on 10-26-2009
Awesome. Will pick one up next time I buy some cables (monoprice is the best).
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murrayhenson said 5:39PM on 10-26-2009
I don't suppose this would work with an Otterbox Defender case?
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BeyondtheTech said 6:40PM on 10-26-2009
I had an Ottobox case and nothing fit in the iPod connector except the Apple iPod cable. Even the Griffin iPod cable I had in the car had an ever-so-slightly larger plastic enclosure and didn't fit.
murrayhenson said 7:01PM on 10-26-2009
BeyondtheTech ...Actually, that's been my experience, too. My wife is getting a 3GS in December and I think we've decided on a Commuter TL case for her.
The Defender case is definitely tough - I've had numerous short drops of my iPhone 3G onto various surfaces - but the docking port area is a major headache. It doesn't work with my Citroën USB box and doesn't work with the little car-charger. So it's a bit frustrating.
RCook said 5:49PM on 10-26-2009
It's Mophie, not Morphie, just so you know.
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David Winograd said 5:14PM on 10-26-2009
Thanks for the catch. I just redacted the (r)s.
joeybeast said 5:13PM on 10-26-2009
I'm flying 16 hr straight in December. This should ease the pain a bit.
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chicagogreg said 5:15PM on 10-26-2009
Way to go, guys -- sold out until 11/6!
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Tom said 5:17PM on 10-26-2009
Beware: it's not all good.
I bought two of those battery packs for my 3GS.
They work, sort of: my iPhone will start charging, but after a while will warn that the connected charger is not compatible, after which is stops charging.
It seems highly correlated with what you're doing on your iPhone. If it's idle, the warning may not show up for 30 minutes. If it's, e.g. recording something on the GPS but with the screen disabled (MotionX GPS supports that mode), it usually won't happen that often either.
But try playing a game or anything that requires just a little power and it can happen immediately.
In any case: it's definitely not a perfect solution, even if very cheap...
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Paul Mensah said 9:28PM on 10-26-2009
Same brand? Or similar product?
Tom said 10:39PM on 10-26-2009
Same product, bought at monoprice.
Nuts said 5:53PM on 10-26-2009
The image shows a male connector and not a female. The iPhone/iPod Touch has a female connector...
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Nuts said 5:56PM on 10-26-2009
Ops wrong on my end, sort of. It has both a female and a male connector. The female's for charging in ie a dock and the male is for connection to the iPhone or Touch. The only disadvantage I could see with this thing is that it blocks the headphone-jack while its connected.
johnny said 6:04PM on 10-26-2009
how did you come up with the logic that it blocks the headphone if the iphone charges from the bottom? that really doesnt make any sense looking at the thing.