Charge your iPhone, or any two USB devices with ZAGGsparq

Thank you to all posters who alerted ZAGG to the charging malfunction with some of our ZAGGsparqâ„¢ Portable Battery Backup & Chargers. We have traced the problem to a quality control issue with a component that we purchased from a third-party manufacturer. The problem did not show up on our internal quality assurance tests because the specific components we were testing were not defective. The issue emerged only when we began shipping the finished products.

This problem poses no safety hazard. Both the ZAGGsparq and your charging devices are completely safe. At ZAGG, we want to ensure that your ZAGGsparq delivers the high quality performance you have come to expect from all ZAGG products.

Therefore, if you have experienced problems with your ZAGGsparq, we will replace it free of charge with our new and improved model that will be available in late March. The new model, the ZAGGsparq 2.0â„¢, will solve the charging issue. Just let us know if you have had a problem.

To receive a replacement ZAGGsparq 2.0 at no cost, customers simply need to mail back their original ZAGGsparq unit. Customers will receive a prepaid shipping label and envelope to return their original unit back to ZAGG for recycling and to qualify for a free ZAGGsparq 2.0.

Please contact us to confirm your mailing address and participate in our Free Replacement Program. You may call us at 1-800-700-ZAGG (M-F, 9am – 5pm, MT), or email us by visiting ZAGG.com/contact.

Personally I plan to buy the Solio H1000 Universal Hybrid Charger this summer for my longer bike rides. You charge it before you leave and in the sunlight it will obviously keep charging, although at a much less impressive rate http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VOAKNM?ie=UTF8&tag=dpr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000VOAKNM">

I highly recommend waiting for the second version.
The first one have many flaws. I bought 2 and both stopped charging, sending them back

I have one and it does not charge things for nearly as long as it should. Definitely waiting the sparq2. I also went through significant problems with zbuds. First two didn't have working microphones. Third eventually lost sound in one bud and the fourth had a non-working microphone and a flawed design that led to the left bud constantly being pulled out by phone/volume control.

To their credit, Zagg customer service has been spectacular. I recently received a replacement in the form of the redesigned Smartbuds and they seem to have solved all the problems.

Check this one out instead - Sanyo Eneloop charger

http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-eneloop-Booster-Powered-Devices/dp/B001LWZ4BG

Works great, I have one, its cheap and extremely good quality (feels like "iPod-plastic" and extremely durable). Supports two USB ports as well -and, it s cheaper.

Erm, there is only one on eBay.

I like the concept, but why does it have to be painted so ugly?

I have a much better recommendation for a backup battery that:
- Provides 5400 mAh of power (only 600 mAh less than this one)
- Is less expensive (it's currently on sale for $59.99 and shipping is FREE for orders over $50.00)
- It's even smaller in size (basically, about the size of a regular Snickers bar, but a little bit heavier):

U20 IUP-5400 from LuckyPacks.com

You can find out more info about this battery at www.luckypacks.com

And BuyMeAniPhone.com gave it a stellar rating several months ago (here's a link to the video review on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyWd8MX5oiY).

I personally can attest to how great this battery is, as I bought it a few months ago and have been using it constantly ever since with my iPhone 3G (a huge help to have so much battery backup power, as I play a lot of Facebook Scrabble on my iPhone, and it eats up the battery power really fast).

This backup battery comes with a ton of different adaptors to fit all kinds of devices (not just iPhones).

I have no complaints about this battery whatsoever and I highly recommend it.

Hope that helps. :-)

Why buy this when you can go to Walmart of all places and get a Dual USB charger that works in your house or your car (ac & dc connections built-in)and can charge your iphone, ipod, or anything else that's usb?

I bought mine at walmart for $18

They usually have them near the cell phone chargers or the computer isle where the blank cd's are.

It's called PowerLine 2-in-1 Dual USB Charger

Walmart's UPC barcode for it is: 002700590271

I'm a bit dissapointed in the immense publicity Zagg seems to get when they release hardware and the complete lack of followup on said hardware. I bought into the 'hype' over their Zbuds, and boy do i regret it. Talk about an immense failure rate. I had to get each pair replaced no less than 6 times (each). Zagg seems to have an issue with quality control, and proper testing. Up until October they were still tweeking the design to solve the problem with the Zbuds, so much so that no two replacements i got were the same. Even now, the design is different between mine and my husbands, even though they were both generally replaced at the same time all 6 times. The only positive is that they were akways willing to send a replacement, though toward the end they stopped paying for shipping.

I'd be very leary of being the guinea pig for any other new gadgets put out by Zagg.

The reason it's four and not five charges is because charging a battery isn't 100% efficient. Especially if you charge a battery from another battery - you're wasting a fair amount of electricity, which comes off as heat. It doesn't make sense to do it unless you have to.

For this reason I would also suggest that if your original battery is bad, to just get it replaced rather than constantly keep it charged via another battery (as TUAW has suggested before on an Ask TUAW).