Playing Without Wires or Batteries (Gameware Wii Double Charging Station)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Gameware Wii Double Charging Station
Date:	11/03/09 (155 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No Batteries needed, easy to set up

Disadvantages: Nothing to tell you once its charged

Having finally bought myself a second controller for the Wii I decided that it was perhaps time to switch to rechargeable batteries. So following a visit to Game I picked up their own branded double charging station for a very reasonable £9.99. Even if it didn't last too long at £9.99 it seemed worth a try. Of course I've bought Game own brand products before and had no problems at all so the fact this wasn't an official Nintendo licensed product didn't particularly bother me.

The thing that really appealed to me about the Gameware double charging station was the fact it plugs into the Wii itself. It meant that I didn't have to have a dedicated plug socket just for charging the Wii controllers. The charging station plugs into your console through one of the USB ports and charges as you play. The only disadvantage with this is that the controllers don't charge unless you have the Wii switched on, which generally means you are using the controllers. This can mean that you will need to leave your Wii on for a short time whilst you aren't playing it.

Within the box you not only get the charge station itself but you also get 2 Re chargeable battery packs and new covers for the battery section of your Wii remote. The rechargeable pack clips in easily to the existing battery compartment, but to get the battery to connect to the charging station the new back has two metallic points that connect into the charging station. This is all very easy to assemble with a step by step guide just to keep you right.

Once you switch your Wii console on a blue light indicates whether the controller is charging, which can prove quite useful. Of course it's this status light that also forms one of my main complaints with this charging unit. While it is handy having the blue light to tell you it is charging, the light doesn't change colour or turn off once the controller is charged, making it nearly impossible to work out when you have fully charged your controllers.

There are a couple of negative points to this charge station but the positives far outweigh the negatives. It will save you on batteries and after 3 months of using this charge station it does seem to work pretty well. The price has now gone back up to £24.99 but even at that I think it would still be worth buying. While I maybe don't use my Wii as much as I should I do find that by having the re chargeable batteries it means I don't have to worry about the batteries being flat every time I want to play on it.

Summary: Rechargeable battery system for the Wii