spps200 portable power station:the bmw m6 of battery packs
January 8th, 2009 comments (3) stumble it! digg it! by: lambert v.
Let it be known that I am not the one responsible for that analogy. Battery Geek Inc., makers of said battery pack, are to be commended for such an exquisite and refreshing figure of speech.
So why is the SPPS200 200 Wh Portable Power Station the BMW M6 of battery packs? Because its little brothers, the 118 Wh and 130 Wh models, are the BMW of battery packs, that’s why. So why are they the BMWs of battery packs? Because they’re expensive. So why are they expensive? Because they can power your laptop, for up to 30 hours. Vrooom.
The SPPS 200 can power PC laptops for 20-30 hours, while MacBooks owners can expect 16 hours of extra runtime. BMW of runtimes if you ask me.
And that’s not all: As you may have guessed from the picture, you can adjust the output voltage of the PPS so that aside from giving your laptop the BMW of battery lives, it can also power and recharge your cellphone, your PDA, your PSP, your iPhone, your iPod and other mp3 players.
And that’s not all: You don’t even need to bring the chargers for any of those devices because the PPS comes with adapters that will fit with your gadget. You can check out the link to Battery Geek below for the BMW of supported laptops and mobile devices. And that’s not all: while Macbooks are supported, Battery Geek charges an extra $20 for the Macbook/Macbook Pro adapter. G4 and Powerbook adapters are already included with the PPS.
And that’s not all: The PPS weighs only 4.4 lbs. and is just over an inch thick. What’s the catch? The BMW M6 of battery pack prices, of course. The list price of the SPPS 200 is $800 (USD). Fortunately, you can buy it straight from Battery Geek for the BMW of discounted prices of $500. And that’s not all: when you buy the SPPS 200, you’ll get the BMW of freebies, a free leather & canvas travel case.
And that’s not all: Here are the BMWs of introductory videos for battery packs:
Now you know the BMWs and the BMW M6s of the tech world. Next time we’ll take a look at the Scot Pollard of rap.
Update: a couple of commenters have pointed out that the spps200 may in fact be the Ford Edsel of battery packs. Apparently Battery Geek also has poor service. Caveat emptor.
filed under: computing gadgets media players mobile tech technology
tags: applebatteryblackberrychargerdelldigicamhpibmiphoneipodmotorolanokiapdaphonepmpportablepspsonyvaio
January 8th, 2009 comments (3): stumble it! digg it! by: lambert v.
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I like(d) the SPPS-200 but mine has failed after four months (and only 2-3 uses). I went online to get an RMA number from BatteryGeek to return it, and got an email saying I’d get the RMA within 24 hours. Since then, nothing over 4 weeks despite 3 more emails and a voicemail message to them.
How does one get Battery Geek to respond? For $500 for the battery I’d expect better service.
David Sherman, ds@davidsherman.ca, 416 781 4622
BatteryGeek’s products seem to suffer from horrible quality, ranging from inspection oversight such as wrong type of DC out jack that is completely imcompatible with the supplied cable to major manufacturing defect such as batteries themselves not holding any charges. I went through four of their products and only one actually works, and I don’t know how long that will last.
David, you are entirely correct; for something that costs more than some of the laptops/netbooks out there, one would expect better quality and service.
Do yourself a favor and invest in XPAL 18000. It holds less charge, but it’s much lighter and smaller than SPPS, not to mention having better quality and service.
Well David, short of suing Battery Geek, I don’t know what else you can do. Hopefully your and Yaaargle’s comments will help spread the word about the bad service of Battery Geek and the horrible quality of their products.