USB Charger

It's getting out of hand these days with every portable device having a different charger. Is there any reason they couldn't all use this charger? It works with any AC voltage in the world and could potentially charge any small device in the world. Then we could all have 1 charger for the house and 1 for the car.

formatting link

Reply to
Michael C
Loading thread data ...

It's because the manufacturers make money selling accessories like power adapaters.

I always sway toward a product that uses standard AA or AA rechargable batteries, that way I can swap batteries out in the field if one dies.

Dave :)

Reply to
David L. Jones

They could possibly make extra by selling the chargers seperately though. They might also save money because they wouldn't have to bother with different models for different countries.

Ditto, although it's much harder these days. No mobile phones use AAs and almost no cameras these days. Memory cards are a bigger issue than batteries in my opinion, it beats my why anyone would buy a camera that uses XD or memory stick.

Reply to
Michael C

You might want to check out one of these,

formatting link
or something similar. I am very happy with mine though there might be better models out. It can charge from any USB port, and when you use the camera and synch things + advant go and a few apps you will be happy throwing money to the wind to add a gig or more in memory. Motorola also have a model out that charges from a USB port.

:-P

Reply to
Peter

formatting link

A standard AA or AAA rechargeable that plugs into a USB to charge with LED indicators is a win-win for you then Dave?

Reply to
jc

Nope, more like lose-lose. Wherever USB power is available, mains power is available too, unless you take your laptop everywhere and want to drain the battery on that. Can't use these in the car, can't use it in a hotel room, can't use it out in the scrub. What is their capacity?, got to be smaller than a regular cell, that's a big minus. Also, with the AAA version, what PC has a mini-USB connector?, not any of mine.

But it's a cute solution.

Dave :)

Reply to
David L. Jones

What reason would you not use XD or memory stick ?

Not being critical of you, am just looking at buying a new camera shortly and it would be good to know this.

Reply to
Kr

There isn't much really, apart from the additional cost. Memory stick I don't like because it is a true single supplier solution, locked up by Sony, but if a Sony was the only camera that met my requirements then I'd buy it. My camera is XD and at least there are two major manufacturers supporting it (Fuji & Olympus). Card cost isn't a major thing, as you don't buy that many cards. I've only got a single 512MB card and it's plenty. The one time I did need an extra card on holiday I bought it off eBay, used it for several weeks and then resold it back on eBay for what I paid for it. Personally I would prefer compact flash due to it's lower cost, greater capacity and higher speed, but it is pretty far down my list of what drives my camera purchasing decision. In my case the top two requirements were it must run from AA's, and it must boot fast and have no shutter lag. Dave :)

Reply to
David L. Jones

They are a proprietry solution from manufacturers trying to tie you into to their products. It's not easy finding a card reader that will take XD and not all support the various different styles of memory stick (are the 4 different types?). The SD fits so many more devices. I've got a mini SD card that fits into my phone, camera, PDA and laptop. I've also got a tiny card reader that takes the SD card and doubles as a pen drive. I had an mp3 player that took the sd card but replaced it with an ipod. Some car stereos even take SD cards. You can get an SD card that plugs straight into a USB port without a card reader. You've got a wider choice of manufacturers with SD and I believe it is cheaper and has higher capacity and speeds. The main reason I use it is because it is the most common format and more devices support it.

formatting link

Michael

Reply to
Michael C

Shit, last holiday I went on I took 5 gig worth of photos over 4 weeks. I would have taken more but some days it was full and it was hard finding an internet cafe with a CD burner. A 1GB XD card is approx $70 where as a 2GB SD is $58 and a 4GB SD is around $100 (at the time of my holiday prices were much higher and I only had a 1gb card).

To me it's more important than the AAs. I can charge my batteries every day but it's harder to download photos each day.

Michael

Reply to
Michael C

I've got a charger here that will charge 2 AAs or AAAs from a usb port. Possibly a better solution as you can charge 2 batteries at once. If the phone, camera and blue tooth headset all charged from USB it would be very useful as it would be possible to have 1 charger in the house and 1 in the car for all devices.

Reply to
Michael C

1300mAh I think Its a cute solution indeed when you're travelling with one of those cameras that takes AA batteries.

Pop into an internet cafe or use the hotel computer, no need to lug the charger with you if you want to travel light.

Mains power is not always feasible if overseas too... [Though most plugpacks these days take the full range of 110V-260V 40HZ-60Hz...]

Reply to
jc

Both are proprietary formats with slightly more expensive cards than CF/SD.

One suggestion is not to buy alot of memory cards, but one of those portable harddisk cases with a multicard reader inbuilt. ($30 case, $100 HDD)

This way, when you change to a camera that uses a different card, you don't really need to buy another set of memory cards.

Reply to
jc

Yes. Pretty uselss for stuff like digital cameras. I'll stick with my 2500mAh batteries and a tiny USB charger any day.

Some cameras take 4 AA's, that means you need 4 USB ports. And given the size I bet you can' plug them in one above the other. Then what about your other gear too?

Many hotels didn't have access to any sort of USB port, but mains is available everywhere, even in some planes and trains. And who's going to sit in an internet cafe for *5 hours* while their measly 1300mAh batteries charge? Want to leave them there while you go out?, good luck getting them back, and what if you need them while you are out? What if you have lots of batteries? These things just aren't practical.

I had no problem on my two month round the world trip a few months back. My universal AA/AAA charger worked a treat. Everything is universal these days, if it's not then don't get one that is. I could even share the mains lead with all my gear because it used one of those standard Fig.8 type plugs.

Dave :)

Reply to
David L. Jones

Do you have a link for that, I'd be quite interested in one of those. Any i've seen have been hundreds of dollars with the drive, although I haven't looked for a while.

Michael

Reply to
Michael C

And a 60GB portable hard drive transfer unit costs about $200. Still the cheapest way to go by far.

MrT.

Reply to
Mr.T

$100

A simple unit requires interface logic and a card reader to do the transfers though. Are there really $30 boxes that include both? I've yet to see one. What about power supply, battery operated? (Most important when you are out taking photo's.)

I paid $200AUD for a new Digimate with 60GB hard drive (the unit without drive is $100) It allows you to transfer files from a wide variety of cards (XD included) with the push of a button. No extra interface or card reader required. Batteries and charger included.

MrT.

Reply to
Mr.T

Cool idea although if I can get away with just SD cards it's preferrable.

Michael

Reply to
Michael C

I'd second that. Last time I was shooting in a remote location I was doing over 200 shots a day. My 8 512MB XD cards were full each day and the handy portable HDD transfer unit was indespensible. Came with a mains and car power adaptor and runs off 4 AA NiMH batteries. Plug in the card, press a button and a minute later the files are transferred.

Reply to
swanny

Were you shooting in tiff mode or something?

Reply to
Michael C

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.