Extended Power for Any Portable Device?

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

I’ve seen so-called battery extenders for things like iPAQs … extenders that take AA or AAA batteries and have special connectors for the SPECIFIC device. These extenders are usually pretty inexpensive, however (I found one for $10 including shipping for my SX66 on eBay).

There are also specific extenders for notebooks as well, such as this one by APC. This particular one has a suggested retail price of $249.99 (ouch!).

This week Xantrex released a power extender, the XPower Pocket Powerpack, that reportedly works with any portable device, including laptops. It has an AC power outlet and a USB power outlet. It can plug into a regular AC outlet, a cigarette lighter or a airplane outlet (standard). Source: technologyexpert.blogspot.com

We Say: The price is a little high, at over $100 (plus it’s a little big to put in your pocket, despite the name), but when you compare it to previous standalone exclusive power solutions for laptops, it’s actually quite reasonable. If you have a laptop or multiple portable devices, this might be ideal for you.