Like any product with the words ‘Groove’ and ‘Power’ in the title, you are drawn to believe that it is part of some DIY, floor-laying accessory, but alas, the review I am about to embark upon is nothing to do with Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen or Carol Smilie (thankfully).
This week Nick from MP3 Additions sent me the Cygnett Groove Power Charger , a multi-national iPod charger. Priced at £12.99, it’s significantly cheaper than Apple’s own offerings which range from £19 (for a plain UK USB Power Adaptor) to £29 (for their World Travel Kit).
Previously on my travels I have managed to survive without the iPod. When the iPod was new, this was partially out of shear fear for breaking or losing the thing, but as time went on it was just the necessity of lugging the thing around and trying to find points where I could charge it. With only one UK adaptor, the camera battery would take priority and so the iPod stayed at home.
However, this new arrival may have changed things.
Cygnett’s offering is a little white box, the size of four stacked match boxes (or one stacked mouse) with some fluorescent orange branding. Immediately doubt was cast into my mind when I saw they hadn’t managed to stick the logo decal on straight, but I cast this minor fault aside and decided to plug it in.
The charger comes with four adaptor plates (USA, Europe, UK and Australia) which are the main ones, and for anywhere more obscure you are likely to be carrying a travel converter anyway.
They sort-of-simply clip fit into place, but when locked in, the grip is surprisingly firm and being a person who has been know to play with electricals in the past, a solid feeling product tends to inspire more confidence than one that wiggles. So far so good.
The bookies have withdrawn odds on whether this was designed in the UK or not, for it is fairly obvious that it wasn’t. In UK mode the plug sits upside down in the socket, which causes no real problem, and if the logo hadn’t been upside down, I probably wouldn’t have noticed.
Although a designer’s error, I found this mishap to more useful than not, as I prefer to leave my iPod on a desk when charging, so the cable feeding upwards works better for me. If you are in the habit of leaving your iPod on the floor (irresponsible) then the cable is going to be pointing out of the wrong end (but only in the UK, all the other plates are the ‘right’ way up).
It says that it may take 30 seconds before the iPod will begin to charge, but I found mine worked instantly and charged the iPod to exactly the same performance as I expect from my battery normally. Regulated electricity is regulated electricity, so this shouldn’t affect battery performance – if anything does it will be your dodgy power lines.
Overall a very suitable charger which feels particularly trustworthy for a third party electrical accessory, and is actually smaller than the official equivalent. You are unlikely to have to eBay your relatives to pay for it (another bonus) and has the benefit of being usable in quite a few major destinations around the world. You’ll probably need a little bag to keep the converter plates in, but I’d be quite comfortable not only to to use this while travelling, but also as my day to day charger if my original Apple one packed up.
You can buy it here , along with a range of other power products for iPods.
Nice to see an older version of the iPod still knocking around.
Mine (same version from the looks of it) has been replaced with a Nano and is now an ornamental feature. It’s surprising how many people don’t know iPods didn’t always have a colour screen.
Ah such a simpler time when it was all about the music…