Following on from my post here I have just spent the past week using the Gomadic pack as my main source of power for the iPhone and I have to say that the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. When fresh batteries are used it can charge the phone back to full in a matter of hours. I would say that it is almost as effective as a wall charger for charging and you can even continue to use it while it charges – I am listening to music and writing this and the battery is still charging from it. I have barely connected the phone to the wall all week instead preferring to keep it in bed to use as an alarm (I was on the top bunk away from power). Every night it has charged the phone. I would guess that a set of batteries (4 AAs) lasts for maybe 1.5 full charges.

One thing which had me puzzled for a while was that sometimes the phone would tell me that the accessory was not compatible for charging. I think I have discovered that this happens when the batteries are running low and need to be replaced but I can’t be 100% sure. Also, sometimes the phone will stop responding when it is connected. Pulling the dock connector makes the phone start responding again and you can then reconnect it. Weird. Not sure why it is causing this behaviour but it doesn’t seem to be a permanent problem.

Overall a pretty good investment which has made this week must more enjoyable not to mention the ~16 hour journeys each way. Be aware that there may be the odd problem with it being recognised but despite this I would recommend it.

3 of 5 stars