fatcat PowerBar 4200 mAh Travel Charger, review

My husband goes through cell phone chargers like they were a dime a dozen and my daughter is constantly complaining that her iPod needs to be recharged, so when I was approached to review the fatcat PowerBar, I was intrigued.

Could I really carry a charger around with me, and would it a hold a strong enough charge to actually charge our electronic devices?

The answer is Yes!

This past week, I had an out of state guest so we did a lot of traveling showing her the local attractions. On one of our outings I realized I had forgotten to charge my cell phone so I grabbed the car charger and discovered that once again, my husband had broken the device.

I was a little annoyed and frustrated until my friend reminded me that I had the fatcat PowerBar 4200 mAh Travel Charger in my purse.

I pulled it out of my purse, plugged in my phone, and we set out to enjoy the local Butterfly House. When we left the attraction, I checked my cell phone and it was fully charged.

I did, however, have one tiny obstacle with the device that required me to do a little adjusting. You see, after pulling out my wallet to pay for the attraction, I noticed that the plug was no longer in my phone… it had come loose. I plugged it back in, and proceeded to put my wallet away, when it came unplugged again. I simply adjusted the way things were situated in my purse, and all was well.

The cool thing about the fatcat PowerBar 4200 mAh Travel Charger is that it retains (holds) 80% of its charging capabilities for up to an entire year; which makes it great for an emergency kit.

And at 100% charge, it can charge two cell phones or an iPod, iPad, iPhone, or other electrical devices like a gaming system, MP3 player, GPS, or PDA. It also has the capability to detect and recognize the needs of your device so that it doesn't overcharge.

But it will NOT charge a laptop, camera, or video camera because larger devices require more power and the PowerBar only goes up to 5.5V. It also has a lifecycle of up to 500 charges.

When the fatcat PowerBar 4200 mAh Travel Charger arrived, I could not wait to test it out.

After opening the package, I discovered that it had a PowerBar (charger), a main power cord, 2 USB attachments, and 4 tips that are compatible for the most popular devices.

First, I thought I'd test out the power cord and tips that came with the PowerBar. They fit snuggly into my daughter's iPod, and the device began charging immediately. So far, I was impressed.

Next, I decided to test the charger out by using my daughter's iPod cord. It began charging right away, as well.

Once the iPod was fully charged, I decided to recharge the PowerBar… which simply required attaching the one of the USB connectors to the power cord then plugging it into my computer.

If you are tired of discovering your battery is dead when you're too far away from home (or the car) to recharge your device, you may want to invest in a fatcat PowerBar 4200 mAh Travel Charger.

You can order the fatcat PowerBar 4200 mAh Travel Charger on Amazon.com for just $75 or you can order it directly from the company, FatCat for $70.

Disclosure: The reviewer received a complimentary sample to review.