Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Here's our tenth giveaway, courtesy of PPC Techs: four of the incredibly useful Lil' Sync Mobile USB Power Packs, valued at $69.99 USD each, will be given away. Here's a bit about the product (you can read my review to see how much I like it):

"Looking for renewable power to recharge your device while on the road? Use our USB Mobile Power Pack (MPP) with our Lil’ Sync® Retractable Sync-N-Charge Cable to charge your devices. Designed with the mobile user in mind, it utilizes Li-ION battery technology and fits in the palm of your hand. We've stuffed a full 4400 mA capacity into this small package. You can recharge the MPP via your computer's USB port or you can use our USB AC Adapter or USB Auto Adapter. The MPP has a three level LED indicator system that keeps you apprised of the level of charge remaining."



Here's how to enter: just post a message as a reply telling me what electronic device you have that just never seems to stay charged up. It doesn't need to be something that connects to the Lil' Sync battery, just tell me which electronic device of yours always seems to need charging. That's it! There's one post per person allowed, and four winners will be randomly chosen. The contest will stay open for entries until April 7th, 2008.

Special thanks to PPC Techs for their donation of this hardware!

External batteries either work or they don't, and the Lil' Sync USB Mobile Power Pack from PPC Techs works. But how do you decide between this battery and another one? You look at power capacity, size, price, weight, etc. When I want to use a small, portable device battery, I use the excellent Proporta Mobile Device Charger, so that's what I'm going to compare the Lil' Sync USB Mobile Power Pack to since I think that's its main competition.

First and foremost, it's all about the power. The PPC Techs unit packs an impressive 4400 mAh of power, which is 29% more than the 3400 mAh that the Proporta unit supplies. Equally important is how much juice the battery kicks out - the PPC Techs unit manages an impressive 1000mA of output. This is enough to charge my Zune 80, which is something the Proporta battery can't do because it tops out at 700mA. So from a power perspective, the PPC Techs Lil' Sync USB Mobile Power Pack wins hands down. There's more to consider though: price and weight. The PPC Techs unit costs $69 USD, the Proporta $44.95. The PPC techs unit is thicker and a bit heavier but shorter (2.75" L x 2.10" W x .86" H, 4.3 ounces) while the Proporta unit is wider and longer, but thinner and lighter (3.9" L x 2.4" W x 0.6" H inches, 4.2 ounces). Read more...

"Looking for renewable power to recharge your device while on the road? Use our USB Mobile Power Pack (MPP) with our Lil’ Sync® Retractable Sync-N-Charge Cable to charge your HP/Compaq iPAQ 110. Designed with the mobile user in mind, it utilizes Li-ION battery technology and fits in the palm of your hand. We've stuffed a full 4400 mA capacity into this small package. You can recharge the MPP via your computer's USB port or you can use our USB AC Adapter or USB Auto Adapter. The MPP has a three level LED indicator system that keeps you apprised of the level of charge remaining."



PPC Techs released a new product today, an external battery that will charge pretty much anything that uses USB power (Zune, phone, MP3 player, etc.), and I had the chance to test it over the past few days (mine lacks the swanky "Lil' Sync" logo however). Look for my Quick Look review on Monday morning. Have a great weekend everyone!