Topic: IMPRESSIONS: NYKO Charger Grip Lite for the Nintendo DS.

[UncleBob]

IGNORE EVERYTHING I SAID ABOUT THIS.  DO NOT BUY.  SCREWED UP TWO DIFFERENT OFFICIAL NINTENDO DS WALL CHARGERS.

Okay, per request, I've edited out the original impressions post from here.  I've kept it in the next post, just in case someone is interested.

Well, the charger grip seemed to be working fine - until I really started using it for the battery half.  The thing holds crap for charge.  That's not too bad, but additionally, my official, Nintendo branded DS AC Adapter stopped working.  Tested it on the DS directly and in another DS.  No luck.

Nintendo, awesome as they are, sent me a brand spankin' new DS AC Adapter.  About two days after it arrived, it stopped working as well.

So anywhoo, I contact the GameCrazy where I purchased the grip from and they're more than willing to exchange it (with receipt, of course) for a new one or refund it if I so wish, but I'm out of luck on the chargers (understandable, from their point of view).

So.... I contact Nyko's customer service.  First phone call about 2 o'clock this afternoon, I get an automated message asking me to leave a message and they'll get back with me.

As of 6 O'clock, they hadn't.  Since I need to be able to charge my DS, I called them again when I got off work.  The guy who9 I spoke with told me that exchanging the charger grip would not be an issue, but he wanted me to test out my wall chargers in a different outlet (something about them needing to be "reset") and call back.  Well, since I'm a reasonable person, I tried them in a different outlet.  Both of them.  And in another outlet, just to be sure.  Then with a friend's DS.  Then tried my DS with his charger - which worked.

So I call back.  The second guy assures me it'll be no problem, send in the old Charger Grip and the two broken AC Adapters and they'll replace all three (supposedly the AC Adapters will be official Nintendo product as well).  Unfortunately, when I ask how long this'll take, he tells me it'll be 1-2 weeks *after* they receive my old product (in California).  Of course I complain (Seriously, what?) and he says that they're a busy return center.  I then ask if they have a lot of malfunctioning products returned to them, and he says that they sell millions of products all over the world, so they have their fair amount of returned product.  I then say that I think 1-2 weeks is too long, as I would like to be able to charge my DS before them.  He says there's nothing he can do about it and says that Sony and Microsoft have even longer turn around times.  Well, I don't care about Sony or MS, although I did mention that Nintendo's turn around times are *nothing* like this and I make it pretty clear that I'm unhappy about it.  But, I guess, there's nothing I can do.

And I assume I have to ship my broken stuff in at my cost.

Yet again, I'm not buying any unlicensed third party accessories.  Crap.

IGNORE EVERYTHING I SAID ABOUT THIS.  DO NOT BUY.  SCREWED UP TWO DIFFERENT OFFICIAL NINTENDO DS WALL CHARGERS.

[UncleBob]

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As I mentioned in decoyman's Nebraska Thread, I'm finding myself taking an actual vacation next month.

Well, I've seen this product around (EBGameStop, GameCrazy) for about $20.  Thought it was cool, but never really had a "real" use for it.  Figured now would be a good excuse to pick it up.

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So here it is.  It's a grip that attaches to the bottom of your DS Lite.  There's a latch on the top that plugs in to the power port on your DS Lite and a little tab that slips into your stylus slot, blocking it, but keeping the charger grip secure.  I've only seen it in White, so if you have a black or pink DS Lite, you're outta luck (well, I guess you could use it, but it'd look funny.).  The unit itself does not cover any necessary parts of the DS Lite - the power switch, the DS Card Port and the GBA Card Slot are all free (along with the Mic/Headphone port, the Volume Control and the wrist strap attachment loop thing).

The Charger Grip does add some heft to the unit.  Personally, I like it - it weighs the unit down a bit, but it seems to make the unit more... I dunno, like I'm holding something that's actually there.  Does that make any sense?  Anywhoo, the grips are nice (coming from someone with larger-than-normal sized hands), but the DS Lite has never been a big issue to me when it comes to comfort (well, except for the stylus, but that's solved by buying another stylus).

What is nice about this is the extended battery that it comes with.  I purchased an extended life battery for my GBASP a long time ago and the one thing I really didn't like was that I had to unscrew the battery cover and replace the battery whenever I needed to switch out.  Truth be told, unless you're out of town or something, it'd probably be easier to simply recharge that battery than swap it out...

But this battery works a bit differently.  As I mentioned above, the grip plugs into the power port on the back of the DS Lite.    On the back of that little box (it says "NYKO", like in the picture) there's a place where you plug in your standard DS Lite charger.  While it's plugged in, it'll recharge the DS Lite's battery pak *and* the Charger Grip's battery pak.  It's even got a little LED charger that's similar to the one on the DS Lite (red, green, orange) to let you know the status of the battery in the Charger Grip.

So anywhoo, you hook it up, plug it in and charge it.  Then, when you're on the go (or at home playing on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for any period of time) and your DS Battery Light starts to blink, you just turn on the Charger Grip and it'll start to recharge the battery in your DS Lite.

It's pretty handy.  Obviously, I haven't been able to put it through heavy testing, but since it's just a rechargable battery, it can't be that bad, can it?  Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to come up with this idea.

The item cost me about $20 at GameCrazy (I think it was the same price when I saw it at EBGameStop a while ago).  I think it'll turn out to be a pretty good investment.
</corporateshrill>

Whoops... Forgot two things.  First off, here's a link to the product page from NYKO's official site..  You'll have to figure out where to actually purchase this item yourself if you don't want to look in EBGameStop or GameCrazy.

Second, I mentioned that the grip has a little tab-thing that snaps into the DS Lite's stylus slot, blocking it.  Don't worry though!  The grip itself has a slot to hold your regular DS Lite Stylus.  So you don't loose anything.

 

[UncleBob]

Aww... I worked really hard on this... does that mean no one's interested at all?  If so, does it mean that they're not interested in me, or they're not interested in the Charger Grip?

[UltimatePartyBear]

I'd be interested in the grip if it gave me R and L buttons in a more comfortable position.

[Kairon]

I... have a DS Phat.

[UncleBob]

DON'T BUY THIS!

This Piece of Crap doesn't hold a charge and has screwed up not one but two official Nintendo branded DS Wall Chargers (as in, they don't work at all now).

DO NOT BUY!

[Kairon]

Way to take one for the team there UncleBob!

[nitsu niflheim]

then why don't you edit the content of the first post because it kind of left me confused.  all bold at the top says don't buy, but the content of the review says buy buy buy.

[UncleBob]

Because I'm lazy...

[UERD]

If that XBox debacle wasn't enough, I know now to stay far, far away from anything branded 'Nyko'.

[UncleBob]

Updated the OP...

[KDR_11k]

Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!

[nitsu niflheim]

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Originally posted by: UncleBob
Because I'm lazy...

Well then, everything is Milhouse then.

[UncleBob]

Oh, I'm getting more and more pissed at Nyko.

So, I shipped in my two broken AC Adapters, the broken Charger Grip and a letter stating what had gone wrong.  In the letter, I stated that I wanted my AC Adapters replaced with working units and that I would prefer to have my money returned on the charger grip (looked up the full purchase price on my credit card statement) since, as I was going to have to wait "two or more weeks" for replacement AC adapters, I felt the need to purchase a new one at retail and since I was out postage mailing their broken product back to them.

Today I get a call claiming that my AC Adapters are working.  I tried both of these in multiple outlets and in two different DS units.  Neither one was working when I sent them out.  Later in the conversation when I asked if the Charger Grip was working for them, I was told they "hadn't tried it yet".  Wha?  You'd think their product would be the first thing they'd try out.

Anywhoo, he says he'll send me new adapter (I told him if he would guarantee the old ones would work, to just send those back) however... the guy is giving me the total run around saying that they can't refund the purchase price, they can only replace the product with the same item or another NYKO product of equal value.  I try to explain to this guy that I simply do not want more NYKO stuff - since I was already out around $20 (new adapter and postage), I'd prefer to just get my money back and not risk my quality Nintendo products with their questionable accessories.  He's refusing to do it and tells me if I want a refund, I'll have to go through the retailer...

...who told me I needed to contact the manufacturer.  I'm going to speak with the GameCrazy manager tomorrow (he's a great guy, so I don't think it'll be a problem), but I don't feel GameCrazy should be out the money in this situation (nor do I feel I should have to make the 50 mile - each way - drive to get my money back).  So I'm going to see what happens there.

Additionally, I'm going to contact the head buyer for the Video Game Accessories category with my own store.  We've been carrying select NYKO products for awhile now, and I'd like to let him know about how crappy they treat their customers... just in case he's interested.