News
Belkin announces TunePower battery pack and TuneBase auto charger/mount
By Dennis Lloyd
Publisher, iLounge
Published: Friday, October 15, 2004
News Category: iPod Accessories
Belkin has announced two new iPod accessories. TunePower ($99.99) is a rechargable battery pack for use whenever there isn’t access to an AC outlet. The battery provides 8-10 hours of charge, comes with three sleeves to fit either an iPod and iPod mini players with dock connectors, and a detachable DC/FireWire power cable. The TunePower can be used with the Apple wall adapter to charge both the iPod and the TunePower. TuneBase ($49.99) is a flexible steel gooseneck mount/dock for the iPod mini. It plugs into a car’s cigarette lighter outlet and charges/powers the iPod mini and also features a 3.5mm line-out for use with the specially designed Belkin Mobile Cassette Adapter or TuneCast Mobile FM Transmitter (not included). The TunePower and TuneBase will begin shipping on October 25.
TunePower
TuneBase
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1
The tune power won’t be able to compete with the BTI iPod battery ii which costs less and gives well over 40 hours.
Belkin needs to significantly raise their standards or stop over-priceing.
Posted by Sam on October 15, 2004 at 8:10 AM (PDT)
2
Looks like the TunePower comes with three different plastic sleeves that effectively double as protective cases. This is looking really promising, much better integrated with the iPod! To comment about “raising their standards or stop overpricing” sounds like an ignorant statement before you’ve actually seen more than a picture. Let’s see a review!
Posted by wired on October 16, 2004 at 7:21 AM (PDT)
3
I think like anything else, the Tune Power has it’s pro’s & cons. Consumers may go for the Tune Power over the iPod Battery for a couple of reasons. For one it’s sleeker than the iPod Batter which looks much better. However to be honest I think the iPod Battery may get over looked as BTI isn’t as well known of a brand name as Belkin is. I’ve seen Belkin products at the local Walmart and Target, but absolutly nothing from BTI in these places. With that said, I believe most consumers will go for the Tune Power.
On the con side, the battery capacity is way lower than the BTI Battery but 10 hours on top of what ever your iPod already gets isn’t all that bad. Chances are real good your going to be throwing this battery on the charger before you even get it half depeted.. Besides you got to go to sleep sometime.
The only other notable con I see with this is the lack of a belt clip. I find Belkin’s engineering on the battery with no belt clip to be puzzling. This might be fine if your just traveling in your car, but what if you want to use it at work as I use my iPod at work.. This just would not work for me, which is why I have the BTI Battery ii coming my way.
Posted by Phoenixfury in Elkhart, IN on October 16, 2004 at 9:50 AM (PDT)
4
“Looks like the TunePower comes with three different plastic sleeves that effectively double as protective cases.”
Nope, the rubber sleeves leave the entire front of the iPod exposed so it is not a protective case unless you consider protecting the back of your iPod to be the most compelling reason to use a case. This is just a poor design decision. They should go back to designing cables. It is hard to mess those up.
Posted by JohnB on October 16, 2004 at 8:03 PM (PDT)
5
Why would I not want to go with something that has over 4x the runtime and the same price, i.e. BTI’s iPod Battery ii??? If you think about it that’s 12,000 additional hours of music before the lithium ion battery really starts to lose its ability to hold a full charge.
And as mentioned above the belt clip is key.
I purchase based on product quality - I’m going with the BTI piece.
Posted by Incog on October 25, 2004 at 6:54 AM (PDT)