Mobee Magic Charger Review and Giveaway

The Mobee Magic Charger is a cost efficient solution for powering Apple’s Magic Mouse. Instead of replacing the batteries in your Magic Mouse every 2 weeks, the Mobee Magic Charger utilises a rechargeable battery pack and clever induction charging technology to keep your Magic Mouse charged up and ready to go.

But what is the Mobee Magic Charger exactly, and how does it work? Does this mean that you’ll never have to buy batteries for your Magic Mouse again? How does it compare to regular rechargeable batteries? We’ll take an in-depth look at the Mobee Magic Charger to answer all these questions. Plus, when we’re done, we’re giving this review unit away!

Introducing the Mobee Magic Charger

It’s an induction charger for Apple’s Magic Mouse. Basically, it uses a combination of a rechargeable battery pack (which fits in the Magic Mouse’s battery compartment) and an Apple-esque inductive charger pad which plugs into your computer’s USB port to keep the mouse charged up. The idea behind the Magic Charger is to encourage you to stop buying batteries and chucking them away every few weeks. It’s supposedly less frustrating to maintain and overall, better for the planet.

But at $39.90 a pop, is the Mobee Magic Charger worth buying? Say your Magic Mouse usually goes through two pairs of batteries every month, you would have recovered your cost in about 12 months. Alternatively, you could pay less and use rechargeable NiMH batteries. Your final option would be to use a wired mouse, but sadly, the Magic Mouse doesn’t come in a wired option.

Using the Mobee Magic Charger takes a bit of getting used to. Specifically, you’d need to remember to place the mouse on the charging pad before leaving your workstation. Once you have that nailed down, the Mobee Magic Charger is quite an elegant solution. Running out of battery is now a thing of the past!

Initial Impressions

The Mobee Magic Charger comes in a low-profile black carton box which flips open to reveal some quick tips on how to get it working, indicator legends and a foam partition.

Under the foam partition lies the replacement battery pack, the induction charging pad and a USB cable.

There isn’t any unnecessary packaging, loose documentation or superflous wrapping. This is as minimalist as it gets.

(Note: the induction pad shown below was placed on the wrong side so what you’re looking at is its bottom surface.)

Design

Will the Mobee Magic Charger fit in with the rest of your Apple gear? The answer is a resounding yes.

When the mouse is in use, the induction charging pad is the only component of the ensemble that is visually apparent. Its top surface is made from glossy white plastic and is surrounded by a rim of aluminium-like plastic. It definitely looks like it belongs, but only after you pick it up will you realise that it doesn’t feel very Apple-ly with all that plastic.

The induction charging pad is really slim and light, so even if you need to take it along on your travels, it should be really easy to pack.

Using the Mobee Magic Charger

According to the quick install instructions, existing batteries must be removed from the Magic Mouse, then slot in the rechargeable battery pack, as seen below. The battery pack has a cover attached, so you’ll need to store the battery compartment cover that comes with your Apple Magic Mouse somewhere safe.

Once the rechargeable battery pack is inserted, this is how it looks like. Colour-wise, it seems identical to Apple’s original battery compartment cover, but it’s made of plastic (again) instead. Overall, not much has changed and the Magic Mouse weighs about the same as it did with regular batteries.

The induction charging pad needs to be hooked up to a USB port during use. It only draws power via USB, so there’s no need to connect it to the computer you’re using it with — any USB port will do.

Once it’s ready and waiting, the red LED will light up.

Immediately after placing the mouse on the charging pad, the LED will switch to a blinking green light when charging, and solid green when the battery pack is fully charged.

Living with the Mobee Magic Charger

Before the Mobee Magic Charger came along, I used rechargeable NiMH batteries to power my Magic Mouse and they would frequently run flat just as I was doing something important. Sure, it’s probably my fault for ignoring the low battery warning. Some would argue that changing batteries only takes a few seconds. But I’d often lose my train of thought every time that happens. So why should I put up with it?

With the Mobee Magic Charger, I trained myself to place my mouse on the charging pad every night before going to bed. In the morning, it’s fully charged. On a full charge, it can operate for 6 days, if you’re curious. But the point of owning a Mobee Magic Charger is to keep the battery level at a constant 90-100% and never run out.

Should you buy it?

If you’re considering the environment, using rechargeable batteries is always the better choice. With that said, the induction charging solution and competitive price (under $50) of the Mobee Magic Charger is just too good to pass, and I’d rather use this than plain old rechargeable batteries any day and keep my sanity.

MakeUseOf recommends: Buy it!

We’re giving away this review unit. If you would like to find out how it works, join the contest and be in the running to win it!

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Originally published on MakeUseOf.com. Great site, check it out.