Energizer has launched an extremely useful range of products. XPal consists of various battery/charger packs which acknowledge that the batteries in your devices suck, and then do something about it.
The packs have lithium polymer batteries and come in various sizes and capacities. You plug in your cellphone, say, and while it charges from the mains, the battery pack in the XPal is also topped up. Later, when things run down, you can get another chage away from a wall-wart.
So far, so normal. Except that Energizer also promises that, if you buy a pack and it doesn’t have the tip you need, they’ll send you one, free. And to keep the packs in use in the future, Energizer will also send you two tips a year for any new kit you might buy, free, forever. Prices run from around $20 up to $200, depending on size and power.
Also part of the range is a this USB clip charger, which allows you to throw out clunky proprietary camera battery chargers and just slip the naked cell into the claw to charge. As it’s USB powered, you’re limited to five volts output, but that could be fine in emergencies.
Product page [XPal via Oh Gizmo and Gearlog]
