Item: Konnet Power Pyramid Combo
Price: $40
Buy it here
Corded controllers are dinosaurs. But changing batteries in a wireless controller sucks. Rechargeables are fantastic, but few things are more annoying than having to pause – especially in a heated multiplayer match – and connect your pad’s electronic umbilical cord because it’s low on juice. This is an especially bad problem if, like me, the place in the couch where your butt rests when you play games is about ten inches further from the console than your cable can reach.
Enter the Konnet Power Pyramid Combo, which may just be the world’s most perfect controller charger. Fundamentally, all controller chargers are pretty much the same. But the Konnet does just a couple things that lift it above the heap.
Above: The Power Pyramid comes in a more fingerprint-prone chrome finish too, but that model costs five bucks more
The most important of these – to us, at least – is that the Power Pyramid Combo charges four controllers at once: two 360 pads and two PS3 pads. So you don’t need two separate chargers. Sure, not everyone out there has both systems, but for those who do, this is huge. And if you’re still a one-console playa, Konnet has pyramids that cater to just 360 or PS3, if you prefer.
The Power Pyramid also works with your controllers as-is – for example, you don’t have to replace the battery covers on your 360 pads with metal-studded ones so they can absorb power from a shiny, magnetized plate or anything. You simply plug your controller into the socket – which glides in easily and supports your controller safely – and it charges up. Plus, good luck fitting four pads on those “metal plate” chargers at once. For most folks, this will work better.
Above: Single-console players can track down their own platform-specific pyramids. But we’d just buy a second console if we were you
True, it’s a bulky device – there has to be a more efficient way of storing four controllers. And the five LEDs – a blue one in the center and another in each socket, which glows red while charging and blue when complete – are bright enough to distract you if they’re within your field of vision. But for me at least, the simple convenience of having two fully charged PS3 and 360 controllers always ready blows away the quibbles and makes the Power Pyramid a must-have. When my pyramid got broken by club-fisted burglars, I bought another one immediately. It’s one of those things you might not realize you want until you have it, then you can’t imagine being without it. Get one.
Nov 29, 2010
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