Xbox One Play and Charge Kit

Xbox One Play and Charge Kit..

GET Xbox One Play and Charge Kit By Microsoft

Most helpful customer reviews

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful.
The only must-have accessory for the Xbox One
By J. Van Wagenen
Though your Xbox One controller runs on AA batteries and includes one pair of them, it's so much nicer to have the Play and Charge Kit rather than burning through costly AA batteries. Even rechargeable AA batteries aren't as good, they don't last quite as long per discharge, and you have to remove them to recharge them. It's much easier to just plug in the charging cable when your juice is low.

These rechargeable batteries seem a little smaller than the Xbox 360 ones, but worked great all through my Xbox One's launch night. The only very minor downside is it takes a few seconds longer to swap these batteries out than it did to swap out an Xbox 360 battery, but I like the tradeoff of having the Xbox One controller be slimmer and sleeker since there isn't a big battery jutting out the back. The swap time doesn't really matter anyway since you use the cable to recharge it, where on the 360 I usually swapped one out of my Quick Charge kit (Microsoft hasn't yet released a similar product for the Xbox One yet).

The charging cable is sufficiently long to play from my couch (8 feet away from my TV). Took an hour or so for the initial charging to finish from whatever capacity percentage these come from the factory. Don't bother with the third-party junk batteries. While the cable is just a basic micro USB and interchangeable, off-brand rechargeable batteries are rarely worth bothering with for the small difference in price. The cable itself seems pretty high quality too though, it snaps in and has a very solid connection, which I like.

My only complaint isn't about this product, but about the Xbox One design. The single USB port is on the console's left side instead of how the Xbox 360 has two ports on the front. This makes it not reach quite as far, and is also more risky in the event of someone tripping over the cable. Instead of it just yanking out, it might tug the cord in a bad way and damage the cable or the USB port.

I recommend buying the bundle with the controller for a $10 discount though ($75 instead of $60+$25=$85), unless you only ever plan on having one controller I suppose. Amazon is sold out of those at the time of this review, but my local Best Buy and Walmart still had stacks of them, so you may want to try a local store.

Update 2013.11.24: I've gotten at least about 20 hours of on-time without the battery dying since I got my Xbox One. I didn't go until it died before plugging in the cable, but it seems to have about as much life in it as the old Xbox 360 rechargeables. Maybe even a little bit more since all my 360 ones are aging and gradually losing their charge, though this one will probably do the same over time.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Lithium Ion battery pack makes this the only charge kit worth buying so far.
By John E. Pombrio
I would recommend these over the charging kits and stands only for one reason, the battery pack is a lithium ion pack rather than a NiMH battery pack. Yes, having to plug in the cable to recharge is a pain and there is no way to recharge outside of the controller. I will accept all that becuase I have found Lithium-Ion batteries in my power tools so much superior than the old NiMH batteries. the "shelf life" ( how long they can sit and still hold a charge) is amazing with L-I batteries and they last much longer in use.
I have now drained the pack enough to recharge the controller and it has been used close to 20 hours.
One star off for not having a charge station (yet) where you could plug in and charge the controllers by using the charging station rather than having to plug in each controller individually to a USB cable. The 360 controller battery pack charging station is a terrific idea and ZI would like to see one for the One also.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Better than the 360's rechargable bat
By Seth
Lightweight and durable. This charges fast and i havent had to charge it all weekend long. Easy to install GAME ON!

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