Q1 Disempowered

Binky the Q1 was supposed to have a new toy to play with, the Samsung PowerBank. Alas, the Powerbank didn't work properly out of the box and Binky was forced to just play with the box. So I returned it, ordered a replacement and also orded an NBmate-118 universal external battery. We're going to Alaska in a week and the internal Q1 battery won't even get me to Seattle. I wanted to makes sure I had something that would work. (If there's a nameless person out there who was supposed to get a PowerBank and didn't, my CDW rep stole yours out of inventory. Apparently it wasn't properly allocated in their system and I got one of the 2 left. Sorry about that!)

Both of them arrived today, one of them will be going back. Hey, it's like Survivor for batteries! The PowerBank, is lighter, smaller and uses the Q1 charging brick. The 118 is larger and heavier. At 1.95 lbs it is 3/4 of a lb heavier than the Samsung and about 80% of the size of the Q1. The 118 does have it's own charger and I can confirm that there is a Tip that fits the Q1. Both units have battery indicators. The 118 comes with 9 tips and will actually work with a lot of devices. It's a little scary, in that you have to have the voltage set right and the tip inserted for the correct polarity, but after that it works fine.

So, there's the lighter sleeker Samsung against the bigger, more flexible 118. Now all I have to do is figure out which batter lasts longer. It looks like long weekend of playing with Q1 on battery but I'll force my self if I have to. After all, it's in the name of science!