Hardware BigBen Interactive Flip & Charge

[soopahfly]

I've just bought myself a 3DS and traded in my absolutely haggard DSL.

Picked up the BigBen Interactive Flip and Charge case while I was at it after reading about the 3DS battery life.

My advice so far is AVOID.
You can't really see it in the picture but the two pins that connect to the battery socket on the DS are made of the thinnest wire in the world.
The ones in the original 3DS dock are slightly thicker and about 10x as strong.
Even if you're really careful you'll more than likely bend one or even both of them. I've just been sat with a pair of small pliers straightening one side out, only to find the other side bent when I attempted to reconnect it.

The only instructions for clipping it in and out of the case are on the top of the device so when your 3DS is on it they are covered. The manual is no help.
There's a switch on the side with three positions, God knows what that does. No instructions to tell you.
Flick it one way, you get a blue LED, flick it to the middle the LED is very dim. Flick it to the end and it does nothing.
Plug in the charger and things get a little clearer.

I assume the switch controls the charging circuits. Charge the device/Off/Charge the Battery

Good Points :

Looks Good
Has a 2000mAh battery inside it
Reasonably priced
Spare Stylus

Bad Points :

No instructions on what the switch does
Poor build quality
Spare stylus doesn't extend like the original one does.


2 out of 5 for me so far.

 

[Terenigma]

I agree that It does look nice but your info on the thin wire is solid and i will avoid this, Thanks for the warning + Review.

 

[soopahfly]

I agree that It does look nice but your info on the thin wire is solid and i will avoid this, Thanks for the warning + Review.

I think it's fine if you're expecting it. I was expecting something of similar build quality to the original 3DS dock. A bit optimistic as it's a third party product.

I did find another guide to what the switch does :

Position 1 - Charging the Flip and Charge Battery - LED RED
Position 2 - Charging the 3DS Battery - No LED's, but Charging indicator on 3DS
Position 3 - Charging the 3DS Battery using the Flip and Charge Battery - Blue LED and Charging indicator on 3DS.

I'll give it a few days, and update my review. For £15 it's not terrible.

 

[soopahfly]

I agree that It does look nice but your info on the thin wire is solid and i will avoid this, Thanks for the warning + Review.

I think it's fine if you're expecting it. I was expecting something of similar build quality to the original 3DS dock. A bit optimistic as it's a third party product.

I did find another guide to what the switch does :

Position 1 - Charging the Flip and Charge Battery - LED RED
Position 2 - Charging the 3DS Battery - No LED's, but Charging indicator on 3DS
Position 3 - Charging the 3DS Battery using the Flip and Charge Battery - Blue LED and Charging indicator on 3DS.

I'll give it a few days, and update my review. For £15 it's not terrible.

Went to remove the case and battery today as per the instructions and the two rear supports snapped off.
I'm not a heavy handed gamer, but this thing really is flimsy.

It's going back tomorrow, and I'll not be replacing it with another.

0 out of 5

 

[Masterpaul]

Can we have a single thread for all battery solutions?