Top 4 Xbox One Chargers By User Ratings

Top 4 Xbox One Chargers By User Ratings

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With the holiday shopping season practically gearing up to go into full swing, a lot of parents, brothers, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles and extended relatives will be looking around to find the best deals possible for their little gaming gremlin. One thing to keep in mind is that just because a product is cheap doesn’t mean it’s good. According to some user reviews they managed to iron just which Xbox One controller charging kits are the best for the system.

Xbox One Play and Charge Kit

The official play and charge kit from Microsoft is still the highest rated Xbox One charger available on the market. The consensus is that the Lithium Ion batteries are high-quality and hard to replace with any other charger that comes with NiMH battery packs. According to 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.”

Pombrio’s biggest gripe was that it’s a plug-and-play charger rather than a charging station, hence you have to use the micro-USB plug-in in order to charge the controller as opposed to hooking it up to a stand allowing it to automatically charge. The common complaint with the official play and charge kit is that some users didn’t like that in order to charge the controller(s) it has to be plugged into the micro-USB port and some customers found that to be a hassle. The play and charge kit from Microsoft is available used for as low as $15.99 and new for as low as $17.00 at Amazon. The kit is available from GameStop for $24.99. If you’re tight on cash but want a similar charging kit, there is one available for $6.99 from Newegg, but it ships from Asia and doesn’t have any user review ratings.

PDP Officially Licensed 2x Energizer ChargerPerformance Designed Products is an officially licensed third-party hardware manufacturer for Xbox One products. Unlike the Xbox 360, third-party manufacturers and hardware product designers have to register with Microsoft to become licensed makers for Xbox One accessories. With that said, PDP has usually been known to churn out some high-quality products for a wide assortment of platforms. Gamers apparently like that they’ve managed to keep to that philosophy with their charging kits for the Xbox One.

Unlike the official play and charge kit above, this is a charging station that comes with two slots that allow gamers to charge two Xbox One controllers at once, via AC adapter. It includes two 700mAh Energizer rechargeable battery packs and LED indicators to let gamers know when the controllers are done charging.

Majority of the reviews all praise this particular charging station from PDP because it works great, allows users to easily plug-in-and-charge the controllers and indicates easily when the controllers are done charging. There is one very common complaint about the charger, though: it doesn’t hold the controllers in place very firmly. According to TNel…

“Nothing holds the controllers to the base except for the clear hook, if you have kids and they run around and you don’t have the base in a secure area the controllers could very easily get knocked off of it. I normally wouldn’t care but since they are new and cost $60 each I want to prolong their life as much as I can.”

Other than the less-than-secure base, most customers like PDP’s charger. It’s available on Amazon for as cheap as $17.00 if you get it used, and $19.99 if you get it new. You can also get it from GameStop for $29.99 but I really don’t see why you would. Office Depot has the PDP charger available brand new for only $20.00.

BD&A Charging Station For Xbox OneThe BD&A charging station comes with two rechargeable battery packs for two controllers, and features a click-down charging station to keep the controllers secure. When the controllers are done charging gamers can simply click them up and get back to gaming. There’s also an on-screen battery indicator so you know when the controllers are charged and when they need to be charged.

Michael Tan appeared to like the charger and calls it “thoughtful” and “easy” but still has a few nagging issues with the charger, writing…

“Thoughtful & easy charging/storage design by Power”A”. A full charge lasts me about 6-8hours of gaming (4-5 sessions), and takes about 3.5hrs to fully recharge.

“For $25, I’m still giving it a good rating although the click up/down does not always set the controller onto the charging points. There’s no guarantee that it will lock into place, so you’ll have to peek at the charging LED to be sure.”

Simbany1 didn’t like the click-down feature at all, but still thought the charging worked fine in spite of the one feature that eventually had him turning to Nyko instead…

“The charger does it’s job in giving you rechargeable controllers but it was really finicky to get the controller on and get it to charge. You have to make sure that the charger “slot” is pressed down (it’s got some sort of spring mechanism that clicks the charging slot to be on and off charging mode I guess). It became a little too annoying and had to return it and got the Nyko charging base instead. Much better solution. Had them for the Xbox 360 and should have just stuck with it.“

JohnnySmooth didn’t have any troubles with the click-down but did worry a little bit about the life of the batteries, writing…

“Don’t get me wrong, it does seem a bit cheap. I don’t know how long the click will stay strong or the batteries will last. At least as being new I know the batteries last longer than a 6 hour gaming session. That’s about my max on a weekend and I have had no issues with the batteries needing charged mid play. Only time will tell as to there life span, but everything dies eventually. For <$25 I’m ok with that.”

If the BD&A charger seems like the sort of thing you would want for your setup, you can it from Amazon for about $32.99. Some of the third-party vendors sell it for about $24.99. Rakuten has the charging station available for as cheap as $8.95.

Nyko Modular Charge StationWith the one user talking about the Nyko charging station, it would seem wrong to not include it given that this is one of the most highest rated charging stations for the Xbox One. The station is a USB-powered device that can charge two Xbox One wireless controllers at once. It comes with two custom-made NiMH rechargeable battery packs and each battery pack provides gamers with up to 25 mean and clean hours of play time.

The “modular” part comes into play with its ability to snugly fit atop the Xbox One, so when you aren’t playing you can easily charge two controllers. An LED indicator will let you know when they get done charging.

While citing slow charge times, Joseph Ferris still seemed to enjoy the functionality of the Nyko modular charging base for the Xbox One, writing in his review…

“The initial charge time was a little slow, at around five hours for a full charge. However, it was mostly expected, due to the charger being powered by USB. Placing the controllers into the cradle is simple, and requires no undue delicacy or fiddling to get it in the right position.”

The unfortunately named Luuk Lamers found the charging station to be a “nice system” but did warn about the eject button on the back of the device, writing…

“This is a nice system that complements the Xbox one and plugs into one of the USB ports on the back. Don’t forget to check the eject button on the back to make the suction cups work (I didn’t notice until I clicked it by accident)”

There aren’t any consistently negative traits about this particular charging station. A few people complained about the adhesive not sticking to the Xbox One entirely, but otherwise it’s all gravy.

The Nyko modular charging station is available on Amazon for $21.50, with a used one available for as low as $15.00, but there’s no telling how long that price will stick. There’s also one from Electotronics for about $19.94.