11. Backup Battery Pack - F8E464 - Belkin, Continued

The Backup Battery Pack has white trim to match the color of the iPod. The Backup Battery Pack clips onto the back of the iPod using tasteful and discreet suction cups that will not mar the back of your iPod. This attachment process, however, has a big potential problem in that it does not integrate with any type of case protection for the iPod. Unless you want to hold the Battery Pack Backup by itself, you will be forced to remove the iPod from its protective case (and we just expounded previously as to the necessity for iPod case protection). This is not an optimum design for that reason. Even after removing the suction cups from the back of the Backup Battery Pack to use the outer plastic clips to reach around the outside of the iSkin eXo, (which would have only added an additional 6mm that these clips needed) these clips offered no "give" at all. This is a shame, since otherwise it would have fit reasonably well on the outside of the iSkin eXo. This is a design shortcoming that Belkin needs to address.

The Backup Battery Pack has a four-level LED that allows the user to know when to change the batteries, a helpful feature. Accidentally turning on/off the power is prevented by a secure switch on the Battery Backup Pack; this addresses one of the potential problems of the unit. Installing the Battery Backup Pack is an easy process of installing the four batteries and attaching the unit to the iPod via the dock connector on the bottom of the iPod.

Overall, the concept of the Backup Battery Pack is a good one, but we have a problem with a claim made by Belkin that is printed on both the product and on Belkin's Web site: according to the product packaging and the Web site, the Backup Battery Pack provides 15 to 20 hours of battery life. This is a puzzling claim, as we were never able to achieve between 15 to 20 hours of battery of life using the Belkin Backup Battery Pack. What is omitted from this 15 to 20 hour claim is the fact that Belkin is including in the battery life count the 7 to 8 hours of battery life of the internal iPod, plus the additional battery life provided by the Backup Battery Pack. In our testing, we averaged about 7 hours 45 minutes to 7 hours 52 minutes on the iPod internal battery. Once we added the additional time provided by the Backup Battery Pack, we consistently averaged about 7 hours and 32 minutes to 8 hours 4 minutes of additional play time. Only when you add both the internal battery run time along with the run time of the Backup Battery Pack can you reach Belkin's battery life claim of 15 to 20 hours.

In our best test, we were able to combine both the internal battery as well as the Backup Battery Pack for a total run time of 16 hours even. However, we should note that the scores did vary a little bit based on the brand of AA batteries that we used. Perhaps using the most powerful, expensive AA batteries that are available might make it possible to achieve the 20 hours claimed by Belkin. We would encourage Belkin to spell out these battery claims better on the both the packaging and its Web site with some sort of disclaimer; the way the claim reads currently, consumers may feel misled by the 15 to 20 hour battery life representations, particularly since it is not disclosed that this figure includes the internal battery as well as the Backup Battery Pack to reach that total.

The Backup Battery Pack does perform as expected, but when installed on the iPod it almost doubles the size of the iPod. This is one of the things that will turn many off to the concept of the Backup Battery Pack. Retailing at a suggested price of $69.99 US, this product is not an added feature that iPod users will purchase on a whim. While there is a segment of the market that may need or want the ability to extend the run time of the iPod, this solution from Belkin is not without negative points that might make users investigate simpler, less costly solutions (such as a cigarette lighter adapter that offers charging). The Backup Battery Pack from Belkin does offer a three year product warranty.