http://www.bonafidereviews.com/review-of-konnet-powerv-duo-induction-charger-for-wii/

Quote: “Today for review I’ve got a brand new product from Konnet that uses Induction technology to charge your Wii remotes. Induction technology in short is no cables involved, it essentially charges wirelessly and that’s something I think anyone can appreciate. The product is called the PowerV Duo, but besides the fact that it uses induction charging it also included two extra USB ports to charge your Nintendo DS or any other gadget with a USB cable. I’ll be honest I like this product a lot, so read on to learn more about what I think is one of the best accessories for your Wii..”

Today for review I’ve got the Elite Fitness Pack+ NW from Thrustmaster for the Wii that has several things in it to make sure you get a nice workout with your Wii. Included is a stepper extension that raises your Wii balance board, a set of weights, a carrying bag, a pedometer and a few other things. So read on to check it out…

http://www.bonafidereviews.com/review-of-thrustmaster-elite-fitness-pack-nw-for-wii/

Accessory kits for the Wii are interesting, there’s quite a few of them out there and many are rather specialized, like specifically for gaming.Today I’ve got a kit that is more of a general purpose accessory kit, it’s one that includes a little bit of everything..

Today for review I’ve got another accessory kit, but this one is not exactly just for gaming, it’s a kit that  has a little bit of everything in it.  In this kit from CTA Digital you’ll find a components cable, three different controller covers, an accessory box, replacement straps, fan filters, a clear skin for your Wii and even a cleaning cloth. There’s quite a few things in this kit, but the best part of it is the price it’s about $18, so for under $20 you can get many different and useful accessories for your Wii. So read on to see everything and learn a bit about each part…

Info:

Product Name: 15 in 1 Accessory Kit

Supplier: CTA Digital

MSRP: $17.99

UPC:: 656777002312

15 in 1 Accessory Kit

PART # WI-15K

With this ultimate accessory package for your Wii, you will satisfy all of your gaming needs in one pack.

A Rubber Grip Controller Handle, so you can enjoy your gaming experience with complete control and never have to worry about your controller slipping out of your hands.

Rechargeable Batteries for your controller that you can charge while your Wii is idle and can enjoy uninterrupted play upon resuming your gaming, a USB Cable DC .07 that charges the batteries.

Two Silicone Sleeves for your controllers to protect them from dust, scratches and minor bumps that will surely happen with intense gaming.

Three Belt Handles that connects to the controller and secures around your wrist to avoid damaging the controller if it should slip from your hands.

Two Air Filters for the Wii console that protect it from dust and other harmful micro organisms.

Adhesive Film that you can apply to the Wii console that protect the exterior from dust and scratches.

Micro-fiber Towel for wiping down your Wii Console.

Control Holder to store your controllers.

Cable Components to connect your Wii to your television and other entertainment devices.

With the plethora of items to choose from, what more could Wii owners ask for?

Package includes:
* Control Holder
* Rechargeable Batteries for Controllers
* Adhesive Film
* 2 Air Filters
* Micro-Fiber Towel
* Cable Holder
* Rubber Controller Handle
* 2 Silicone Sleeves for Controllers
* Cable Components
* USB Cable for Batteries
* 3 Belt Handles for Controller

The Review::

There’s a bunch of stuff in this kit, the kit comes in a sealed plastic clamshell style package:

Here’s a group shot, then we’ll take a look at each piece individually:

So we’ll start with one of the most useful things in this kit the Component cable, this item alone is probably worth the cost of the kit. Sure you can get them for cheaper, the quality is not bad overall. There are really only a couple thing in this kit that I like and think make the kit worth the cost, and this is one of them.

Next up is the silicone controller covers, they just slip right onto the Wiimote and Nunchuk. They are nice to have, and I like the fact they are very thin and add virtually no bulk to the controller, but yet they provide protection and a non-slip grip.

Next up are the fan filters, two of them, but I’m not too sure about these. Are they really needed? And I have to question if they’ll actually do more harm than good over the long term. It’s a filter, pulling the air though will make the fans work harder, and of course if you don’t keep them clean the fans will work even hard possibly shortening the lifespan of the fan and thus your Wii.

Three straps are included, two of the are the nylon cloth and the last is a leather like. These aren’t bad I guess, the cloth ones are a bit thicker than the ones that comes with the controllers, and they’re softer.

Here are the straps compared to the ‘real’ Wii strap:

Next up there’s a cleaning cloth included in the kit, not much to say about this, it works fine I guess…

Included as well is a battery pack and charging cable, it works well and can save you some money on batteries in the long run..

The next thing is actually one of my favorite parts in this kit and one that I’ve used quite a bit, the Wiimote cover so you can use it like a game controller. It’s a clear thick soft rubber and it seems well made.

Also included in the kit is a clear protective cover for your Wii. It’s adhesive so you can apply it like other covers of this kind fairly easily. I did not use it though as I have the MusicSkins Skin on my Wii. I figure i can save it and cut it as need be to use as screen protectors for other devices I’ve got on hand.

There’s also an accessory box included, or actually a box to transport you Wiimote and Nunchuk. it’s a hard plastic box, it’s a nice idea I guess but you can barely get the controller in it and when you do the lid is hard to close.

There’s also a goofy little wire management thing included in the kit, kinda pointless I think…

As far as actually using these things, well there’s not much to say that I haven’t already said when looking at each part.

The quality of most of the stuff is not bad, about what you’d expect for the price, but overall better than I expected it to be.

Conclusion:

For about $18 you can get quite a few things, some of which can be worthwhile and useful and some of which are rather pointless and stupid.

The useful does outweigh the useless though, and in terms of price it’s well worth it.

I use the little storage box, not for it’s intended purpose, but I took out the insert and now use it for other things like batteries, covers, cables etc, so it can be useful.

Overall it’s not a bad kit, yes some of the stuff you might already have like the straps, but it’s nice to have extras isn’t it?

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Scores::
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Price:
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Usability:

Disclosure:This product was given to Wii Digest for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. This product may have also been bought by us for review purposes and does not influence the review.

Today for review I’ve got the Thrustmaster Sports Pack + NW which is a nice all around pack of accessories for people who like playing sports on the Wii. It works especially well with Wii Sports Resort as it includes Jet Ski like grips, a sword attachment, a ping paddle, a tennis racket and a gold club too. You can of course use these attachments with many games for the Wii, like you could use the sword with Red Steel 2. It’s all compatible with the MotionPlus so you’ll be able to fully take advantage or it with the accessories. So read on to check it out…

Info:

Product Name: Sports Pack + NW

Supplier: Thrustmaster

MSRP: $34.99

UPC:: 663296414915

Sports Pack + NW

The pack includes:
-The universal grip, featuring multiple extensions for the Wii Remote Controller
-1 "jet ski"-style silicone skin for the Wii Remote Controller and 1 skin for the Nunchuk
-1 sword extension
-1 tennis racket extension
-1 golf club extension
-1 ping pong bat extension

Plug & Play: simply insert your Wii Remote Controller in the grip then add the selected extension according to the selected game or mini-game.

Wii MotionPlus compatible

Ideal for sports games, including the new releases using the Wii MotionPlus feature (Wii Sport Resort, Grand Slam Tennis, Tiger Woods etc.)

The Review::
So I guess we can start off with an unboxing video for you to see:

Then we can move on to the pictures:

In the pack is a semi-hard plastic handle that’s to be used with the accessories to attach them to your remote. The back or bottom is rubberized for grip. On the top is a hole with screw thread inside, that’s how you attach the accessories.

Here’s my remote in the handle:

The bottom of the handle is open so you can attach the MotionPlus to your controller.

The Ping Pong paddle is actually rather heavy and it does look and feel like the real thing:

There is also an extension that is to be used with both the golf club attachment and the sword attachment, they’re threaded so they just screw on of off.

The golf club attachment is just a head basically, and it screws onto the extension:

The sword accessory is just a pointy piece of plastic, the tips though is a soft rubber to prevent injuries.

There are also two rubber grips for the remote and  nunchuck, they’re supposed to simulate the grips on a Jet Ski. They can be used for that type of game or just as a cover for your controller. They’re nice thick rubber and they seem very durable and they’re comfortable as well.

It should be noted that the MotionPlus fits inside of the rubber cover for the remote.

For testing this stuff I played games, how else would I test it right?

I played Wii Sports Resort and Tiger Woods Golf along with Red Steel 2, and it’s fun really. The accessories truly add a new dimension of enjoyment to game play.

As I mentioned in the intro I like stuff like this a lot, but I like quality accessories and not junk like a lot of the stuff out there, and Thrustmaster knows how to make a quality product. I own other Thrustmaster products and have never had a problem with them.

The tennis racket and ping pong paddle are nicely made. The tennis racket is a semi-soft plastic so it’s a little flexible, it’s made this way of course so that if you have an errant swing and smack into something it won’t break, or it won’t hurt the person you’re hitting too much..

The shaft that goes with the sword and golf club is a semi-flexible plastic as well, it’s hollow and I’ve sure if you hit something hard enough with it you’ll damage it, but you’re not supposed to be hitting things with it, and it’s not supposed to be weapons grade material either.

The rubber grips are great really, you can use them in place of the regular Wii covers, and you’ll have a nice matching set, so you don’t have to just use it for any single game. it’s a great multi-purpose cover really.

All in all if you’re into accessories then you might want to grab this kit.

The only drawback I can see with this kit is that it only includes one of each accessory and most of us have at least two controllers, so you’ll probably have to buy two of these kits to get the maximum enjoyment out of these accessories.

The price for this kit is about $35, and I think that’s just a little high, especially considering you’ll probably need two of these kits. I’d say $25 would be a good price really for this kit, but that’s just my humble opinion…

Conclusion:
The Thrustmaster Sports Pack + NW is an accessory that I think is a must have for Wii sports title fans, it’s very well made, and it will add a new depth to your gaming.

The overall quality is nice, and the assortment that’s included in the kit is one that will work with many games.

The included remote and nunchuk cover is a nice addition, not only for sports games but just for all around use.

Thrustmaster knows how to make a quality product truly, if you’re looking for accessories for the Wii then check them out first really. They do have several accessories and accessory packs for the Wii available.

PROS	CONS
+Works with MotionPlus +Lots of uses for the accessories +Quality made products, they should last quite a while with care +Covers can be left on for use with any games	-You’ll need more than one set really -Personally I think the price is a bit high

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Aesthetic:
Price:
Quality:
Usability:

Disclosure:This product was given to Wii Digest for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. This product may have also been bought by us for review purposes and does not influence the review.

Today for review I’ve got an inexpensive product from CTA Digital called the Double Charge Station. What  it entails is two battery packs for your Wii Remotes and a charging base to charge them while they are in your remotes. The Charge Station retails for about $15, and that’s not bad considering how much batteries cost and how much you could save using rechargeable batteries. The charge station is compatible with the Wii MotionPlus too, so you can charge the batteries with it on, but you can’t charge with the rubber covers on the controllers. So read on to learn more about this product…

Info:

Product Name: Double Charge Station for Wii

Supplier: CTA Digital

MSRP: $14.99

UPC:: 656777000004

Double Charge Station for Wii

PART # WI-DDC

Recharge two Wii Remotes simultaneously with the Dual Charger Station from CTA Digital. This charge station contains a two-space cradle that allows you to charge and rest two remotes, with or without Wii MotionPlus adapters connected, in an upright position.  Also included are two sets of rechargeable 1800 mAh batteries, which are enclosed in a mold that you can attach to the back of your Wii Remote™. The Dual Charger Station is powered by a USB cable that attaches from the AC adaptor connection (located on the back of the device) to a USB port on the Wii Console.

Features:
-Charges one or two Wii Remotes
-LED charge indicator light
-Wii MotionPlus compatible

Specs:
-Capacity: 1800 mAh
-Game play after charge: approximately 13-20 hours
-Charging time: 7 hours

Pack includes:
-30 inch USB cable included
-Two 1800 mAh Rechargeable Batteries
-One base Station to recharge one or two Wii Remotes

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The Review::

The Charge Station comes in a sealed plastic clamshell style case that you’ll need to fight to get open.

Once open you’ll find a brief instruction page, along with the base, two batteries and a USB charging cable.

The USB cable is nice and long at 30 inches so it should reach most anywhere you need to put it.

The Charge Base itself is plastic and lightweight but it feels well made and sturdy. On the front you’ll find two places for your Wii Remotes, which both have two sets of charging contacts. There’s also two LEDs between the charge spaces to indicate charging and charged status.

On the back you’ll find the power connection for the USB cable and an on/off switch.

The batteries are actually battery packs basically, they are incorporated into the battery compartment cover. This is nice as you don’t have to worry about losing them, but you can’t replace the batteries either.

Here’s a couple examples of the batteries and the Wii Remote with and with the MotionPlus attachment:

And here are my remotes in the stand itself, again with and without the MotionPlus:

Using the Charge Station is simple, just plug it into your Wii, turn both the Wii and the Charge Station on then put your remotes into it to charge. of course you’ll have to put the batteries into the remotes though..

When the remotes are charging the LEDs are red, once they are complete the LEDs will turn blue:

As you can see from all of the pictures my remotes are not in their rubber cases, yes you must remove the Wii remotes from the cases to charge. Is it worth the hassle? maybe, maybe not as the batteries don’t seem to last very long.

I use my Wii maybe once, twice per week and I found that usually, if left alone, the batteries will be dead if you don’t use them for a week. If you leave them on the charger that’s not an issue but you’ll need to leave your Wi on or in standby mode to keep power to the remotes.

Yes this will work in most situations as most people will just leave their Wii in standby mode, but I don’t. I use a power saving device called the the TV TrickleSaver and how it works is that you connect you TV to one part of it, then connect a power strip or other devices to the other port, it senses when you turn you TV off and fully cuts the power to the other devices, then when you turn your TV on it turns the power back on. What it does is kill ‘energy vampires’ and not let your devices go into standby mode thus saving power. So essentially my Wii does not go into standby mode, it just fully powers off and won’t be charging the Wii remotes.

As far as charge time, it takes about 7 hours for a charge from a dead battery, and I got about 15 hours play time, which is right in the middle of the 13-20 hours that they claim you should get. You can just put it back on the charger when you’re done playing and it will just re-charge, basically a maintenance charge so you’ll always have a full remote battery, but again you need to leave power on to the Wii and cannot turn it off fully.

That time i got though for playing was without the MotionPlus, you can cut it down by about 3 hours if you’re using the the MotionPlus attachment. Still though you should get about 12 hours of play, which is most likely more than enough, not many people play the Wii for 12 hours straight or over that I’m sure.

So it depends on your usage and how you use your Wii if this is  a product that might be good for you.

For about $15 though, I think this could save you quite a bit of money in batteries in the long run though.

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Conclusion:
So is this product worth it?  For the price I’d have to most certainly say yes. For $15 you can get the two batteries and the bas station and you should be able to save yourself quite a bit of money in batteries in the process.

The downside though is that you can’t charge with the rubber sleeves on the remotes, and you must leaver power on to the Wii to charge the batteries and to make sure they keep their charge.
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Quality:
Usability:

Disclosure:This product was given to Wii Digest for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. This product may have also been bought by us for review purposes and does not influence the review.

Using Netflix on the Wii is obviously not going to be in HD, but still the quality is very good, though I am running via component connection at 720×480 resolution on an HDTV so most everything looks good for me. If you don’t have the component cable for the Wii I highly suggest you grab it as it does make a difference in the quality of the picture for both games and videos.

I do use Netflix on my Xbox360 and on my PC, but now I’ve got another option, options are nice to have I guess, but I’m not sure I’ll be using the Wii that much for Netflix. The interface is quite a bit different than that of the Xbox360, it’s made for the Wii of course and it works for what it is.

So here’s the ‘box shots’, on the inside of the envelope if the instructions.

Inside the envelope is the DVD in it’s own sleeve with the instructions on it. Yes you must use the disc every time you want to watch Netflix, it would be nice if we could add a Netflix channel to the Wii so we don’t have to use it every time though.

All the screenshots below are done in actual size, so you can click on them for the full 720×480 view.

Just put your disc in the WIi and go to your computer to access you Netflix account to activate it with the code the Wii shows you on the screen, in about 2 minutes your synced and ready to start watching your favorite movies and TV.

Clicking on it gives you the familiar start screen, and then the Netflix loading screen. Load time is about 30 seconds, until the second screen appears with the Wiimote on it and then it loads for about another 30 seconds. It’s at least a minute before you hit the actual Netflix screen with you Instant Queue. For me that’s not too bad really. Just so you know I do have a nice fast 20/30 FIOS internet connection.

When it loads you’re greeted with your Instant Queue. I tossed some stuff in there and yes I’m watching Weeds…

Netflix gives you many categories including the ‘Like’ suggestions which personally I don’t care for too much. Just because I watched ‘The Big Lebowski’ again, Netflix thinks I want to watch more movies like it!?!

The categories besides Instant Queue that I’ve got listed on my dashboard are these, of course yours might differ from mine:

Foreign:

Documentary:

Horror:

Children & Family:

Television:

Thrillers:

Romance:

Independent:

Sci-Fi & Fantasy:

Drama:

Action & Adventure:

Comedy:

New Arrivals: TV:

New Arrivals: Movies:

There’s three ‘Like’ categories listed for me:

British Movies:

Gritty Movies:

Exciting Movies:

Scary Psychological Thrillers:

Recently Watched:

You can click on the movies to see more about them with the option to add or play.

Here’s what it looks like when I watched Weeds, since it’s a series you can continue watching or select another episode, remove or play from beginning.

Selecting another episode brings up the list of episodes with little descriptions under them:

After you select which you want, just go back and hit play:

After hitting play you’ll have the load screen, it only took a matter of seconds before the show was playing for me.

The quality for me was actually very good, no stuttering, or pixels floating around.

If you move the Wiimote the on-screen navigation will appear with slider bar, play/pause and times and up in the right corner is the back button.

Well that’s about it, it works and works well.

Yes it isn’t HD, but it looks very good nonetheless!

Having Netflix on the Wii is nice addition to add more functionality to your Wii and truly make it part of your family entertainment.

Today for review I’m taking a look at a Custom Skin for the Wii. MusciSkin offers a wide variety of pre-made, top quality skins but they also offer a way to create your own. The skin not only offers a bit of protection for your Wii but also adds a personal touch with your own designs. The skin is actually several parts for the Wii, the Wii base and for one controller as well so things will match up nicely. it’s not a bad product overall especially if you’re bored with the plain white of the Wii. I went and created one for my Wii, so read on to learn about the design process and see the finished result…

Info:

Product Name: MusicSkins Custom Wii Skin

MFG: MusicSkins

MSRP: $35

Our durable skins are made of premium vinyl, which will defend your device from the harshest scratches. The special adhesive is completely removable and leaves no residue so you can easily switch your MusicSkins for the latest release. MusicSkins add almost zero bulk so your device will still integrate perfectly with almost any case, bag, dock, iTrip or armband.

No Scratches
MusicSkins protect your precious device with a durable anti-scratch, anti-UV coating.    

Easy On… Easy off
3M Adhesive technology prevents bubbles and allows easy application and clean removal.
Premium Materials
MusicSkins are Made In The USA. Ultra Premium vinyl sets us apart from all other skin products.    

No Bulk
Ultra-low profile means flawless integration with all accessories including docks, iTrip, cases, bags, and armbands.

The Review::
We’ll start with the designer on the MusicSkins website.

Open up the program and you’ll select what you want a skin for, in my case it’s for the Wii.

I wanted my Wii to be black, so I changed the color of the skin to black, you can pick from virtually any color though. There are two sheets to the skin so you could make them be separate colors, but I chose all black.

Then you can upload images or even add test with the buttons at the top. I wanted mine to be custom for me so I used my logo from DragonSteelMods and the Wii digest logo as well. It’s minimalistic, but that’s the way I want it, you can of course add anything you want really and fill it up.

Once you’d uploaded the images just add them to your design. You can rotate and resize them as need be.

The customizer works well but it has no identification on it, you really can’t tell which way is up and which way is down unless of course you know your Wii by heart. For me I had to actually grab my Wii and figure out which skins part went where and which way on my Wii. We wouldn’t want thing to be upside down right? it would be nice if the template were labeled, or maybe even if they included an exploded diagram so you’d know exactly which piece of the skin goes where on your Wii and which way they go.

I’ve dealt with MusicSkins before and I got my order within 3 days of placing it, but for this order there were some issues with shipping and it took almost two weeks to get to me. That’s not normal though, and because of the problem they actually shipped my order Fedex to me instead of regular mail, they upgraded the shipping basically.

As I said I’ve gotten orders form them before and I learned that you need to use very high quality images or they don’t look that good. So if you’re thinking about it, make sure the pictures you use are very high resolution, or they will be fuzzy especially if you make them larger. It’s best to use the large image and make it smaller to fit.

The skin arrives in a plastic bag or envelope.

MusicSkins uses 3M Controltac paper for the skins:

The Wii skin is two pages so when you open it up you can see them both of course.

As I mentioned I used two images only, my dragon and the Wii digest logo on the left and right sides of the Wii.

Time to get started applying it. The first thing I did was apply the two large side pieces, I found that using a credit card helped to smooth it out. It’s not bad but I quickly found out that it doesn’t actually cover the entire Wii, white will be showing through.

Next was the top, front and back parts. The top is in two pieces actually. It was fairly easy to apply, but it takes time and patience especially the back and front where you’ve got to line it up just right around the button and ports. I also cut out the Nintendo logo just for the heck of it…

The next part was the base. There are four parts to it, and they don’t exactly line up perfectly, but you can get it to work by stretching it and moving it around.

Next was the controller, this was pretty easy, but again you really have to be careful to get the buttons lined up correctly. I found that even if you get most of them lined up, it seems they all won’t be centered no matter what you do.

Here’s a bunch of pictures of everything with the skin on:

Overall it’s not bad, but the white does show through and I’m not quite sure if I like that or not just yet…

It will protect your Wii from scratches etc, and it does add a bit or personality to it. Once you get your custom skin on there it’s yours, you’ve got the only one like it in the world.

Conclusion:
The MusicSkins Custom Wii Skin is pretty good overall, but the actual designer program needs a bit of improvement. it would be nice if they showed you exactly where each part fo the skin goes on your Wii and which way they are positioned.

For $35 you get a truly custom skin for your Wii, your Wii will not look like any other out there and it will be protected as well.

it’s not a bad choice to add a bit of color and customization to your Wii truly.

PROS	CONS
- Protects your Wii - Truly customize your Wii to your own personality - Skin is well made, tough and durable	- Only one controller skin - Installation takes time and patience - Hard to figure out what goes where in the designer

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Scores::
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Aesthetic:
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Usability:

Disclosure:This product was given to Wii Digest for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. This product may have also been bought by us for review purposes and does not influence the review.