Thursday, March 11, 2021
Huge cells for huge gaming.
Gone are the days of plugging your controllers in with huge winding cables, filling up our drawers and cupboards like mountains of plastic spaghetti. Today we have wireless everything, especially Xbox. Fantastic wireless Xbox headsets, great wireless Xbox controllers, and of course, the best Xbox charging and battery solutions for those controllers. Historically, charging docks and cradles for Xbox controllers haven't always been the best, but thanks to increased competition, things have been getting gradually better.
To that end, say hi to the Fosmon Dual 2 MAX charge dock for Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S controllers. Fosmon make some pretty epic rechargeable battery packs for the Xbox platform, but is their full charge dock up to par? We went hands-on to find out.
Big batteries
Fosmon Dual 2 MAX Charger for Xbox
Bottom line: While this dock boasts impressive 2200mAh battery cells providing dozens of hours of gameplay time, the charge dock itself feels incredibly cheap. Xbox controllers don't sit properly in the front cradle, preventing charging from taking place unless it's sitting with exact perfection.
Pros:
- Beefy battery cells provide 40 hours of gameplay time
- Rubber feet ensure it sits still on surfaces
- Good price
- Compatible with Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S controllers
Cons:
- Micro-USB charging instead of USB-C
- Cheap-feeling construction
- Controllers don't sit properly in the front cradle
What you'll love about the Fosmon Dual 2 MAX Charger
The coolest thing about the Fosmon Dual 2 MAX charger by far is its beefy battery cells. In the box, FOSMON includes two battery doors for compatibility with past-gen controllers and the current-gen Xbox Series S and X controllers, as well as two huge batteries. These cells are 2200 mAh, comparable to the one in the far more expensive Xbox Elite Controller, giving you anywhere up to 40+ hours of life in a single charge.
These cells fit snugly into either generation of controller, sporting a standardized AA size. The battery door slips on perfectly too, with a cutout door to connect it up to the charging port on the dock. The dock itself has segments for up to two controllers.
The charge dock is attractive enough, with a basic black design that should remain understated in your set up. The dock has two large LEDs that flash to indicate a charging status, and go solid when the charging is complete. It connects up to an Xbox console with microUSB and USB-A.
The product overall has a relatively light weight, but the rubber feet and long cable ensure that it will sit still on most flat surfaces. I would've liked it to have had a bit more weight, but the rubber feet are a good compromise.
The battery life on these things is comparable to the Xbox Elite Controller, which is impressive.
Charging batteries from zero up to full can take anywhere up to three hours. But, generally, you won't have to worry about it. Since these batteries are so hefty, you'll find yourself unable to realistically deplete them in a single day. When you're done, just pop them in the dock overnight. Thankfully, neither the batteries nor the dock seem to get warm while charging, which is often the case with some third-party battery solutions.
Unless you're marathoning a 48-hour, non-stop gaming session, you'll likely never notice when these batteries need charging. If you keep your Xbox in power-saving mode (so that accessories don't charge when it's turned off) you can always keep a second controller in the cradle and swap them around as the need arises.
What you'll dislike about the Fosmon Dual 2 MAX Charger
The biggest downside with the Fosmon Dual 2 MAX charger is a design flaw with the front cradle. Since these docks are not magnetized in any way, ensuring the controllers fit with 100 per-cent accuracy is necessary to get it to pick up the charging state. Sadly, the front cradle seems designed in such a way that it doesn't meet the connectors with ease. And even then, a gentle knock or simple gravity seems to be enough to shift it out of the correct position.
I wondered whether this was due to me using the incorrect battery door, but I tried with every battery door supplied in the box, and used different controllers, and found the same issue occurred every time. It's solved very easily with a DIY solution, by ticking some tape to improve the angle and push it further onto the connectors. But do you really want to do that with a product you just paid $30 for? It's not a big deal either way, but worth being aware of.
It's also a bit disappointing perhaps that the charging dock uses microUSB in 2021, given that the modern controllers and, well, most of the world by this point has moved onto USB-C. USB-C would probably bring faster charging, but also, potentially higher costs. It's a minor gripe, ultimately.
For the most part there's nothing inherently terrible with this charge dock. I wish the dock itself felt a little more dense with higher-quality plastics, but at $30 it's hard to complain about that aspect. It does the job it claims to do, providing you with beefy battery life in the process. Providing you can get your controller to sit in the cradle properly, that is.
Should you buy the Fosmon Dual 2 MAX Charger for Xbox?
AA batteries don't last very long, and ideally, you should be using rechargeable batteries as a cost-saving measure if nothing else. There are plenty of options on the market, including Microsoft's own $40 play-and-charge kits, which are roughly around 1400 mAh. And you only get one cell in the package. This one comes with two 2400 mAh cells, as well as a dock, which alone makes it better value than Microsoft's home-grown solution.
Is the dock amazing? No. But it will get the job done, providing you're willing to potentially do a bit of DIY on the front cradle. Some of the reviews on Amazon say that it's not compatible with Xbox Series X and Series S controllers, but I think the issue is that it simply doesn't fully properly fit properly without a bit of DIY. If you're willing to put up with that, then this is a potentially far-cheaper option than what Microsoft offers. And there's always the chance that I was unlucky and got a slightly disjointed unit.
Decent, but not perfect
Fosmon Dual 2 MAX Charger for Xbox
An affordable recharge solution.
The Fosmon Dual 2 MAX Charger for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S isn't the most amazing controller charger on the market, but it'll get the job done at a relatively affordable price.
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