A week ago, I followed Shockrave on his quest for a new printer. He settled for a brother HL2140 from Officeworks – which I think is a decent laser printer. On the other hand, something else caught my eye:
The Energizer USB battery charger. It's no secret I'm a big fan of Energizer USB rechargable batteries, I have over 16 of them littered all over my apartment in many many devices. It's a nifty little device that charges battery via USB, and it even works with those USB adapters you may have laying about. While to most people this may not be a big deal, to me it is – when I travel, carrying one USB AC adapter and several USB cables saves a lot of space. (I chose the green coloured one simply because that felt like the most “Energizer Rechargable” brand oriented.)
The cable coils nicely around the device and the USB plug tucks in neatly into a slot built into the charger. Some of you may not value this simple aesthetic yet functional design, but I do.
Fully uncoiled, it looks like this:
Like other Energizer chargers, it supports charging AA and AAA batteries (it actually comes with two 900mAh AAA batteries.
The AAA batteries charge using the familiar fold down piece.
Curious about what it looks like inside underneath the batteries?
This charger can charge just one battery. (Handy for those who use rechargeable in mice like the VX Revolution that only use one battery.)
Once you've loaded the batteries, and closed the cover:
Then, download their software, plug it into the computer and:
(The timer did correct itself to 4 hours after a while. Not sure why it went down all the way to 9 hours 14 minutes.)
I'm not going to lie, it was an impulse buy, and serves little purpose to me now. That being said, if I need to charge only two batteries, this is a lot more convenient than the slightly bulkier travel charger I bring around. It serves its purpose, and like most Energizer chargers, the batteries don't get as hot as some other chargers do – and if you like having a small USB device that can charge batteries lying somewhere in your room near your computer – don't hesistate to pick one of these up. 
I do use it relatively often, since I find myself actually occasionally needing to charge 6 batteries at once sometimes. You may find that weird, but hey, I consume batteries at an alarming rate.
Can you advise the site address to dowmload the Software ?
Try here: http://www.energizer.com/usbcharger/language/english/download.aspx
I’ve just bought this little thing.
Sadly, the timer doesn’t appear to be showing correct value. The timer software (or it’s driver) seems to be buggy. (shows 00:53 or 01:53 and then 04:52 and then timer seems to work stable but I’m charging those included 900mAh AAAs, it shouldn’t take that long)
But this thing worked with a car usb plug and 220V adapter. It’s a nice little charger, but it’s overpriced in my country.
Ah. I think it’s a nice thing to have around, but yes, it isn’t the most practical thing, nor is the timer of much use, but I think that has more to do with the fact that rechargeable battery voltage is (sadly) unpredictable.
Got one of these for pennies today and very pleased with it. I have subsequently discovered they were withdrawn by Energizer due to a trojan in the software.
I did wonder why my PC attepted to install the software and then no trace of it. Anyway, I know it takes 2 hours to charge my AAA’s so it makes no real difference.
I am rather surprised that the store I purchased it in would be selling a withdrawn item 3 months after it was supposed to be recalled, given that it is a large multinational.
I am surprised that it took years till the trojan was discovered:
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/154421
Also would be really nice if Energizer would open up a description of the hardware interface so that its possible to write an own software as replacement – also for Linux.
Just found a Linux project using libusb:
http://code.google.com/p/chusb/
maybe its also a base for Win32 since libusb compiles for Win32 too …
I really need to start blogging again – can’t believe I abandoned the comments for so long. It just feels like Energizer just sold it as a novelty and then proceeded to abandon it – which is a shame.