CACACOL Portable Magnetic AA/AAA Battery Phone Emergency Charger with MicroUSB-Lightning Adapter and MicroUSB-TypeC Adapter Suit for Cell Phone Smart Devices

I bought this because I like little "prepper" gadgets and I thought this would be a cool addition to my gear. It can use both AA and AAA batteries and comes with adapters for I-phone and USB-C phones. It's magnetic so once the batteries are in they don't fall out easily. It won't fully charge your phone but in an emergency situation even a partial charge is better than nothing. Even if you had to pull out the batteries on a TV remote you could at least make a phone call for help. I think this is a handy little gadget that you might only need a couple times...but those times could be critical moments.

I live in Florida, which is prone to hurricanes during monsoon season (July - November). In preparation for this year's monsoon season, I purchased this battery operated phone charger. Unfortunately, it did not work at all. Let's begin with the fact that I had to position my phone a certain way for it to even register. Then, even with my phone at 80%, the charger didn't charge. At first, I assumed it was the batteries. So, I replaced the batteries with fresh ones. The charger still didn't work. If anything, it actually reverse charged my phone, as it seemed to drain my phone's battery. 10/10 do not recommend this product.

I got this because I was putting together compact emergency kits for my sister and myself. I wanted to be able to charge a phone in an emergency, either when hiking, or if stranded in the car. I didn't want a battery bank since it can get so hot in a parked car and could ruin the battery. I already had AA batteries in the kit for a flashlight and wanted to use them, but I didn't have room for a USB charger box powered by 4 AA batteries.This charger is incredibly compact and took up almost no space in my kit. I tried it with a few phones and it started charging them successfully. I like that it comes with adapters, since I don't know who might need to use it with their phone in an emergency.I'm not concerned about how long the AA/AAA battery will last or how hot it gets. I just intend to use it to charge up a phone enough to start up and make a call or 2.

My only complaint is the slow charging speed. That may be a limit of the AA batteries that are used, as they get a little warm while in use. A pair of 3300 milliamp hour rated rechargeable AA batteries will add about 30% charge to my phone in about an hour, then be dead. An Energizer AA has a slightly lower rating. AAA batteries have capacity ratings that are about 1/3 as much. The general quality of the device seems good. It is nice & small. If there was a version that used 4 AA batteries & charged twice as fast, for a similar price, I would also buy one of those.

The good:- This is the only product I could find to charge my phone from AA batteries, which I have plenty of lying around for various reasons, including many rechargeable ones. I try to keep at least four charged at all times.- The USB C adapter isn't a plug combination that violates the USB-C spec (but read on...)The bad:- The magnetization is kind of a gimmick. The connection between the charger and batteries is poor and makes intermittent high pitched whining and hissing sounds.- You have to store batteries somewhere anyway, which would've been easier if this device had a proper battery case.- The choice to have the "native" plug be USB Micro B and include adapters for USB-C and lightning is... interesting. It makes the product kind of fragile. Also, this defeats the purpose of the clever "storage" mode that hides the plug because you'd also have to carry around and not lose the adapter.- Nothing seems to be limiting how much current the phone can draw and the batteries get extremely hot. My Pixel 4a+5G happily charges at its max capacity. This is probably OK for a quick 10-minute hit of power but definitely not something I'd be comfortable with leaving unattended. I suspect the included B->C adapter violates the USB-C spec because when I swapped it out for another one I have, the phone charged much more slowly.Conclusion:This is a good idea but poorly executed. I'll probably end up scrapping this product and using the parts + a 3D printer to make a better one.

I was wrong. I had bad batteries. It works fine.My apologies

Super finicky to get started, it won't charge my phone at all but it will sustain the percentage it is at. It's cool to have on hand but practically wise, ehhhhhh

The batteries stick to the magnetic ends with ease. Charging was fast, as if I were using an AC charger block. The assembly is not something you can carry around easily or hold up against your ear for a call, but this is an emergency device, so you should operate it with phone laying flat on a table or with your phone in an angled stand. One observation was that batteries got quite warm until the phone was fully charged, but that did not cause any problems.Since we keep a wholesale club package full of AA batteries because so many devices use that battery size, if we were to have an extended AC power outage this device will be very helpful and we will have plenty of batteries on hand to use in this device.