PSP Charging Cradle from Brando Review

— By Charles Starrett
If you're a semi-design oriented techie like I am, you like to keep your gadgets organized on your desk. One of the easiest ways to do that is with docks and cradles. At times these docks can be prohibitively expensive, but fortunately this isn't the case for the PSP Charging Cradle, available from Brando.

The PSP Charging Cradle comes in blister pack plastic packaging and is tagged with the logo of unknown company "GameTop". Once open, there is very little inside the package — basically all that's contained is the cradle. Once out of the packaging, use of the cradle is extremely straight-forward: simply plug your PSP charger into the open power jack on the back of the cradle, and set your PSP in the cradle, making sure the power contacts of the PSP (located just below the power jack hole) are exposed.

Once in the cradle, the PSP is relatively secure. It would have been nice to see the bottom accessory holes utilized for a more secure connection, but as it is it's not bad. The black plastic matches the PSP nicely and the PSP's charging status light immediately lights up when it's properly set in the cradle. Charging times for us were just slightly longer than the two and a half hours stated on the package — in our testing, it took the cradle two hours forty-three minutes to charge a dead PSP.

For some unknown reason, there is a white light in the middle of the front of the cradle that lights up when the cradle is receiving power. We could find no real reason for its existence — it doesn't really help illuminate the top when trying to dock the PSP in a dark environment, and it can be distracting when trying to watch video or a movie while the PSP is docked, which really detracts from its usefulness.

Overall, the PSP Charging Cradle is not a bad product. It provides fast charging of the PSP, and provides a nice-looking stand for it. Unfortunately, the white light on the front can distract from the PSP's screen. The only other complaint we had was the lack of an audio-out port on the back, which would have made this cradle infinitely more useful (at least to us — we prefer our JBL Creatures to the tiny internal PSP speakers). However, at a price of only $12, the cradle does its job well enough for us to recommend it.

Pros: Inexpensive, fast charging, matches PSP, provides a stand for PSP.

Cons: White light on front can be distracting, no audio-out, not quite as secure as we hoped.

PSPworld Rating: B+

Company: GameTop
Model: PSP Charging Cradle
Price: $12

Comments

Nick: Is it usb powered or AC power. Could you say plug in one of the car adapters for the PSP and use it as a ceepy car cradle?

Charles Starrett: Nick, I suppose it would be possible to use this cradle with any power adapter as long as the charger uses the PSP's power-in plug. However, it would be prudent if this was your plan to go ahead and do a brief "test charge" of 30 minutes or so to make sure the different power sources weren't causing the cradle to get overly hot.

Rodney: I've been looking for something just like this. Lack of audio out is a disappointment for sure. Can you recommend something that would provide this? The Logitech GameGear speaker system perhaps? I just can't tell if it also charges the PSP using AC power.

le bonce: This could be a great product if: a) no silly white light b) it charged with a combined USB charging-data transfer cable for some happy syncing.

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