Product: Energizer Power & Play Charging System for PS3 (by Performance Designed Products)
Rating: 4 stars

I finally gave in and upgraded my multiplayer capability by getting an extra controller, and adding bought a PDP charging station for my controllers. It arrived today, and so far I'm pretty happy with it ... I've been able to get rid of the rat's nest of charging cords cluttering my entertainment center, and now I'm also forward compatible if I eventually get a bluetooth voice unit.

LIKES:

* Appearance: The unit has a sleek and elegant design. The bi-color clear charger guides are attractive, and informative (they glow red when actively charging, and switch to green when they detect a full charge. I haven't checked their draw yet, but given that they use tiny LEDs, their standby draw is bound to be quite low.

* Stability: The stand clips very securely into it's wide base, so it's completely free from wobbles, and the low-profile rubber feet on the bottom prevent scratching of furniture.

* Space saving design: The ability to stack the controllers, and condolidate 2-3 charging cords into just one is a welcome upgrade to my former setup.

DISLIKES:

* My only complaint is that in their efforts to make this unit as visually appealing as possible, they also made it slightly awkward to insert the controllers into the charging slots ... you have lean fairly close in order to properly align the connection, and you have to use 2 hands (1 for the controller, and one for the top of the charging unit's arm) to successfully seat a controller diagonally upwards into its charging connector. They could have made the connection process a bit more ergonomic than it is. Still, it's a minor nit.

* My other minor nit is that if a controller is connected to the charger, the LED light never turns itself off, which adding night time light pollution to the bevvy of other electronic devices cluttering my living room.

Bottom line: recommended.

First of all, It took me a long time to get this order (I ordered it from Amazon.com directly). I don't know why, and I didn't really care, but I was still surprised as I get all of my orders relatively quickly.

Anyway, back to the product, I think it is perfect. In pretty much every way. For example, it lights up as red as soon as I plug the controllers, and it becomes green when fully charged. As long as you get use to it, it's pretty easy to plug the controller in. And, just to confirm what many people have been wondering, it does contain that third USB port on the right of the two main PS3 controllers.

However, now we come to the slight problem. If a USB to mini-USB or other 'converters' like this came with this PS3 Charging System, I would rate it a five. I understand that the third USB is supposed to be for the Sony PS3 Bluetooth, but I don't have it and I decide to use it for something else. Because there is no converter or anything, I have to find a long cable to plug my Kindle (highly recommend BTW) or my phone. This is a hassle, and ruins the purpose of the product: to have a cords-free way to charge your controller. If you search on amazon, I believe that they do sell these 'converters' (Sorry I do not know what they are called exactly). If they just sold one or two with this product, it would be perfect.

I highly recommend this product, even though they do not sell that 'converter' :).

I purchased this charger after realizing that charging PS3 remotes via the included USB cable is annoying and not very reliable. This Energizer item plugs directly into your wall outlet, so there is no concern with the power being on or if the USB ports are self-powered or machine powered. As soon as you plug in the remotes, a red light appears, letting you know that the remotes are being charged. Once the remotes are complete - the light turns to green. That easy! There is also a USB port on this, so you can plug in a USB cable to charge another device (I personally use it to charge my Bluetooth Headset, also for the PS3). The package is well constructed and small enough to fit behind my HDTV. I've had this for quite some time and the connections are still tight and hold the remotes in place during the charging process without issue. The remotes fit perfectly on top of one another and don't require you to be an origami expert in order to figure out how to make them stack.

If I had a complaint, it would be that the connection port (front load) is a bit unwieldy. In order to plug the remote in, you have to hold it in the center and firmly press it onto the USB port - and with big fingers like mine, I often hit the PS button, which turns on the PS3. Not a fun process, but not a deal breaker either. I certainly do not have a better idea on how to make the connection to charge these remotes, so I can't complain much - but that is just about the only thing I could point out negatively about this device.

Overall, it does what it is intended to do - charge your PS3 remotes. Combine that with the included USB ports and you can even charge your other PS3 devices or anything really that has a USB adapter cable (cell phones, iPads, etc).

Since I'm coming back to the Amazon page to buy a brand new one of these, I figured I should post a review. This has been a great video game controller charger. Both of the PS3 controllers fit nicely onto it, and while I sometimes have issues getting it onto them, my boyfriend never has a problem, so he blames me on that one. (For those who are concerned, despite keeping our controllers in this 24/7, it does NOT overcharge them, and we've had no problems with the battery life slowly draining)

However, it's been about 2 and 1/2 years since I bought it, and the top charging dock has stopped charging the controller in it. This wouldn't be such a huge deal if we played one-player games, but we play two-player, so we need both controllers to charge to continue where we left off later.

So I'm not sure what the average lifespan should be for this thing, but I'm letting you know that ours lasted about 2 and 1/2 years before causing an issue. and obviously, since I'm back to buy another one, it's been 2 and 1/2 years that it has worked wonderfully for us.

I recommend this product. It looks nice enough, and with four ports, two on the top and two USB ports on the side, I can charge my three controllers (one with a cord using one of the USBs of course) and Sony's official PS3 headset with the bluetooth headset charging cradle that is included all at once (I don't know why the cradle is not pictured or mentioned in the product description, but it was included with the charger in the packaging).

It charges the controllers quickly, and the lights indicating whether or not the controllers are fully charged are bright. If you're watching a movie in the dark the lights can be sort of distracting, but it's not a big deal.

It is kind of light, which can be a plus or a drawback depending on your preferences. I personally usually like to pick it up when removing or plugging in the controllers, but this is partly because it helps provide a better angle to slide in the controllers, which can be sort of difficult to do. I often have to wiggle the controller into the dock for a little bit before it connects, or make a few tries before it finally slides in correctly. It's something you get better at the longer you use it, but it's kind of a pain.

Another problem is with the USB ports on the side of the unit, which you may or may not even use. They're sort of loose, and whatever you're connecting doesn't feel all that secure. In fact, the aforementioned headset cradle, when charging my headset, sometimes kind of slips out and it stops charging the headset. This happens with both USBs, which is unfortunate. I still use the cradle though despite this because it looks nice and saves me from using up another outlet with a separate charger.

All in all, I like this charger and recommend it. It has a few flaws but nothing that makes it a bad deal to buy.