professionals and cons
- Easy to make use of.
- It has loads of techy options to please the geeks.
- It does an excellent job of finding out batteries that may’t or should not be charged.
- It’s costly.
- It takes up a good bit of desk house.
- It may be somewhat noisy in use.
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Olight is a reputation that is been synonymous with high quality flashlights for various years. I’ve owned various Olights in my time, they usually have been excessive performers which have far surpassed my already excessive expectations.
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So, after I received the possibility to get my fingers on Olight’s new AA/AAA battery charger — the Olight Ostation 2 Professional — I jumped at it. In spite of everything, if it was wherever close to pretty much as good as its flashlights, it was going to be glorious.
And it was.
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The Ostation 2 Professional is a beast
The Ostation 2 Professional (there’s additionally an ordinary model that omits among the options) is sort of hefty as chargers go, and it has fairly a desk presence. It contains a trendy, all-plastic building that is each powerful and trendy.
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On the entrance is a 2.8-inch touchscreen for real-time monitoring of battery cycles, well being, and standing, which actually provides to the high-tech, geeky really feel of the unit.
I just like the touchscreen on the Ostation 2 Professional.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
The charger is powered by a 12V/1.5A PD 3.0 USB-C enter for quicker charging underneath full load (a small wall charger is included), and there is an app obtainable (iOS and Android) for many who need to dive deeper into the main points than the show presents.
The app presents a deeper dive into charging.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
What are you able to cost?
The Ostation 2 Professional can deal with any model of AA and AAA Ni-MH batteries, in addition to Olight’s personal Ostation 1.5V AA rechargeable Li-ion batteries (Olight would not but have any Li-ion batteries in AAA dimension).
I fairly like Olight’s personal AA Ni-MH batteries.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
Nonetheless, remember that it will not cost random Li-ion batteries as a result of the charger makes use of a safe handshake protocol to speak with Ostation batteries for max Li-ion charging security.
It is simply really easy to make use of!
As soon as it is plugged in and switched on (and I like to recommend downloading the app to test for any firmware updates), it is easy to make use of.
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Yup, assume all the things wants a software program replace these days.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
You load batteries into the highest (it could actually take a dozen AAs and one other dozen AAAs), after which the Ostation 2 Professional checks, exams, and prices them. Freshly charged batteries seem within the applicable drawer on the backside of the unit over the course of the day (an AA battery takes about 2.5 hours to completely cost).
My batteries making their means by way of the Ostation 2 Professional.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
The unit can cost 4 batteries at a time (two AAs and two AAAs).
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Any batteries that fail to cost, are faulty, or are alkaline batteries that should not be recharged find yourself in a separate drawer.
And all of it simply works. I’ve loaded it with all kinds of AA and AAA batteries — Olight Li-ion batteries, random Ni-MH batteries, faulty rechargeable batteries, and even a sprinkling of unrechargeable alkaline batteries — and the unit carried out completely, charging all of the rechargeable batteries and rejecting all those that could not or should not be charged.
The Ostation 2 Professional forces me to be tidy!
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
No fuss in anyway!
There is a hidden secret for Olight followers
On the facet of the unit is a flap that hides two magnetic charging (MCC) ports that can be utilized to cost appropriate Olight flashlights (the Baton, Warrior, Seeker, Marauder Mini, Arkfeld/ArkPro, and Perun 2 collection of flashlights).
Since I’ve a number of Olight flashlights, the MCC ports are a pleasant contact!
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
What I actually like in regards to the Ostation 2 Professional is simply how straightforward it’s to make use of. Sure, I really like the touchscreen and the deeper dive that the app presents, nevertheless it’s the simplicity that’s the actual successful bit for me. There is not any have to load batteries into some spring-loaded contraption, no want to recollect to test on them each few hours, and no want to fret that somebody may load the mistaken batteries into the charger. I really like the simplicity of simply piling discharged batteries into the highest and pulling charged ones out of the drawer on the backside.
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It is tremendous straightforward and tremendous handy, and it makes it tremendous exhausting for the consumer to mess one thing up.
Final point out of the productThe Olight Ostation 2 Professional retails for $140 for the charging unit alone, or $200 for the charger and 24 Olight Ni-MH batteries (which is an effective deal). It is a excellent charger, however if you’d like a less expensive possibility, the Ostation 2 (which replaces the touchscreen with an LED show, makes use of a slower 5.0V/2.0A USB-C charger, and would not embody the magnetic charging ports for Olight flashlights) is priced at $100 for the charger alone and $160 if you’d like the 24 batteries.
