Mobee Magic Bar Inductive Charger Review
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Mobee was the first to release what was then the world's first ever inductive charger for Apple's Magic Mouse called the Magic Charger, offering quick and easy wireless charging without the hassle of wasting batteries and replacing them every other week. The good news is now Mobee's constant innovative thinking has brought us the Magic Bar. You guess it, it's the world's first inductive charger made to work with the Apple Wireless Keyboard and even the Magic Trackpad. How magical is that? Mobee's wireless charging products have surpassed what was considered to be the pioneer of inductive charging, Powermat.
The Magic Bar sounds like it would be the perfect buddy any Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad user could ever wish for, but is it really all that magical when put to the test? Find out after the break!
Right out of the box, the Magic Bar is ready to be used and comes with 3 key ingredients to get you started. You'll find the Magic Bar itself along with the inductive charging rechargeable battery bar the houses 2 AA batteries which you slide into your 2-battery Wireless Keyboard or Magic Trackpad and then screw on like you would when swapping out regular old batteries. It'll not work with the older 3-battery Wireless Keyboard. Very simple a toddler can do it. There's nothing to it really, setting up the Magic Bar couldn't be any easier and as simple as setting up the Magic Charger. Last but not least there's a nice long white USB cable included that will connect to your Mac or Cinema Display and serve as the Magic Bar's power supply. Completely USB powered and I love that.
The Magic Bar itself is made out of solid aluminum that matches up very nicely with any Apple product including of course the Wireless Keyboard. On the other hand, the rechargeable battery cylinder the goes into your Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad is made out of plastic and colored silver to match with the rest of the aluminum theme. Not a big deal and I must say that it doesn't take away from the slim and sleek design of both the Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad. It's very low profiled and even looks like something you'd expect from Apple.
A red LED light will remain on while the Magic Bar isn't charging up your Apple wireless device. If I had to nitpick, I would much rather have a much smaller status indicator similar in size to what is found on the Wireless Keyboard. The status light is a bit too bright and obnoxious especially when working in dark situations. A green light will rapidly blink when charging which is even more distracting and will most likely make you want to tape it over.
Like many of you out there, I use the Apple Wireless Keyboard religiously each and every day. I couldn't say enough good things about it, I really do love using it. Battery life isn't all that great and while I do use rechargeable batteries, I find myself having to swap them out every week or so and that isn't such a major issue for me. I also use the Magic Trackpad, however I recently started using a wired mouse instead. The Magic Bar has only one purpose and that is to keep your Wireless Keyboard charged up while completely annihilating your battery swapping chores and even cutting down on costly batteries if you aren't using rechargeable batteries.
Charging couldn't be any easier by simply sliding your keyboard or Magic Trackpad onto the charging station and that little battery nob into the left side of the induction charger to begin charging. It works flawlessly each and every time. The second you slide in your device, the Magic Bar will instantly begin charging it. Battery life is surprisingly just as good as the rechargeable Eneloop batteries I've been using. Mobee says you could go for 10 straight days on a single charge before you need to fully recharge again, and I can fully attest to that after heavy everyday use. You could also place your keyboard or Magic Trackpad back on the Magic Bar at the end of the day to recharge. Using the Wireless Keyboard wile it's being charged on the Magic Bar is definitely another option as well.
For the $60 price tag, I would have liked to see an extra battery cylinder included with the Magic Bar for those who do happen to be using both the Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad even though the idea was more towards using one or the other. Additional battery cylinders are expensive at $30 a piece. The Magic Bar itself isn't very bulky but I would have liked to see it take up as much less space as possible and have a similar size of the Wireless Keyboard's own battery cylinder. On the other hand, I found the Magic Bar to fit my desk setup very well which has made me want to keep using it on a daily basis from here on end. That is until Mobee comes up with an even more compact design.
Mobee has done it again, bringing ease of use to what we all use on a daily basis. The Magic Bas just works, and it isn't magic anymore. Yes I would have liked it to be slightly slimmer and an additional battery cylinder would have made everyone even happier. If you're looking to make your office setup, home setup and the likes, a little more comfortable, the Magic Bar will definitely get the job done. I've just become even more spoiled thanks to Mobee.
