Review Hahnel Power Station Twin V Pro (Battery Charger)

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Now I know that most people won't get very excited about battery chargers. And I guess I probably fall into that category. Its not a sexy subject.

But I got an email flier from Keene Electronics a while back that caught my eye.

This appeared to be a battery charger that had 2 things going for it: (1) cool looking design and (2) it will charge 2 batteries at the same time. Yes, at the same time, not one after the other, but both together.

Card flexed. After some research, it seems that Keene are indeed keen on low prices. I didn't find one cheaper elsewhere. Once the Liverpool Royal Mail had decided that a change in shift patterns wasn't worth staying out for more than 2 weeks, there was a satisfyingly chunky parcel at the door.

Nice box

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Rubbish pic though - sorry.

I had been a bit concerned about the codes used on the Keene site for the batteries I use - they didn't match the codes on the batteries themselves. But the box assures me it will charge the batteries for both my 350D and my 30D. Happy days :)

Not wrong about the design either. It looks cool out of the box

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I'm a sucker for things that look this good. Apologies for white spots - suspect its cigarette ash :bonk:

Its "quite" heavy. Not sure how that translates into kilos, but it feels sort of chunky. Its got lots of electronics inside, so I guess that's what's weighing it down.

A nice slide apart and open sort of action to get at the business end of the machine, like so:

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Now, the Keene website suggests you get interchangeable panels depending on which sort of battery you need to charge. As I will later demonstrate with Canon batteries, that ain't necessarily so. Nikon, Sony etc users, YMMV. I have no interchangeable panel with mine. I can take the charging panel off, if I want to, but I have nothing to put in its place. Except fresh air, I suppose.

So, we need to charge some batteries

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See how the one on the left is already fully charged. Groovy. And its not even plugged into the mains at this point. Yup - it will tell you how much charge you have in your battery even if you have no power. Now, that's cool.

I did do a charge earlier, but, obviously, a video of watching batteries charge is like, well ...

It works, honest.

Now for some cross camera action:

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Look. :wave:

It can charge a battery from my 350D and a battery from my 30D at the same time. They're different sizes, don't ya know. How great is that? :shrug:

Last pic - here's the Hahnel next to the regular Canon charger. You can easily tell which one's the boss.

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Seriously, the Hahnel is a fantastic piece of kit. Its not cheap for sure, but that's why it has a "pro" tag attached to it. It comes with a mains lead and a car cigarette lighter lead. I'll use it on the road lots. It looks like it will take some punishment. And it looks good on your desk too. You can show off about how many batteries you need to charge in one sitting

Oh, and there are versions to suit Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Oly as well.
 
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