SwitchCharge Smashes Its Funding Goal

"Boasting a 2,000mAh battery which delivers 12 hours of battery life.."

I think this is a typo. 2,000mAh would never come anywhere near 12 hours. Isn't it 12,000mAh?

Anyway, even with the current 'discounted' price, I can't say I'm too bothered. I use it in handheld mode constantly, but in my own home. Not really the 'gaming on the train/in the bus' kind of guy. Still, glad for others a slick option like this is going to come to the market.

Good for them! It is still way too overpriced even as an early adopter but it's found its market which is good. When a cheaper option comes around I definitely will be ready to buy it! I probably need a few more games to justify bringing it everywhere because I'm happy with Zelda at home to be honest and nothing pops out as a game I need to bring with me on the go everywhere just yet!

If it were cheaper then I'd be up for getting one of these.

That's great to hear. It is a very good idea.

Yeah, add another heat-generating layer to the back-panel, right behind the battery. I'm sure that won't cause any problems in the long-run.

Also, another typo on that last line. Adaptor instead of adopter.

Not sure about crowdfunded battery packs. Hopefully your Switch doesn't light on fire or some such...

@MarcelRguez Exactly! I can't believe Nintendo actually endorsing this.
The back of the Switch gets pretty hot over time when playing intense games like Zelda BotW. Adding a thick plastic layer with another battery directly against the back is risky and can't be good for the battery on the long run at best.

The 1mm gap is nothing. It just traps the heat even more and the side vents will be covered by your hands.
This quick dirty engineering at best to score a buck. The Switch has been out for just a month, so a lot of thought and testing could not have happened in such a short time. Impossible.
They are just rushing this to market to try beat competition, with complete disregard of their customers and what negative effect it might have on the Switch and the safety of the user!

It's just a shame so many people are stupid yet again and falling for this. /shrug
PS. That marketing video is also just hilarious. I can tell you, I have worn many suits over the years, you not going to put a Switch console in neither your outer nor inner pocket like that and especially not with such bulky battery case. It will rip apart your suit's jacket. lol!

Or you could just buy a tiny external battery for a fraction of the price and plug it in when you need it. Easier to carry around, less bulky system and more money in your pocket to spend on games.

If I was going to bother using the switch in portable mode more than 3 times a year, my 30,000mah power bank will be enough and cost me less than the "early adopter" price of this. Supports more than just the switch too so it's more versatile too.

@Jeronan Exactly. At the very least, it adds more stress to the fan, since your Switch won't be able to disperse heat through the surface of the back-panel. It does look cool, but it sounds way too risky.

And I have to admit, I laughed at that pocket too.

I'll stick with my gba, ds, 3ds, PSP and vita for the moment.

Not really feeling my Switch since I got it. Don't know why.

@NewAdvent They tested at like 30% screen brightness and everything possible turned off, like WiFi and Bluetooth.

Good luck playing at 30% screen brightness, unless you lock yourself up in a darkroom.

This whole campaign smelled fishy from the start and raises too many red flags to count, yet with so many other kickstarters and IndyGoGo campaigns:

"A fool and his money are easily parted"

I get what they're trying to do, but I think that it's finding a problem that doesn't really exist.

As many have already said, an external battery is probably more practical, flexible, and doesn't add heat to the system.

I'd you're concerned about the USB port in tabletop mode, grab the Hori stand... or better yet a Guardian amiibo

I was genuinely tempted by this, but when they said it would be thin and light, I struggled to buy the credibility.

I hope that I'm proven though, because if they do pull it off it would be great for those that find themselves on trains and planes often. I'm just not one of them.

I'll be sticking with my existing USB power bank... it's around 10x the capacity, and works with other devices as well.

I wouldn't pay any more than $50 for this. Even then seems a bit overpriced.

Whilst a good idea in theory, I will wait until some feedback. Also, I'm rarely in a situation where I need more than 3-5 hrs of Switch time where I don't have access to a charge point.

Still I always carry a book to give my eyes a rest.

Great for those who love the potable side yet I haven't seen anyone playing switch out yet

For myself, I just wait for the Switch Lite or Switch XL or New Switch

I'm still a bit troubled by the lack of caution this project has been presented with on this site. Let's not pretend that crowdfunding a project from a group with literally no experience whatsoever delivering a product, that seems to lack a functioning prototype, is a clear cut matter of ordering a device. I hope nobody gets burned by this, but presenting it to everyone as devoid of risk as it has been on this site so far troubles me.

Honestly it looks like a hot mess to me (Mad Catz-esque if you will) and I would not want to ruin the slim form factor of my switch with it.

Seems like a good idea, but too expensive. I'll stick with my external battery. Fits in my current case, too.

Sure it's a great idea to boost anything's battery life but not if the product potentially endangers your system.

@NinChocolate I got one called Dark Energy years ago. Still works well. I've even gotten specialized LED Nanoleaf bulbs from Kickstarter, too! There's no inherent downside to crowd funded products over store bought ones from a quality point of view.

@MarioPhD I'm guessing you haven't backed crowd funded projects much before? A lot of times, there's no basis for a prototype, because the product doesn't exist yet. (Which is the whole point of crowd funding projects, to bring them into existence!) All you'll get beforehand is a concept explanation, diagrams and plans, and any previous relevant experience in the field. (Which is not always immediately obvious.). Some are also more willing to showcase the process as it happens than others. Ultimately, one must use their own judgment to decide if the situation seems worthy of contribution or not. But it's not automatically a dangerous proposition, just like it's not automatically a surefire success.

Full disclosure, I have no interest in this product. I think it's big, ugly, and way over priced. But it seems people are attacking the company with no real evidence to back it up. It seems to me this is a well thought out product for the most part. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Sure, there's some marketing garbage in there (Which exists for all products) but it definitely doesn't look like the company is doing anything dirty.

@Jeronan That is not true at all. A 1mm gap would certainly help, it will not "Trap the heat" even more. The switch does certainly get warm, but it's not very hot. Considering this has a small gap, and it has cutouts to allow heat to exhaust, it should be fine. The switch is not passively cooled - the fan does 99% of the work. It may have to work slightly harder, but I wouldn't be too concerned over the safety of my switch by using this.

They specifically stated that they tested at 30% brightness and the listed the exact playtime for certain titles? How exactly is that fishy? It's pretty simple to repeat that test with a normal switch if you are concerned.

@Akropolon Not only is that a typo (which I think NL has repeated twice now), it isn't just a battery either. According to their Indiegogo page:

"The SwitchCharge is the world’s first multifunctional battery case designed for the Nintendo Switch. It incorporates a high capacity 12,000mAh battery, an improved kickstand, and 2 game card slots."

So it also provides a kickstand that actually holds up the system from both sides in tabletop mode, AND lets you actually charge the NS while set up that way (what a revelation, right!?), as well as two slots for game cards (so you can use more than one at a time). So it's actually a more useful device than described by NL's articles on it, since it ameliorates a number of design flaws.

@LiberatedAnimal How would it endanger it?

@Jeronan I completely agree with you on this 100%

@UK-Nintendo Yeah, for all the bluster Nintendo fans have made about NS practically selling and advertising itself from people using it while out and about, I still haven't seen even one person using it in public. And I live in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, regularly taking public transportation. I do still see 3DS users occasionally, though.

Maybe if I specifically sought out users at the local community college or game stores, I might find a few people. But in any case, after the Super Bowl commercial, it seems like almost no one in the capital of the USA would know this thing exists. So I can't imagine that "show it off in public" strategy is working out very well so far. I think a lot of people are just setting it up at home and not bringing it outside much.

@PlywoodStick Nintendo Design Flaws? It's designed to be Slim and Light. The SWITCHCHARGE is not designed to be slim and light - that is it's design flaw. . .
I work in Marketing and this Crowdfunding pitch video is very cringeworthy. . . .so much so that I wouldn't trust the guys running this. . It's an early adopter cash grab. . .

@PlywoodStick By potentially overheating it when playing for long periods of time. If they develop a solid workaround that alleviates the heat, then that would be a different story. Definitely a product to keep an eye on but, not one to be a super early adopter of.

@LiberatedAnimal Aren't the vents for the NS on the sides, not the middle of the back? Besides, a decent 12,000 mAH battery isn't going to heat up very much. I use a 5,000 mAH battery on my O3DS, and that practically doesn't heat up at all while in use. A little bit while charging, but nowhere near dangerous. I'm not seeing the dangerous part here. If anything, it would probably protect the NS if you accidentally dropped it on concrete, and it landed on the back.

Why are you even covering this NL? It looks to be one big scam; it's on Indiegogo for a reason.

@cfgk24 Personally, I prefer my devices to be a little bulkier or padded in exchange for not being unprotected and vulnerable, due to flimsy design. I'll take function over form any day.

@ThePoochyKid Tech projects that have already reached their funding goal like this actually have a much more reliable outcome than ones that don't have much confidence in success to begin with. Normally, Kickstarter would be a safer platform, and unforeseen delays are to be expected in many cases, but this project seems like a safe bet.

@roadrunner343

Sorry, but the 1mm gap doesn't do anything, especially since the sides will be covered by your hands. Not to mention the manufacturing variances that will happen at mass production!

It will also be very uncomfortable having all that hot air flowing in the palm of your hands. Terrible industrial design, showing the amateurism and rushing speed of this project!
Instead of putting two useless gimmick slots for game cartridges in the top, they should have put air vents there instead so hot air could have escaped there, instead of the sides that are covered by your hands!
Basic school grade science teached you that hot air tends to move upwards, so having top vents would make much more sense.

The two vents on the underside are necessary, since there are two vents on the back of the Switch. So it's just a mere pass through of that.

The 30% brightness is fishy as it's a completely unrealistic scenario and many people have commented on the IndyGoGo from day one for them to put up more realistic numbers at 50% brightness. With no response!
I know why! Because at 50% brightness their battery life results won't nearly be as impressive as they are claiming now.
And when you keep WiFi and Bluetooth on (as realistically most people do), you lucky to get an extra 4-6 hours out of this severely overpriced bulky contraption.

And have you played Zelda BotW with auto brightness, with WiFi and Bluetooth on and official power adapter plugged in and see what happens? The battery is still slowly draining. That is through an outlet power adapter.
It's one of the major problems reported online and why people report many external batteries and even playing in the car is useless being plugged in, as the battery still drains while playing!
We tested this ourselves with an expensive 5A car adapter and the Switch battery still drained while playing.

Also, if it was a "serious" project by actual professionals (and not wannabe rookies trying to cash in quickly), they would have gone for Kickstarter instead.
IndyGoGo is notorious for scam artists. Even more so than Kickstarter.

@Jeronan Any proof behind accusations of these people in particular being scam artists? It's not good to generalize how everyone on a platform acts based on some bad apples. Brightness settings aside (just change it, duh) how do you know those things about it, and that any potential issues won't be solved in the final product?

@Jeronan If you don't think a 1mm is significant, then you clearly have no idea how heat transfers and the dramatic impact it has, especially when cooling a device. There's a reason heatsinks use thermal grease between them and the chips they are cooling - microscopic gaps impede heat transfer.

A 1mm gap, especially for components that are not actively generating the heat (The components reside inside the Switch case, which are actively cooled) should be plenty, especially given the vent cutouts. They are pass through for the system, but it will also allow air to escape from the gap between the system and the battery case. You have every right to be concerned about heat, but your criticisms are way off base.

As for testing at 50% vs 30%? Sure, I would have preferred that. I typically play at around 50%. But it's not dirty at all to compare at 30%, especially since they advertised that's what they were doing. It's simple enough to repeat that test.

And as @PlywoodStick mentioned, you accusations seem to be unwarranted. As of right now, it doesn't seem like anyone is getting scammer, and we don't have a product in our hands to know for sure if it is being rushed or not. There's still a long way to go before it is finished.

@PlywoodStick I'm not an idiot, and I know how crowdfunding works. There are more than enough warning signs here to be skeptical of their claims (12,000 mAh = 12 hours of power? Good luck!), so seeing it presented devoid of warning on this site bothers me, since I think too many people will expect this to be delivered on time and as they say, but I don't think the odds of that are high.

It'd be one thing to bring attention to it and say "Hey, here's a thing you might want to check out, but be careful out there since crowdfunding hardware from someone without a track record could lead to you wasting $70-$140!" It's another to simply say "this looks like a must-have gizmo for anyone who enjoys playing their Switch on the move for prolonged periods of time." How kind of my preferred Nintendo news source to offer up a nice little back-of-the-box quote like that for something that may never exist! I'd prefer to see a little critical thinking on display, thanks.

As for the project itself, they claim it's going to be delivered to backers in August. You'd think they'd have a working version of it by now, no? And if they do, please do tell me where it is, because it sure isn't in their video. Also, spoiler alert: you need a functioning prototype to bring hardware to Kickstarter; I can't imagine why they didn't launch the project there instead! Going from apparently nothing to mailboxes in 4 months is a pretty bold claim from a completely unproven entity, no?

It seems you really want to believe in this project, and that's fine, but I'd prefer to see people given fair warning about what they're getting into here. Unproven hardware manufacturers on IndieGoGo making bold claims smells a lot like a recipe for disaster to me. I'm not rooting for this to fail, but I am encouraging caution across the board. Heck, I'd love to see them actually deliver, and for the right price, I'd buy one, too! But I'm not crowdfunding something fishy from someone with no track record, and I wouldn't advise anyone else to do so (which is precisely what NintendoLife has been implicitly doing, hence my issue taken here).

@roadrunner343 Re-read my full post again. Maybe you get it that what I am trying to say.

Sorry, but this whole battery case is a joke of a design. School grade at best and they would fail if it was their official degree project.

And the difference between 30% and 50% brightness is a lot! It can easily cut their battery life estimates by half! And when people actually keep WiFi and Bluetooth enabled (who bothers turning that off every time?) it will smash their numbers even more!

The Switch has been out a mere month! The IndyGoGo site was already put up over a week ago and the preparation needed for that (marketing materials, etc), it means they spend 2 weeks at most designing, 3D printing prototypes and testing ! 2 weeks!! This is nothing and working with Lithium battery tech this is dangerous at best.

This is just a rush project, just to try beat the competition and be the first and cash in on it.

And my concerns about the battery even being able to hold up the Switch charge are unanswered as well!
How are they going to keep it on a charge? when high-end 5A external batteries and even my expensive 5A car adapter can't prevent the Switch from continuing discharging the internal battery while playing a game like Zelda!

Hell, I even noticed my Switch battery slowly draining playing Zelda in docked mode on TV! /shrug

@roadrunner343 Most people are wary of change. Some take it a step further and label something different as being criminal unless they have determined otherwise for themselves.

@MarioPhD I believe 12 hours is including the internal battery, but even if it doesnt, judging from spec sheet, that should be doable. The internal battery is 4310mah, and Nintendo quotes 2.5-6.5 hours. So triple the battery size, and you should get nearly triple the battery life.

@Jeronan I read your post. You stated 1mm was nothing, and would "Trap the heat even more" which is blatantly false. Whether or not the gap should be bigger, I don't know, that would require testing. But it 100% absolutely will not make it trap more heat, and it will definitely help dissipate heat. With the switch being actively cooled, I don't see cause for serious concern.

Saying 2 weeks at best implies that they did no planning prior to the switch launch - which we don't know, but that is highly unlikely. There's a great chance they already knew they wanted to make this product prior to the official release.

Second, this is a crowdfunding campaign. The design is often not finished, and will continue to be worked on/tweaked even after the campaign is finished. Their estimated launch date is in August, and crowdfunded projects don't have the best track record of meeting deadlines - so there is a good chance they still have a couple months of design/testing left to do before sending the specs to the manufacturer.

Finally, Lithium batteries are only dangerous if you plan on shorting the leads. Which I'm guess, their design lacks short circuits intentionally... They aren't manufacturing the lithium batteries themselves, so long as it has an integrated PCM (Which it does) there's definitely no reason to fear danger from a lithium battery. Yes, of course, manufacturers can screw up to (See exploding Galaxy phones) but we have no reason to suspect that here yet.

@roadrunner343

Again. The 1mm gap becomes a trap, since the hot air is forced sideways and will be blocked by your hands. Unless you have tiny hands with tiny fingers and can't reach the back of the Switch.

Any credible industrial designer would have put the air vents on the top, since air can more easily escape (especially since hot air tries to go upwards) without being blocked / trapped by your hands.

I am still heavily challenging their so called battery life test results!
They have only showed a mockup so far, not a working proto type. Otherwise they would have shown a real video of the thing and their tests to make it actually believable!
So how did they test again?
How did they manage to get almost 11 hours extra out of playing Zelda, when the official power adapter can barely keep the internal battery at a steady charge when playing this game?
Their PCB board must be extremely powerful and able to push a lot of Amps to keep the Switch on a charge while playing Zelda, which again challenges their nearly 11 hour result with a mere 12.000 mah battery.
Also, again.... heat build-up when pushing that much power into charging / discharging batteries!

Sorry, but I call it fake an purely made up numbers.

@Jeronan Regardless of whether or not you think there is a heat trap, that has nothing to do with the 1mm gap. That 1mm gap alleviates the heat trap. It does not "trap" heat in anyway. Nevermind the fact that the 1mm gap will allow heat to move to the exhaust cutouts. Maybe there are also slight gaps at the top, who knows? But even if there isn't, this thing will get mildly warm at best, it's not going to be pumping out tons of heat.

And I'm sorry, but it doesn't seem you have any real understanding of electronics. I'm not justifying their design choices from an aesthetics standpoint - I think this thing is big, ugly, and expensive - but there doesn't appear to be any major issues with heat, and there certainly is no issue find a PCM able to push high enough amperage to power the switch. Batteries and PCMs exist for far high voltage and amperage applications.

Battery life is fairly simple to test, even without a final project. You can also get a great idea based off of math alone. Knowing the original battery is 4310mah, it's not a stretch to imagine 12hours off of 4310 + 1200mah battery. Time will tell.

@PlywoodStick that's what I mean. I'm in London and I do see the 3ds and vita but still to see the switch. Could be the size I don't know

@roadrunner343

You explained it yourself. When you need a very high Amp output to keep the Switch at a charge while playing, it will mean a tremendous waste of external battery energy to charge the internal battery of the Switch! This can easily end up being more than 50% of wasted energy.
I have seen this time and again with external batteries charging my son's iPhone SE when playing Pokémon Go.

So then you come at much more realistic numbers at that this battery case might give you about 4-5 hours extra at most while playing Zelda.

They clearly advertise an "additional" 10-11 hours extra while playing Zelda! Not the total time, including the internal battery!

They must have failed terribly at math in school, if they think a 12.000 mah battery (that loses energy when charging another battery, reducing the available capacity) can give nearly 11 hours extra while playing Zelda, when the internal 4310 mah battery barely manages 2 to 2 and half hours at most!

@Yorumi

It's even more hilarious than that! They claim an additional 10-11 hours for Zelda.
They clearly say "additional", not total including the internal battery!!

Beta testing additional battery life results for certain games at 30% brightness:

• Zelda Breath of the wild: 10hrs 40mins
• 1/2 Switch: 12hrs 55mins
• Fast RMX: 13hrs 20mins
• Snipperclips: 13hrs 30mins
• Shovel Knight: 14hrs 15mins

@Yorumi I mean, hey, who cares if your house/plane/dog is engulfed in violent flames if you've got an extra **9 hours** of Zelda AND a better kickstand!!!

@Jeronan They even periodically switch between 12 hours and 12+ in their own campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dz6TDfeFU8.

Gotta love consistency!

@MarioPhD Have you actually backed any previous projects and experienced their processes, though? I've backed a product called the Dark Energy Reservoir, a 8000 mAH battery, back from 2012. They had little previous experience, but they (amazingly) delivered the product very close to being on time, and it still works today. So I can certainly believe that an upstart company with little or no previous experience can be successful. So yeah, there's a fine line between skepticism and automatic judgment.

@MarioPhD It's not the only inconsistency.

The case currently has a micro usb port for charging and they added a usb-c port in the design as well, but haven't decided yet what to do with it yet and then further down the page they claim people can use the official power adapter to quick charge, which is..... usb-c !
So how can they claim that, if they haven't even figured out what to do with the usb-c port on the case. /shrug

@Yorumi A fair point - they should be relatively close to their promised times though, especially since their benchmarks are using 30% brightness. My guess would be that's why they used those settings in the first place, simply for marketing.

@Jeronan I don't think I've ever stooped to insults on this board, and I don't mean this as an insult - I love having debates and discussions with everyone, even when we disagree - but at this point, it's very clear you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about when it comes to electronics. There will be nowhere near 50% wasted energy, just like the 1mm gap will not trap heat.

I admit, I misread their page and thought they were talking 12 hours total, not additional. So yes, I am skeptical that they won't be able to provide that, but at the same time, they shouldn't be too far off, and I am assuming that is the reason they chose the system settings they did, so they were able to hit their benchmarks. I'm not interested in this product at all, but I don't think there is anything to cry foul/scam over just yet.

@Yorumi @MarioPhD @Jeronan There's a lot of variables involved. Who knows, maybe this battery would turn out to be more efficient than Nintendo's, and actually provide around an hour per 1000 mAH at 50% or lower brightness. (The 5000 mAH third party battery for my O3DS is actually more efficient than the official one, and easily provides over 24 hours of play with the volume down, level 3 brightness, and minimal 3D settings, more than would be suggested by the increased size over the official battery.)

Are those 2-2.5 hour Zelda sessions based on 50% or 100% brightness? Do they use any power saving features, or not? That would influence a variable total time, which would explain they have multiple outcomes. Maybe they haven't made that clear, but you all really should be able to determine that for yourselves.

@PlywoodStick One worthwhile difference there is that Kickstarter requires working prototypes, and the Dark Energy campaign was on Kickstarter. I can't find any signs that they have always required a working prototype to put hardware on there, but that can certainly make a difference. My only automatic judgment of them is extreme skepticism. I welcome you to be excited, and I reserve my right to question whether they can deliver. I'm not sure how anyone can look at the facts of this campaign and feel confident, but again, I do hope anyone who gave them money gets what they paid for.

@roadrunner343 The problem I am having is that they don't even have a working product to proof these benchmarks!

All they are showing on their page is a mock-up, some fancy drawings and some made up benchmark numbers with zero proof to back that up!

That is my problem and why I am extremely skeptical about this company and it's product!

I have two Switches in my home. One for my son and one for myself. We both play Zelda for a month now and at 50% brightness we never managed to squeeze out more than 2 hours to 2 hours+15mins at most.

@MarioPhD Exactly! Why I am extremely skeptical and why they use IndyGoGo, since if they wanted to use Kickstarter, they would have needed an actual working prototype!
That is also why IndyGoGo has a bad reputation, as their failure rate is a lot higher than Kickstarter.
On Kickstarter they also don't get the money, before the kickstarter campaign has ended and was successfully funded, while on IndyGoGo they immediately charge you, making it much easier to scam people out of their money.

@PlywoodStick Also, allow me to add that I don't care at all about debating the minutia of this campaign. I really couldn't care less. My main concern is the lack of caution presented by NintendoLife here, and the rest I simply find to be interesting support for being skeptical.

This isn't a product from Hyperkin, HORI, or anyone with a track record, an actual QA department, or experience with product certification for retail; it's 7 random Johnnys with no proof they have a real product. That warrants skepticism no matter how optimistic you are.

@Yorumi The worst case scenario here would probably be if they buy a bunch of extremely cheap batteries and/or battery packs on eBay from sketchy Chinese sellers, gut them, and hot glue them into their 3D printed cases. My gut tells me that's what's about to happen, but I rather hope not.

@Jeronan @Yorumi Also, can I just say that I appreciate seeing a few more skeptics around here? I hope before anyone plunks down their hard-earned cash on this from the NintendoLife community they look at the comments and hold off on this.

This thing already has funding, and if it isn't a complete disaster, they'll be selling it after the campaign ends for sure. Let other people be the beta testers, and if it holds up under scrutiny after they deliver, pay the full amount knowing it'll be worth it. If your only draw to this is to buy it now because it's cheaper..... well..... you may very well get what you pay for. Or get nothing at all.

@MarioPhD I agree that Kickstarter is a safer platform, and I prefer it myself. Is it necessarily a better platform, though? I'm not so sure.

And no, Kickstarter circa 2012 did not necessarily provide any greater guarantee of success than Indiegogo. If anything, crowd funding was newer and more unproven, so people were more skeptical back then compared to today, since people were still figuring out how everything worked.

I distinctly remember the reactions that many people right here in NintendoLife had to crowd funding in general. While I was backing stuff like Shovel Knight, most people here were skeptical to the point they made an automatic judgment that the process was not trustworthy, and would not contribute anything until a product had already been released. Historically, NL is like skepticism central when it comes to crowd funding. I'm seeing that same behavior here today.

@Yorumi That's fair, I'm not disagreeing. Again, part of it was my misreading the page (I thought they mentioned totals, not additional) but at the same time, I'm assuming that's why they turned the brightness/extras off to hit their target benchmarks for marketing purposes. I'd have to test specific settings, but I regularly get 3+ hours on Zelda, so I think an extra 10 hours 40 minutes is probably doable, depending on settings.

@Jeronan You don't need a working prototype to test, especially not this early in the design/development stage. All they need is the battery they plan on using to connect it to the switch.

@MarioPhD If we can trust the page, they are having a custom made battery pack (Plenty of reputable companies offer that as a service) so hopefully that isn't an issue. And I agree, skepticism is good. I have no problem with how you or Yorumi have presented your concerns. I do have an issue with others posting blatantly false information and calling this a total scam without any information to back that up. Like you, I am skeptical, but it's too early to cry foul.

@MarioPhD You can bet this is going to happen, as that is the only way to deliver something within 4 months from design/mock-up to an anything resembling the product.
But using some 3D printers for mass production........ I rest my case.

There is no credible manufacturer in the world that will be able to produce a fully working product from mock-up within 4 months!
Not even the big and mighty Apple, with billions of dollars at it's disposal can do this lol!

Just look at all past "credible" hardware kickstarter campaigns.
These people had actual working proto-types with final production and delivery to consumers at least 10-12 months after end of the kickstarter campaign and a lot of those were delayed with 3-6 months or more due to manufacturer / part supply issues, etc.
Even for non-technical products like backpacks I have seen delivery times 10 months after kickstarter end.

And these guys claim they can beat all these campaigns and do it in under 4 months without a working proto-type?
For crying out loud, they haven't even finalized their design and still debating what to do with the USB-C port on their case lol! /facepalm

@PlywoodStick Is Kickstarter a better platform for buying hardware today? Yes. In terms of immediate requirements for sellers, that's 100% indisputable. I question anyone who would openly prefer to buy hardware from a company with no track record without knowing a working prototype exists.

And comparing this to Shovel Knight is a complete false equivalency. Yacht Club consisted of people from Wayforward who actually developed and delivered games. We know exceptionally little about the background of these people. Was Shovel Knight a risk? Absolutely. We saw that with Mighty Number 9 as well; Inafune knows how games get made, but he still couldn't deliver something on time that satisfied the majority of backers. Making a poor campaign was definitely a part of that (unreasonable promises.... sound familiar?). The people on this project claim to have vaguely worked for companies like Apple. Were they designers, or were they in the mail room? What devices did they work on specifically that made it to market? Did they go to any sort of design school that gives them ethos? They never say, and not saying makes a big difference.

I think it's safe to say our conversation here is through, though. You had a good experience with crowdfunding hardware, and plenty of other people have. I hope this works out. But I don't think anyone implicitly trusting them is a good idea.

You're welcome to disagree, and if you do, by all means continue to. Neither of us is changing our minds, and that's fine. I respect your opinion, I completely disagree, I hope you do the same of both for me, and I'm happy to leave it at that.

@Jeronan The campaign claims they'll be sending these out in July. I suspect in late-June to mid-July we'll be seeing an upbeat article out of NintendoLife about how it's been slightly delayed, with an asinine conclusion like "Did you back this project? Are you excited for it to ship? Let us know in the comments!" If this blows up completely (due to poor build quality literally exploding or them never delivering) I wonder what, if any, coverage we'll see.

I just hope nobody took the credibility I tend to ascribe to NintendoLife (which has now taken a hit) as an endorsement that this campaign is trustworthy and backed it on that basis.

@MarioPhD Perhaps it's changed since you read it, but the site currently lists an "August 2017" estimate. Probably a good chance it will be delayed still.

@roadrunner343 They claim that "Switch Charge Begins Shipping" in July 2017, so we'll see if they can keep their promises starting then. We'll know by late-July if they can stick to their proposed timeline. I hope so for everyone shelling out $75+.

@MarioPhD You're exactly right, it's a false equivalence. That's what baffled me- people were skeptical of game projects coming from teams with backgrounds ranging from respectable to extensive. But yes, have a good day!

@PlywoodStick You too! Stay safe out there, and may all your crowdfunding experiences be as good as they have so far!

@PlywoodStick At least Nintendo designed it so you could ADD to it in a modular kind of way. . .This is better than building a bulkier device that you can't take away from. .

I dig it and I'd love to buy it but I bought a 30,000 mAh portable battery for close to $50. At less than half of the power the Switch Charge is offering.... it'd have to be like $30-$40 tops.

@Yorumi There's a 5000 mAH third party battery by a nearly unheard of company (who's ever heard of Cameron Sino?) that works with both O3DS and N3DS (although a different panel than provided is needed for the N3DS); which provides around 5x the battery life, using ~3.95x the battery power of the Nintendo OEM battery, for twice the price. Sure, it adds a bit of bulk, but it's more than worth it.

So I can believe that a little company can beat out a big company in quality. If anything, the smaller company has more motivation to offer a superior product to compete, while the larger company has less incentive to provide anything better than a decent product, just enough to generally not have faulty products. (Sometimes even sweeping faulty products under the rug when they do appear.) Whereas if the smaller company produces a faulty product, it's curtains for them.

@cfgk24 Yes, the NS is modular enough, so that a better battery and better designed port arrangement and kickstand can be attached or removed at will. Having a little extra bulk is a good thing, not a bad thing.

@roadrunner343 I completely agree with your statement. I did a Kickstarter last year for BitLounger (aesthetically-pleasing SNES game storage), and while it was successful, there was A LOT of backlash bashing pricing, need, etc from the gamer community. One of the things I learned was that everyone assumes they are the target market for anything they see. Instead of "that's cool, but not for me", it's "Why would I buy this when I can just buy [insert cheaper alternative that doesn't exactly line up]". Constructive feedback is always extremely valuable, but many times it's either not constructive or not coming from the actual target market.

Yeah, I don't think so. I'll stick with my 26,800 mAh battery pack that cost £35 instead of something that will potentially overheat my switch and offer less than half the capacity for 200-300% of the price!

I give it six months before a company like Anker or Aukey releases a similar 20,000mAh case for $40-$50. There is absolutely no reason an established battery pack manufacturer with mass production capability cannot dramatically undercut this. It's simply a cradle, a (fast) battery, and a USB-C connector. There are already a host of 20000mAh battery packs for $35 on Amazon. (There's even a quick-charge 2.0 battery for $25.)

PS: I'll also NEVER fund anything through indiegogo. They have a far poorer track record of completed projects than Kickstarter and don't even require a working prototype as KS does. No way.

@RandomNerds Frankly I'd be waiting for the Mad Katz as the "tried and true commercial improvement" from this product

The idea's great. The execution is a mix of wrong and "we don't actually know what it is because they don't actually know what it is" yet. The concept is a no brainer, and charger cases are anything but new. But the implementation doesn't take cooling into enough effect. I imagine a clip on charger battery will be a commercial thing, but while the cells can be high quality, chargers are sophisticated pieces of electronics these days that are easy to screw up. If Samsung can't get it right in their 6th edition $800 flagship phone twice in a row, and they're in the top 3 of portable electronics design.....I'm not too inclined to trust a crowdfunded charger. This ain't Ni-Cad, high capacity Li-Ion is not something you screw with in the garage.

OTOH, it's kind of odd that "random Chinese generic brands" like Anker and iMuto are the brands we DO trust. It's actually kind of frightening.

Edit: Plus this is just plain bulky. All in one is nice compared to a cable to a battery, but adding a lot of weight to a Switch will SWITCH it from being ergonomic and comfortable to heavy and unbearable.

@PlywoodStick FWIW, I will never accept the concept of crowdfunding. Trustworthy or not, the very concept of putting the risk of investment without return is just wrong, and using it as proof of concept for real publishers to reduce their risk pool is also wrong. I support a lot of the developers that have used crowd funding but won't support their crowdfunding.

Real publishers exist for a reason. To absorb the risk, and to fund the project. The consumer isn't there for that purpose. If consumers were smart they'd instead of funding kickstarters as consumers just start up a co-op publishing company and make an actual business of it

Funny you mention Mad Catz, since they just filed for bankruptcy. And not the Chapter 7 "BRB guys, restructuring BS FTW" bankruptcy, but the real deal Chapter 11 "OMG we're boned" bankruptcy.

Crowdfunding has a fundamentally different philosophy behind it than traditional free market publishing and venture capitalism. It's not for everyone. But it is a legitimate methodology, it's just in it's infancy. It will continue growing, and lay more solid ground rules as it develops. If it were unviable, we wouldn't have games like Shovel Knight, Yooka-Laylee, Shantae: Half Genie Hero, or of course, phenomena like Undertale.

Traditional publishers and venture capitalists simply won't fund certain types of games, and most people are not well educated enough in Finance and Digital Sales to actually be capable of handling a co-op publishing company properly. (And the traditional publishers wouldn't allow one to thrive through physical retail, I saw the likes of Gamestop kill a local Mom n' Pop Play N' Trade store with my own eyes.)

@PlywoodStick
Aww, that's the end of an era Not a great era mind you, but an era

Shovel Knight, Yooka-Laylee, not sure about Shantae or Undertale really used Kickstarted as a proof of concept for a real publisher to reduce their risk pool. Same with Bloodstained and Mighty. That's not crowd funding. that's your free market publisher using kickstarter as a down payment and risk evaluation tool.

Pledging money for an incomplete project is a weird mix of charity and publishing, and all you get in return is the product that hopefully is what you expected it to be. Paying for something incomplete on "good faith" is silly. Even if it's not an untrustworthy company, say Shovel Knight 3 goes up for crowd funding, you have no way to know that the design decisions and such are going to meet your expectations, not out of lack of trust, but creative divergence.

Make the product, show me the product, I'll tell you if I'll pay for your product. Easy enough. Getting funding for the product, is a different matter, of course. But crowd funding (what a lovely Orwellian term) isn't the solution to the collapse of he publishing market, it's a weird "out of service, please use other door" sign slapped in front of the gaping hole in the wall.