HyperX ChargePlay Duo
Designed to charge up to two Xbox controllers simultaneously, the HyperX ChargePlay Duo dock is intended to simplify the lives of gamers who no longer want to deal with batteries, cables and power supplies between games.
In harmony with the Xbox design
While some gamepad charging stations opt for a somewhat convoluted design, this is not the case with HyperX's ChargePlay Duo. Made of black plastic very similar to the one used for the official Xbox controllers, it remains sober despite its few shiny black areas and a gray HyperX logo that adorns its different sides.
What's most noticeable is that the holder isn't designed to charge controllers via their USB port, which would mean flipping the controller over or manually plugging in a cable. Instead, HyperX opted for a more discreet and no less effective solution, providing a connector directly on the batteries that come with the ChargePlay Duo. This means that the controllers can simply be placed on the stand, which is designed to fit snugly around the shell.
Unlike the battery of the official Xbox Play&Charge kit, which is charged via the USB connector of the controller, the two batteries provided by HyperX are specifically designed to be charged from the station they accompany. They fit in place of the controller's two AA batteries and a special cover replaces the original one. A hole is provided in the middle of this cover to allow access to the battery connector, which automatically makes contact with the spring-loaded contactor of the station. You just have to put your joystick on it and it starts to recharge automatically. Simple and effective. However, it should be noted that contrary to what HyperX says on its official website, this is not an induction charging system.
Electromagnetic induction charging would be a little less energy efficient, but would have allowed us to keep the original controller covers, which are more aesthetically pleasing and respect the color harmony. Indeed, HyperX provides two pairs of covers (one for Xbox One controllers, the other for Xbox Series controllers), but all of them are black, which is a bit of a clash when you have a white or colored controller.
Standard charging and battery life
As soon as the controller is placed on the ChargePlay Duo, the charging of its battery starts. A white light bar will then start to flash slowly during the whole charging process.
It is necessary to wait approximately 2 h 30 min during before the indicator becomes fixed, sign that the load is finished, that is to say a quite traditional lapse of time considering the capacity of 1400 mAh of the battery NiMh used.
However, this time is still reasonable as you are encouraged to put your controller on the charging station as soon as you have finished playing. Since such a battery allows about 20 hours of play, even the biggest players should not run out of energy. The lack of a precise battery level indicator is also forgivable.
At the end of the charge, the station still consumes about 2.6 W (1.3 W per controller), but this only lasts a few minutes before the consumption drops to 0 W. So you can leave controllers on the ChargePlay Duo without fear of wasting power.
Conclusion
The ChargePlay Duo from HyperX is a complete and elegant solution for charging your Xbox controllers. Induction operation would have been even more appealing.
