Zagg Sparq 2.0 Review (Replacement for original)

I got a Zagg Sparq in December. It would charge my Droid and 2 different Motorola bluetooth headsets fine, but it would discharge from 100% to 0% in about 2 weeks. This should not happen with a lithium polymer battery. Zagg was good enough to follow up with all the Sparq buyers to see if they were having any problems and I told them about the discharge problem. They sent me a prepaid return envelope about 3 months later and then sent me a new Sparq and a set of Zaggbuds as a gift to make up for the Sparq problems. Excellent service from Zagg. I even got the red and black ones since they ran out of the blue and orange ones they were sending out.


My new Sparq 2.0 arrived last Tuesday. I started the charge before noon that day and allowed it to charge for about 9 ½ hours. The first charge is supposed to be at least 9 hours. After charging, it was at 100% (4 lights). I didn't use it to charge my Droid and would check the charge amount every night. Three nights after the completed charge, the charge showed 75% (3 lights) and today (9 days later) it showed 50% (2 lights). It appears that the discharge problem still exists, unless additional charges will improve that. Additional charges did not improve the self discharge on the original Sparq.


I plugged in my Droid about an hour ago, which was at 30%, and it charged the Droid to 100%. The Sparq still shows 50% charge. I will allow it to discharge some more and then recharge it. It appears that there is still an electrical leakage problem, unless additional full charges improve this. At least I got a pretty good pair of ear buds. They are not as good as my Etymotic HF5, but they are fine for casual listening and they are comfortable.

 

I recharged the Droid again today from 30% to 100% and the Sparq is now at 25% (1 light) 11 days after it's first charge. This is better than the original Sparq was. I'll have to see if the discharge improves after a couple of recharges.

 

Any additional info?

Wondering if the Zaggsparq 2 is still working for you. Would you recommend it?

 

I don't need it right now, so I am doing a test to see how long it takes to self discharge. It is now 14 days since I recharged it to 100% (first recharge since original 9 hour charge when new) and the battery shows 50%. My original Sparq would have been down to 0% by now. I'm going to wait until it self discharges to 25% and then see if I can get a complete charge on the Droid. I still don't see why it should self discharge. Zagg said that it was a defective component in the original Sparq that caused it, so I wonder if they are still having that problem. In any case, it should be fine to charge up and then get 3 or 4 charges on the Driod over a few days when I travel.

Even if it doesn't improve, and I don't know why it would, it still ended up being a good purchase for me. I got it for a total of $56, with a sale and a 20% discount coupon. Then I got the Zaggbuds as a gift with the replacement. They are pretty good buds. I certainly wouldn't pay $99 for one knowing what I know now. Some people never had any problems with the original Sparq, so perhaps there is bad quality control on some of the purchased components. If you can get it on a Zagg sale and just plan on using it for a few days between recharges then it should work fine. If you need it to hold a charge for weeks then probably not.

 

Thanks for the review. I got one with a 50% off coupon and to be honest, if it does half of what it claims I'll be happy. It's lightweight and compact and between it and my car charger I hope to help with the battery drain and prevent me from finding myself without a cellphone to make calls at an inopportune moment. I'm trying to avoid the extended batteries and prying off my snap case for swapping batteries etc.

Dorothy

Update:
I have been using it for about a week and just love it. So handy to have it out with me. I plug it to charge up every night and it's always good to go. It has totally allowed me to enjoy the phone without being anxious about what is on etc.
I am hoping that the update makes things better but for now this is a perfect solution for me vs swapping out batteries. I just leave it plugged in inside my bag as needed if I am low. I even ordered a second one at 50% off for my daughter who just got an iPhone 3G as well.
Since so many folks have varying practices on the DX, I figured it would be hard to get a handle on how long the extended would give me alone and decided to go this route and then learn more about how the extended batteries perform. This sparq2 is useful for other electronics as well, which I like.

 

This was just posted on facebook.com/iphone4.

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Im gettin it!

 

Memorial Day

I bought the Zagg Sparq on memorial day during the half off sale, and received it on that thursday, june 2. I plugged it in when I got it (4pm?) and removed it the next morning (7:30 am), and i've been checking the lights periodically. As of today, 9 days later, I'm still on 4 dots (but the 4th one is weaker now, it was full bright the other day, a week after removing it from the charger) so I think they may have resolved the drainage problem... ok the pic seems to show only 3 dots so, well.

I guess it loses charge after a week. Not sure what's going on there.