It appears that we have a mild obsession. Every once in a while we come back to the gaming essentials that we shouldn’t do without and if you’ve been keeping tabs you’ll know that we’ve pretty build a collection of various controller chargers, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. So you might be asking yourself: what makes the Rocketfish Wii Induction Charger Bundle a worthwhile product?

Well, first of all is the utter coolness factor of induction charging.  As wireless technology continues to overtake its older, wired compatriots we can only expect to see more wireless battery chargers hitting the market.  Rocketfish's relatively inexpensive alternative handles the arduous task of replacing regular AA batteries with convenient rechargeable batteries and a nifty base. Aside from the two included battery packs and AC adapter, the main difference is that the design comes in a moderately sleek layout that reinvigorates your controller's battery life through surface induction, meaning that charging your controller is as simple as laying the Wii Remote on the provided pad.

You’ll know you’re doing it correctly when you place the remote directly on the pad and a red light starts to illuminate from the base, after roughly 2 hours (during a full charge) the status light switches to green to indicate that it’s ready to use.  It certainly looks cool enough and maintains a steady amount of play time ranging from 15-20 hours per individual remote.  I was able to test the unit with both stock Wii remotes and even the lauded third-party alternative, Nyko's Wand remote.  All worked like a charm, and the benefit of having two included battery packs helped make quick swaps fast and easy.

But the Rocketfish accessory isn’t entirely perfect. While the unit oozes style, the substance and functionality take somewhat of a backseat if you have a habit of bumping into things (say a charging unit), which can easily interrupt the process, and obviously means that the gaming experienced isn’t as long unless you properly set everything back in place; this is obviously an issue unless you pay attention when it happens or simply place the unit out of the way in the living room.  Also, it seemed like it took a few attempts to get the charge working as intended before the battery packs would hold a full charge, which may have been unique to my testing unit or indicative of the model itself.  If you experience this problem, you might want to try a few times before giving up.

Packing some smart technology right out of the box, the Rocketfish Wii Induction Charger Bundle is certainly an attractive companion piece for the Wii console, offering another decent solution to your finite alkaline dilemma.  Using it couldn't be simpler, and the added benefit of adopting tomorrow's technology (today) only helps to make the experience worth considering.  Some things like the finicky surface induction will cause mild frustration towards an otherwise good charging unit, and one that's stylish to boot. Frankly there is much to like here if looks and usefulness are at the top of your battery-charging priorities.