Xbox One Play and Charge Kit

Game controllers are energy-intensive, especially if you use them on a daily basis. With the Xbox One controllers, I was switching out batteries every two weeks. That's roughly 50 batteries per year for one controller! The Play and Charge kit saves you money and is more energy-efficient. When the battery starts to get low, you can either plug it in and keep playing or charge it when you're not using the controller; I frequently charge it overnight so it's ready to go the next time I pick it up. It doesn't take long to recharge, but the time varies depending on how low the battery is; if your console warns you that the battery is low, it'll take at least three hours for a full charge. It also seems to charge slower if you continue to use it as it's charging, but that's understandable. I can go several days without needing to plug it in. The cord plugs into the top of the controller between the bumpers so you can continue using all of the buttons without it getting in the way. The other end of the cord is a USB, which you can plug in to one of the USB ports on the Xbox One or any supported USB port (I've heard that you can plug it into a wall charging unit if it supports enough voltage). The cord is at least eight feet long, and the battery is a Lithium-ion, which means it's more effective and will last longer. It would be nice if there was a charging station to keep more than one battery on hand, but this one lasts for a long enough period of time that it's a minor gripe. I've had this product for over seven months and it continues to work like a champ. At less than $20, It's one of the best purchases I've made on Amazon.

I bought this to keep me going until I buy a second controller and one of those Nyko charge docks. 1. It's simple. A charging cable and a battery. That's it. No weird parts or confusion at all. 2. It works well. Every part worked as expected. 3. Battery keeps a charge for a good long time. No issues. I don't have exact estimates, suffice it to say that I've forgotten the last time I'd charged it a few times. 4. Lithium ion battery. Cons 1. Kind of expensive for a battery and a cable. 2. Didn't come with the controller like it should have. Kind of upset I had to buy this separately. Overall, it's either this or the Nyko charge base. They're both great options but until I get a second controller, a dock seems too much. *update* So I went with that Nyko base and that turned out to be a bust. After so long, I figured I might as well just buy a second one of these for charging my two controllers. The price hasn't hardly dropped but that's okay. The first one I bought back in April of 2015 still works and still holds a charge. I've seen the other reviews about how the battery dies after 6 months. That was likely a bad batch from the manufacturer. It happens. I'm not making excuses for Microsoft because that's really not cool, but I can see both sides of the situation. Willing to take another shot with one of these. The first one turned out fine and it can't get worse than that "I work when I want lulz" charge base from Nyko.

I initially purchased an Xbox One (Day One Edition) with an extra controller, and an extra Play and Charge Kit. After two years of heavy use, these devices work quite well. When I bought the second Xbox One (Halo 5 Edition) for the man-cave, I didn't hesitate to buy the licensed Play and Charge Kit again despite there being 3rd party alternatives on the market for less. I know that these are reliable and perform well. For those unfamiliar with what you're getting, it's a 9' charging cable and a Lithium Ion rechargeable battery (to replace AA disposable batteries). The 9' cable is a big deal because it allows you to 'Play and Charge', as the name suggests, so you don't have to stop gaming because your batteries are low. My PS4 charging cables are only 4', so I pretty much have to quit (or sit on the floor) to keep gaming if my second controller is down. Having said that, MS claims a <4 hrs to fully charge. This seems relatively accurate, though I've seen it take a bit longer if I was still playing while charging (vice leaving plugged in with the Xbox in sleep mode). The real performance for me comes into actual battery life. Perhaps partly due to controller power consumption, my controllers usually last for 5 days of moderate to heavy gaming each (weeks if I only play an hour or so a day). This is phenomenal because controller management is never an issue (in case you sit > 9' from your console and only have 1 controller). I recall the 360 Play and Charge batteries lasting much less time. If you have a PS4 you'll also recall that those batteries only seem to last for 7-9 hrs before needing a recharge. I enjoy both systems, but the Xbox clearly wins in this category. I highly recommend this accessory over anything else when getting a new system or controller.

This is a great pack. The only issue I have with it is the cable isn't that great. I've bought about 4 of these things and all but 1 of the cables went bad. Fortunately, except for the charge indicator, the cable is just a standard USB with a micro-A tip. The battery itself, however, is top notch. Note: This is a lithium ion battery. Therefore, it needs to be taken care of differently than your standard NiCd AA batteries. I've read about people's batteries going bad pretty quickly (cell phone, play and charge pack, etc) and they think it's the battery itself. It's likely not the battery, but the user. Lithium ion batteries need to be charged fully before they get unplugged. If not, the battery can "forget" where it's at in it's recharge cycle. So, rules of thumb: 1. Always, always recharge the battery to full during every charge session. Skipping here and there isn't usually an issue, but making it a regular practice to only partially charge the battery will inevitably cause battery to behave like it's no good. 2. You don't have to wait until it dies to charge it. Charge it everyday if you want, just charge it to full each time. 3. You can't overcharge the battery because the electronics won't allow it, so you can keep the battery plugged in all night if you want. Once more, just make sure you charge it to full! 4. Keep away from heat, especially for long periods of time! Heat is bad for any battery and decreases lifespan. If your battery gets significantly warm every time you charge, you might have an issue. If you follow these rules, your battery should last years, depending on how much you actually use it. If you do find your battery dying before it should, you may have to spend a few days getting it back to normal by using it until it dies as much as possible before charging it. So, use it until it dies, try turning it back on and use it until it dies again, and keep doing this until the thing just won't turn on anymore. Then, charge it back to full and repeat the exercise all over again. After a few days of this, you should see a marked improvement in the battery life, unless the battery is just old. If it's old, it's old. And, again, all this goes for any lithium ion batteries you might use.

In my very humble opinion, it is absolutely a requirement to use the official ones (or ones that do not require you plug directly into the battery) if it is going to be used for children. We got my oldest a non official one that plugs into the battery instead of the controller and it worked well for a good price but he accidentally plugged it into the controller and it blew out a tiny capacitor and maybe the buck converter. It ended up rendering the controller almost useless as it acts all kinds of funky (left control stick doesn't work anymore and I've repaired the circuit board). Long story short, I'd go with this; the official one to avoid any possible issues. This kit charges easily, it's simple, effective and it has a light on the cable to let you know when the battery is fully charged. This feature alone is great and I love it and another reason I suggest going with this kit.

At work there is a lot of down time so management told us to bring a laptop or tablet to help us stay awake. They even have wifi and cable for us. I chose the laptop, a Razer with a GTX 1060 and a wireless Xbox controller. Everyone gets this kit for the battery because the cable is just a regular micro USB cable with a LED on it. The battery is good for what it is. I charge it maybe once every 2 weeks and I'm using it 3 hours a day sometimes, 4 or 5 days a week. I've never ran out of battery. The USB cable is nice since it has a light that tells you if it is done charging but any micro USB cable works just fine. The only thing that would make it better is if it supported quick charge. A digital readout on the cable that tells you an exact percentage would be way more useful than a white or amber LED. But, if it was like that, this kit would probably cost more than the controller. Also, this really should have come with the controller. It is kind of a rip off that you need to buy it separately which makes the total cost of a rechargable controller in the $70 USD range.

The problem with this is everything. Let's ignore the fact that I paid over $300 for a video game system that came with no way to actually play the system unless I purchased separate batteries, and just stick with the ugly for this little guy. I had one unit and thought that maybe it was defective, as the charge wouldn't hold for much longer than half a day to a day. Sent that in, got a replacement. Same issue. Full charge, batteries showing as dead or holding for a few hours, tops. Then it got worse. Then it got to the point where it wouldn't hold a charge at all and I just had to plug it into the system with the wire that came with the plug and play kit that should have come with the system to begin with, which is actually the only plus about this kit. The long cord that also has questionable integrity about the sleeve parts. Why Microsoft chose to force consumers to choose between spending more money on an extra piece for wired control or to continually buy batteries outside of Microsoft in order to use the product is beyond me, but stands as one of the worst marketing moves in history. In short, these things don't work and are a total scam. They invented batteries that last forever, so why am I required to make additional purchases to play a video game I already paid a reasonably high price for? I hate batteries almost as much as I hate cords, and this does not solve the problem at all. I finally went with rechargeable Energizer batteries and a kit for that, which I highly suggest you do as well, and haven't had a single problem since. This is a gimmick item that should have never had the space to be invented in the first place, let alone as cheaply made. Avoid.

Overall very good product, well made, well designed. Perfect for Xbox One users who have purchased a Xbox One headset (Turtle Beach, Tritton, Microsoft) because the new headsets are wireless to the console which means they have to get power from somewhere so they draw power from the controller. Save yourself some money buy this instead of using AA's, they are expensive. Pros: Comes with one charging cable and one lithium ion battery pack Official Microsoft made product Strong durable cable and usb plugs Battery Life (full charge) 5+ hours without any headsets or accessories plugged in. Led light tells whether charging or you have a full charge (orange-charging/white-fully charged) Long Cable 9ft from end to end Provides a USB connection with your console if you need to update controller (this can be done with any USB to USB mini cable, and headsets/accessories that need an controller firmware update for use usually include a 1ft USB to USB mini) Cons: The cable is not super long so if you have a couch or seat more than 8ft away the cable isn't going to have slack and the lack of slack will be noticeable both by the look of it and how it feels while holding the controller. ***If you are using the play and charge kit while using the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter to connect a Xbox 360 headset to use with the Xbox One there will be a loud ringing buzzing noise both in your headset and transmitted through game chat on some headsets such as the Turtle Beach X12's. As of now there is no fix for it, and as far as I know Microsoft has not been working on one*** *** TEMPORARY FIX*** Unplugging the cable will stop the ringing buzzing noise and as long as you are not playing for more 6 hours your controller battery should last.

As always, Microsoft has proven to be a solid purchase in ALL XBOX ONE accessories. I have tried knock offs and they have failed superbly. If you own an XBOX ONE (and all other variations) stick with the best. The recharg's battery is solid and reliable. As I stated, I have purchased third party models.......and: 1. They do not have anywhere as long as a play time as the MS version. 2. They quickly discharge even when not being used. 3. When recharging them it can take days....the original MS version fully charges within 120 minutes, and yes, I am over estimating that value, I can often re-use a cell within an hour. If you game on XBOX ONE, do yourself a solid and have at least one extra MS rechargable per controller.

A must have for all xbox gamers. I dont know how many hours i have played before it ran out of charge... but for sure its more than week. And the extra long wire is an add on for windows PC.... Yes you heard it right. Connect your controller to PC with the wire and it works perfectly (download and install drivers). it wont act as a mouse... only works in a game (if developer enabled it). update 05-Apr-2016: i still stand by my review that this product is awesome. however, i do not understand why the price is now doubled. hate it when they do this. it is a damn good product but not good at this price which is now being sold at almost 4k. i got it for 1.8k update 04-Oct-2016: I recently brought xbox one s controller (white one with bluetooth from USA) and not console (i now have 2 original and 1 xbox one s controller). This play and charge kit is working fine except that it is not charging when tried with new controller only. Even today i recommend this product. Its really really good and after close to 2years of purchase i am totally happy and suggest it to fellow xboxers :-) update 07-Dec-2016: - I have tried it again with xbox one s controller. On the dashboard it does not indicate that its charging. However, when i connected wire to this controller with this battery pack for couple of hours it has charged. I do not understand why it would not indicate but charges. May be i need to give feedback on this. update 20-Dec-2016: After recent update both xbox and controllers, i now see the charging status is now showing up on dashboard as well as the light on the cable is glowing. Microsoft has now fixed it and xbox one controllers with 3.5mm jack will work as it should compared to day one standard controller. It also fixed the battery drain when a headphone is connected to the controller. Now the controller with headphone is having much life than before. I believe soon USB type C port controller should enter market. It charges fast with that cable. May be with Scorpio this sort of controller will enter market. Update 16-Aug-2020: this product is amazing and is solid. However, i see third party battery has now replaced this one. I cannot confirm on the current available. Would suggest people to wait for xbox series x to launch. Hopefully updated battery pack will be launched by microsoft.

Es un excelente producto, las baterías normales no suelen durar mucho si activas la vibración en el control y con este kit puedes durar varios días o semana sin tener que recargarlos, lo mejor es que no los tienes que quitar, lo único que debes hacer es conectar y desconectar el cable para cargar las baterías y seguir jugando.

Sehr gut, der Akku hält sehr lange und man sieht am Stecker wenn fertig geladen ist

No longer have to worry about having replacement batteries on hand when they run out at an inconvenient moment. Nice long charging lead from Xbox to controller lead means you can use the controller while the battery unit is being recharged. Warning check availability and pricing including delivery charges - It may be cheaper direct from Microsoft - if they have it in stock.