A convenient single-use alternative to rechargable batteries.
Customer Rating: 
Wii controllers eat up tons of battery power, period. Buying new batteries over and over is wasteful and expensive, so you have a couple alternatives: get some rechargeable AA batteries or this unit here, the "Wii Charge Station" from Nyko.
Sure, rechargeable batteries are a lot more versatile, since you can use them in any device that requires AA's. The Charge Station battery packs are ONLY used with Wii controllers, so they're a single-use property, not always a good investment... unless you use the Wii a lot, like me. In that case you're better off getting Nyko's wonderful product (and believe me, Nyko is a very high quality name, with years in the business of remote control batteries, unlike a lot of third party video game peripheral companies!) which will save you tons of time in the end.
Why? Well, all you do is slap the battery pack into the Wiimote (it comes with two, too!), clip on the new back plate to the controller that it comes with, load the entire Wiimote into the charging bay, and in a couple hours voila, your controller is fully charged and ready to go. Play for as long as you want (a lot longer than you'd get even with fresh new AA's) and then when you're done you just drop it back into the charger base once again. Wait for the blue light on the base to turn green and you're ready for more gaming. If you had rechargeable AA batteries in there you'd have to take them out every time and load them into their own charger, then reload them back into the Wiimote again. Not necessary with the Wii Charge Station. (Note: both options basically require you to remove the annoying Wii Jacket from the controller for easier recharging. Not a major loss in my book, but heads up just in case.)
Why four stars instead of five then? One reason: the aforementioned new back plate that is required for use with the Charge Station's battery pack. To make use of the battery pack, you have no choice but to replace your Wiimote's original battery slot back plate with the one that comes with this charger... and it's not great. Sure it has sleek, rubbery ridges that make it easier to grip without the Wii Jacket, but the major problem is it doesn't clip in 100% perfectly. Sure, it's probably 90% as secure as the original battery slot plate, but you can feel it shifting around sometimes, which is very, very annoying during more labor-intensive Wii gaming (that said, for laid-back RPG fans like me it's not a problem in the least, heh heh). Though I can't finish this paragraph without mentioning one other thing about the new back plate: it's butt ugly. Grey with green stripes. And on my new sleek black Wii controller, too... pity.
If you can handle a small loss in grip security thanks to the new underwhelmingly designed back plate to your controller, then you're getting a fantastic deal here. Two Wiimote rechargeable battery packs, a slick, easy, user friendly charger base, and the confidence in knowing you're not polluting the earth with disposable batteries or having to open and close your controllers to put in the rechargeable AA's again and again. Quick, easy, painless. Just how life should be.
