iDudu Magnetic Charging Station for HTC VIVE Controller

Update:After communications with the vendor the HTC Vive Controller charging stand by iDudu can both charge the controllers and allow firmware updating via USB (Insert the controller to be updated into the right hand slot). The charging stand is attractive, well built and provides a good way to store your controllers when not in use. Kudus to the vendor for addressing and fixing the issue so quickly! Highly recommended.Excerpt of original review:While this product is a great idea it is very poorly executed due to a MAJOR DESIGN flaws - the magnetic clips are very difficult to insert - okay that's annoying but the deal killer is once you put the magnetic adaptors in they a virtually impossible to remove (you will most likely damage your controller) - and thus you have no way to update the firmware in the controllers - firmware releases have been frequent.

Absolute waste of money and time.I received it in a box with the seal broken. After unpacking it I saw the cords weren't "wound" up like they would be if it was a new product and there were scratches on the cardboard (yes, that's cardboard) that indicated it had been used before.I then tried to use it... sometimes there seemed to be a light inside (maybe it was just me since it was so dim it was almost impossible to see around the ports for the joysticks) that worked, most of the time it didn't. The switch (who puts a switch on something like this) didn't work at all. Plugging it in and getting the tiny little adapter into the controller was a pain. Even pushing it down as far as it could possibly go didn't get the controllers to light up no matter what setting the pointless switch was on.UPDATE: They sent me a new one as a way to fix the issue. I tried it. This one worked. However, I couldn't get the controllers to charge in a reasonable amount of time (I've read that it's because you're using only half the power to charge both? I'm not sure that's the issue). So I went to remove the little magnetic tabs and they broke off... 2 hours later, much cursing and grumbling and 3 sets of needle-nose pliers later, I was able to finally pry out the broken, mangled metal tabs without breaking the controllers (as far as I know anyway).This is a horrible product in every way conceivable. They did try to make it right, but when you are trying to polish a turd, it doesn't matter how much elbow grease, cover-ups or replacements you offer... it's still a turd.

I am using the full Pro set up. There is a magnetic connector that goes into the charging port of the hand controller. When inserted, tracing seems to go off and the trigger also fires erratically. The charging insert is not easily removed. Otherwise,the charging station works as well. Unfortunately. the issues make it useless. OK, here is the issue, one of the magnetic adapters is faulty. Also, they are delicate and hard to take out. In order to update the controller firmware, it must come out. Also, the extractor tool is plastic and does not hold its integrity well after the first use.....I spoke with customer service, they where very helpful and sent out new insets. Now the charging station works great and no negative effects. They need to have better QA, but customer service was very good and so is the design.

Alright I am not one to complain but I am going to have to a little with this one. I got mine to work and it was amazing. It was real easy to just plop the controllers on the stand and boom they are charging and it even has a switch to turn it off if you want. Now the issue is when my controllers needed an update. Well to do that I needed to take the magnet things out so that I can plug them into my computer and that is where the problem showed it's very ugly face. The would not come out.... I did what their instructions said and I looked on line for better explinations and even looked for some videos with no luck. They give you two tools, this green pry tool that just broke apart right away and this what looks like an USB A shell tool thing that just got bent and still did not get it pried out. I tried to slowly take them out with a flat head screw driver but all that did was pull out the magnet head part leaving the Micro USB metal shell in the controller. Thankfully after a quick trip to the hardware store I was able to get a small enough needle noes pliers that had teeth to get those out. If you get this be care full with getting them out and or maybe find another companies inserts for the micro USB port...

Great charger for your vive controllers. This solves a big pet peeve I had with the vive controllers. I hated having to plug in 2 cords and mess up my counter space even more than it already was. This base presents them nicely, charges them well. Just keep in mind 2 things. 1. You must use one of your USB adapters from your Vive controllers to power the base station. 2. When you insert the magnetic chips into the bottom of the controller (super easy to do) you need to push until you the the click. Then the magnetic charging chip seats properly and will not fall out. Enjoy!