Gizmo

Electrovaya Powerpad 160

Long trips far away from a power socket can curtail a notebook user's productivity.

You see a mobile computer normally runs out of juice in about three or four hours when running on its own battery.

Grab an Electrovaya Powerpad and you'll be productive all the way from Vancouver to Hong Kong. The battery gadget looks like a small cutting board, however it is packed with battery cells that can run for up to 16 hours, depending on the model you buy.

It plugs into a laptop's power port, where the power adapter that plugs into a wall socket normally goes.

The battery is designed to sit snuggly under the computer. At 8.5 x 11 inches, it has about the same width and length as most common mobile computers. It's also 3/8 inches thick and is 1.9 to 2.4 lbs depending on the model.

The Powerpad 120 fuels a computer for 12 hours, while the Powerpad 160 has potentially 16 hours of juice. I used the Powerpad 160 on a two-day scavenger hunt through the hinterlands of Northern Ontario in GM's gadget-car the Pontaic Vibe. The car has it's own 115V socket, which I used to charge other gadgets. I didn't need it for the laptop because the Powerpad provided electricity for a good 10 hours. And yes, I was using the laptop all that time (from the passenger seat) as I sent photos and text via a cellular phone hook-up to the Vibe's Web site (www.drivethevibe.com).

Ontario-based Electrovaya claims I'd have gotten more time from it if I had charged the Powerpad overnight with their charger instead of the one that came with the Thinkpad.

The gadget works with most laptops from IBM, Toshiba and Compaq models, as well as a few Panasonic notebooks. It won't work with Sony, Dell or Hewlett Packard mobile computers yet, but Electrovaya says they are working on adpating the technology for those models.

For long distance road warriors, the Electrovaya Powerpad is a must-have tool.

Price: The Powerpad ranges from $549 to $749 Canadian, depending on the model and whether you chose to buy the gagdet with a charger. If you buy the charger separately, it costs $130 Canadian or $89 US.
More info: www.electrovaya.com or 1-866-302-2204.
Buy it: In Canada, at CompuSmart and Microwarehouse.ca. In the U.S., at Dartek.com and TigerDirect.com. More retailers listed on Electrovaya's Web site.

-Andy Walker, Cyberwalker Media Syndicate

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