Worth the money you'd otherwise spend on batteries.

There are only two real design flaws in the Nintendo Wii. One is the level of online play, and the other is non-rechargeable gamepads. Anyone who has purchased a Wii has no doubt had the same thought, "Great, time to buy a cart of AA's." The Wii doesn't burn through batteries like many of its cordless predecessors, but it's still an inconvenience.

There have been attempts to remedy this issue by outside companies. One of the latest iterations of this post-market correction is the

There are only two real design flaws in the Nintendo Wii. One is the level of online play, and the other is non-rechargeable gamepads. Anyone who has purchased a Wii has no doubt had the same thought, "Great, time to buy a cart of AA's." The Wii doesn't burn through batteries like many of its cordless predecessors, but it's still an inconvenience.

There have been attempts to remedy this issue by outside companies. One of the latest iterations of this post-market correction is the Thrustmaster T-Charge One NW and T-Charge Duo NW.

The function of these recharge stations is similar to other attempts in that the batteries are replaced by rechargeable AAA batteries and the battery cover is replaced by one with small metal plates that allow for recharging when placed in the docking station. This has, for the most part, become the standard design of rechargeable Wii stations, and that's because it's a good design.

Both the T-Charge One NW and T-Charge Duo NW use the Wii USB port for power, saving our ever shortening supply of plugs on our surge protectors. Again, this tends to be par for the course, but there is one design aspect that the T-Charge Duo NW has over many docking stations. Other docking stations that house two remotes have them docked side by side, whereas the T-Charge Duo NW places them one behind the other. Given where many of us have our Wii's placed, entertainment centers and the like, space tends to be limited.

Also, whether you have your Wii on its side in the stand or flat, the unit has more depth than width, so it would make more sense to have the Wii remotes one behind the other rather than side-by-side. Consider that you had all four remotes that the Wii can support, in other models there would be nearly an entire foot of shelf space used to dock them all, but with the T-Charge Duo NW it would only take up approximately five inches.