NexiGo Dock is an ideal replacement for official equipment. It's cheaper and better, allowing you to jump back to VR easier than ever.

For frequent gamers and business users, the NexiGo Quest 2 charging stand is an ideal alternative to the official charging stand. It's cheaper, better, and easier to enter VR than ever before.

Facebook chose to use a single AA battery in the Quest 2 controller. Although there are rechargeable batteries and should always be the first choice for anyone who does not intend to destroy the earth, they do not last that long. The more frequent changes are necessary.

So if I told you there is a way to put the rechargeable battery in your Quest 2 controller without having to take it out and charge it on a neat docking station. This is the premise of the Nexigo Quest 2 charging station. It even includes a status LED to let you know when everything is ready.

The box of the NexiGo charging base contains many things:

Unfortunately, there is too much packaging here: two separate rigid PET structures for the main frame, as well as a polyethylene bag for each individual component and a shiny white cardboard box. That's just not needed.

Putting everything is very simple, the only minor difficulty is to neatly thread the small white charging cable into the bracket.

On the back of the charging stand, you can also find a spare USB-A port, which you can use to charge other accessories. Although to be honest, it will ruin the beauty; in fact, the NexiGo stand is very elegant and matches the white plastic of the Quest 2. It looks pretty good.

Adjusting the controller is a bit complicated. Two replacement batteries are provided for you; one in each hand. These are custom made and include some small metal plates on one side, which must be aligned to face you.

You also need to replace the spare battery cover with the included battery cover, which makes contact with the plates on the battery and establishes an electrical connection with the spring pins on the bottom. When you plug the controller into the charging station, this is where the miracle occurs, allowing you to charge the controller without removing the battery cover.

Each battery has a capacity of 1850mAh, which is roughly the same as a normal rechargeable AA battery, so your expected charging interval remains the same. It takes approximately 2.5 hours to fully charge. The battery is rated for 500 cycles and should last for several years. That said, it is not clear whether you can buy alternatives, as they come with custom accessories.

The headset is placed on the center stand, but since the internal battery cannot be replaced, the only charging option here is a short cable. However, NexiGo makes this as simple as possible by including a magnetic USB adapter. This reduces the physical wear of the port and allows you to use their customized "MagSafe" type charging plug. It takes approximately 3.5 hours to fully charge the headset.

Another simple feature is that there is a small metal plate on the side, just below where the earphones are located. When not in use, the magnetic charging cable is clamped there to prevent it from hanging down.

Of course, it is still backward compatible, so if you need to charge the headset while out, you can unplug the magnetic adapter and use a standard USB Type-C cable. However, it is a small adapter, so if you want to remove it, make sure to put it somewhere.

When fully charged, the status LED changes from orange to blue; this is independent for the controller and the headset. It is useful to let you know when you are ready to set off again, but I have a small complaint here: the headset LEDs are ridiculously bright.

I put it in the bedroom for testing, just like I put an RGB smart light bulb in the corner. It is easy to light up the entire room at night. This is not to say that it wastes a lot of electricity: LEDs are very efficient, and the transmission of light is mainly caused by the translucent bracket, but it is still the case.

Personally, I can fall asleep through anything. Gorgeous lights, lasers, heavy bass tracks-none of these bother me. In fact, I actually admire the blue night light. However, if you are one of those sensitive types who insist on using tape even with the smallest light source, you will hate this. If you are the kind of person who believes that blue light wavelengths will cause your melatonin levels to explode (it won't, but anyway), then prepare for a mental breakdown.

Of course, you can't put it in your bedroom, and of course you can't put it on your bedside table.

Anker also produces a similar charging stand, which is the only officially certified third-party charging accessory-so what is the difference?

First of all, NexiGo models are cheaper, at US$86 and US$99 respectively. Either way, the amount is not large, but the difference of $14 can buy you some excellent VR games.

The second difference is that NexiGo has charging status LEDs. These are useful visual feedback and may even encourage you to use your device more.

One disadvantage of the NexiGo solution is that if you use an Elite headband, the raised stand means it can fall easily. For most people, this will not be a problem. The charging of the earphones is also slightly elegant on the Anker Dock. It uses a similar magnetic adapter, but you don't need to touch the cable at all because it will automatically connect when you put it in the docking station (in theory, anyway, I haven't tried it myself).

If you attach an additional strap or cover to the controller, such as a silicone sleeve, neither of these solutions will work.

If you hate changing batteries, the NexiGo Quest 2 charging dock is an essential upgrade. There is nothing worse than starting Quest 2 and discovering that the controller is dead. If you want a stylish display stand with built-in status LEDs to indicate when you can use it again, NexiGo Dock is also a good choice.

For commercial establishments that use Quest 2 and need to provide a durable charging solution for each customer, I also think this is an ideal solution. The mechanical stress of constantly pulling down the battery cover and inserting the charging cable is detrimental to the life of the product, so in this regard, NexiGo should ensure that your Quest 2 lasts longer.

On the other hand, if you have modified your stock controllers with additional handles or silicon covers, they will not work with this docking station. The same is true for headphones; if you have replaced it with an Elite wristband, or even pieced together a Vive Deluxe audio wristband, it will be too heavy for a delicately balanced NexiGo stand.

Finally, when you have paid $300 for Quest 2, $86 is still a lot of money for convenience. You can buy a set of rechargeable AA batteries and a charger. 20 dollars. If you are a light user, you may only need to replace it once a month at most, so the convenience cost may be a bit too high for you.

For frequent gamers and business users, the NexiGo Quest 2 charging stand is an ideal alternative to the official charging stand. It's cheaper, better, and easier to enter VR than ever before.

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James has a bachelor's degree in artificial intelligence and is certified by CompTIA A and Network. When he is not busy as a hardware review editor, he likes Lego, VR and board games. Before joining MakeUseOf, he was a lighting technician, English teacher and data center engineer.

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