Disclosure: XTAR provided this unit free of charge for review. All opinions are my own.
Description #
Today I’m taking a look at the XTAR L8 Box Charger, an 8-slot AA and AAA battery charging case with USB-C input and fully independent charging channels.
This unit was sent to me for free by XTAR for review, but all opinions in this video are my own.
🔗 Buy It Here f you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. XTAR L8 Box Charger (Official Store): 🇦🇺 https://amzn.to/48UKP3u 🇦🇺 https://amzn.to/4pprjCN
Product Page: https://www.xtar.cc/product/xtar-l8-box-charger-2.html
In this video
Unboxing the XTAR L8 Box Charger Charging USB-C lithium-ion AA batteries Charging standard NiMH AA and AAA batteries Measuring real-world USB-C power draw Demonstrating independent charging channels Final thoughts after hands-on use
One of the standout features here is that each slot is its own independent charging channel. You can charge any number of batteries at once, including odd combinations, which isn’t possible on many chargers.
The compact, vertical design also means it takes up very little desk space while still holding up to eight batteries — more than most AA/AAA chargers.
I’ll also be covering the XTAR USB-C rechargeable AA batteries in a separate video, so keep an eye out for that.
Thanks for watching.
Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbw3rqYgq70
Transcript #
Hey all, today we’re looking at this L8 box battery charging case from XTAR. Just a note: this was sent to me for free by XTAR, but this is my own review and my own words. Without further ado, let’s open it up and take a look inside. Inside we have the battery case, a USB-C charging cable, a little bag, and a manual. Here’s some information on it — it supports AA and AAA.
Let’s get started. We have a little bit of protective tape we can peel off here. Just like that. Now we have indicators showing which battery is going to be charged. The lid is magnetic, which is very cool, and you can’t put it on the wrong way since it’s keyed. We get these adapters for AAAs, and we have eight spots for AAs. They were also nice enough to send me some USB-C lithium-ion batteries, which we’ll take a look at too.
We’ll be testing two types of batteries here. First, these XTAR USB-C lithium-ion AAs, which I can just pop in like that. We’ll also be looking at these EBL batteries — these are just normal nickel-metal hydride. I’ve had these for several years. One thing I really like about this charger is that each slot is its own independent channel, meaning you can charge one battery at a time. If we put in one of these, just like that, it’ll charge that. You can put in any odd number or combination you want and they’ll charge. Not all chargers are like that — some require two to be plugged in. But this one, each slot is its own independent channel, which is very cool.
Moment of truth — we’re going to test this thing out. Open it up — again, held on with magnets and keyed so you can’t put it on wrong. Each slot is numbered 1 through 8. These are the adapters; you can remove them and put in a AA, but we’ll leave them in because we’re going to test some AAAs as well. On the back, you can see the USB-C port. Now we’ll plug it in. I have this little voltage tester so we can see how much power we’re drawing. We’ll start with one of these USB-C lithium-ion batteries that XTAR provided.
Pop them into number five and close it — that’s number five. With one battery in there, we’re drawing two watts. Let’s pop in the rest — one, three, four, five, six, seven. Now we have all eight inserted, and just like that, after a few seconds, it’s picked up all the batteries and it’s pulling 7 watts. That’s 5V and 2A. We’re plugged in through USB-C. We’ll just let it sit. You can see here, it’s already detected this one has a bit of a charge, so it’s gone up to two. Some of these should be nearly fully charged. I’ll let this sit for about 5 minutes and we’ll come back.
I’ve let it charge for a little bit now. The ones that were already basically fully charged were detected as nearly full, and the rest were basically empty and are charging up now. That’s it — it’s pretty simple.
Time for my final thoughts. I really like this. It’s a very simple device — you just pop the batteries in, put the lid on, and it tells you when they’re fully charged. Because of its vertical design, it doesn’t take up a lot of space, and it holds a lot of batteries. Eight is quite a few — all my other chargers are just four. And again, each slot is its own channel, so I can put in a weird number of batteries. Sometimes I just need to charge up three, and this will do it for me. It’s very compact and it looks nice too. I think it looks pretty cool and it’s a fun little gadget.
I’m really happy that XTAR was nice enough to send me this for review. This will definitely be something I actually use because I tend to use a lot of batteries. Thank you very much, XTAR, for sending this over. If you’re interested in picking one up for yourself, there’ll be a link in the description below. They were also nice enough to send these lithium-ion AAs, which charge with USB-C or with their branded charger — I plan to look at those in their own video. If you’re interested in that, look on the sidebar somewhere around here in a few seconds.
It’s a dead simple, easy-to-use device, and I like it. It is as cool as I thought it would be. If you like the video, don’t forget to like and subscribe. I’ll see you next time. Bye.