Cord-Free Nunchuk
Score: 80% Developer: Nyko Device Type: Controller
Function: The Cord-Free Nunchuk is actually two pieces of hardware. One is a cradle that you put your Wii Nunchuck in and plug the peripheral's cable into. The other is a wireless dongle that you plug into the back of your Wii-mote. The cradle itself has a form-fitting area that the Nunchuck fits snugly in with a bottom area that you wrap the Nunchuck's cable around until it plugs into the port at its base. Once the Nunchuck is in place and the dongle is plugged in, you simply turn on the Wii and remote and the push the power button on the Cord-Free and after a few seconds of synching, the Nunchuck is hooked up to the Wii-mote just as if the cord were plugged into it directly.
Performance: The Cord-Free held up pretty well in the stress tests I ran it through. In the many hours of play, I found the AAA batteries that you use on the cradle lasted without a hiccup, but for some reason, the dongle half of the accessory seemed to drain my Wii-mote's power quite a bit faster than it would normally. As far as the boxes' claim to a 16 foot range, I can say that I barely got 6 feet away before the signal became intermittent. Of course, the idea that the Nunchuck would be that far away in the first place is a little absurd since most people won't be playing the Wii with their arms stretched as far apart as possible. Now maybe the system can reach its claimed distance in a more laboratory condition, but as far as my living room is concerned, a room with several wireless devices, the range was greatly reduced.
Features: Converts the wired Nunchuck into a wireless peripheral Wireless technology supports Nunchuck up to 16 feet from Wii Remote Two AAA batteries provide up to 60 hours of gameplay Cord management system keeps Nunchuck cord hidden Unique sleeve holds Nunchuck, cord and batteries in compact, easy-to-use setup Self-standing sleeve provides easy storage of Nunchuck
Drawbacks & Problems:: There are only a few issues I found with the Cord-Free system. While, for the most part, it did exactly what it was supposed to do, I found that there was the occasional game that it didn't seem to work with. For instance, when starting up Pinball Hall of Fame, the Nunchuck and its remote would never actually synch up. While the number of games I found this problem on was very few, it should be said that, for whatever reason, it just doesn't always work on every game. The only other issue I really had, and it is a minor one, was the cord management portion of the cradle's base. This area, while still having to take into account the battery pack, power button and whatever other hardware is needed to synch up with the dongle, was designed to allow you to wrap the cable around it several times and plug it into a port on the front of it. While this works, I found it to be a tight fit, and I had to unwrap and rewrap the cable several times to get it in there and still able to reach the port with more than just a tedious click. For what it does, the Cord-Free definitely gets the job done and its ability to keep your Nunchuck upright might just be one of the space-saving solutions you are looking for. While I didn't get the chance to test it out with multiple Cord-Free's going at the same time and I can't speak for how well they play together, it is definitely worth the purchase of one.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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