PRIF Powerpak 1 Review – Sacrificing Comfort for Battery Life

August 14, 2016

Designed for the PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4 controller, the Powerpak 1 aims to increase the battery life of the pad without sacrificing comfort.

The official description states that the Powerpak 1 provides “over 20 hours of gameplay with a 2.5 hour charge.” In my testing of the review sample, I found that 9-10 additional hours of playtime were granted by the 1200 mAh PowerPak battery, making for a total of 18-20 hours when paired with the fully charged 1000 mAh DualShock 4 battery. So that claim seems solid, along with the 2.5 hour charge time.

So yeah, it doubles your playtime and increases the time between charges which is pretty sweet. What’s more, the PowerPak 1 can be charged while it itself is charging the PS4 controller.

Moving onto the negative points, we’ve got the PowerPak 1’s ergonomics. And while I’m sure there are some limitations when trying to pack a 1200 mAh battery onto the back of a controller, Prif’s attempt is lacking in the comfort department. Even if you can get used to the added bulk, which I did after a week of use, I was still left frustrated by how the PowerPak 1 blocked my fingers when pulling the L2 and R2 triggers.

And of course, if you’re using any type of modded controller with paddles on the back, the PowerPak 1 won’t work. An obvious thing, perhaps, but worth mentioning.

So in summary, it does indeed charge your pad and doubles your playtime, but it fails at being comfortable enough for me.

Powerpak 1 review unit was provided to PlayStation LifeStyle by PRIF for the purposes of this review. For more information, please see our Review Policy here.

You can learn more about the Powerpak 1 on PRIF’s website here.