Just one of the items I can no longer buy on the E-Commerce Site!
Tacklife Power Station (Portable Solar Generator?) media by JC
As usual, I am always looking for something better regarding a portable (large battery), and the Golabs Power Station came on my radar. This one stood out and had everything to do with the shared specifications it had to a previous purchase I made.
Wireless Charging (media by JC)
Last year, about this same time, I purchased an offering by Tacklife. It was a 300WH portable battery. The company calls it a portable generator, but common sense states you need to have solar panels for it to generate power. I need to point out solar panels for this item were sold separately (don’t call it a generator). The portable cube has been a good battery for me, and it has come in handy on more than one occasion. Here are just a few instances:
I have used it camping while using it for the lighting of the tent, charging electronics,
I love taking it with me in the boot of my car as I can keep my drone batteries fully charged.
It has a 15-watt wireless charger on the top and is a simple resting place for my iPhone while also charging it.
There have been instances where we have had a power loss. I have used it to keep my laptop juiced up.
Laptop Power (media by JC)
Don’t expect a 300WH battery to power up a massive energy guzzler like a house fridge, though the company does call out a car fridge for 6 hours (Whatever size that is!).
As my experience with Tacklife was pretty positive, I was anxious to see what else they offered. Jumping on Amazon, I was surprised to see they had scrubbed any evidence of Tacklife. Doing a deeper dive, Tacklife seems to have been lumped in with other such banned companies such as Aukey, MPow, Ravpower, and Victsing. I must say, I have bought several items from each of these companies (some good, some bad)
What do these companies have in common? They all originate in China (Shenzhen), have a vast line of electronic products, and participated in a “review scam.” As many people know, sellers on Amazon live and die by the review process. If the product is highly reviewed, you get top placement on Amazon’s pages, and more consumers see your product.
This scam was discovered when a cybersecurity team found an open database exposing an organized fake review scam affecting Amazon. The server contained direct messages between Amazon sellers and customers willing to provide fake reviews in exchange for “complementary” products. It’s a shame! For the most part, as mentioned earlier, most of the products I purchased were solid in their own right.
I give Amazon credit for cracking down on the culprits, but this is certainly not the end. I venture to guess these offenders have started rebranding their products to get around the banning. How else can one explain the countless “similar” items on the Amazon site? So Amazon expunged a few companies. I guarantee 20 more took their place. Here is my advice when buying a product on Amazon starting now. Stick to credible reviewers rather than J from Altoona?
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