Hahnel Industries, a Cork, Ireland-based manufacturer of battery chargers and associated equipment, released the Twin V Pro Powerstation, high end twin charger specially designed for digital SLR cameras. The Twin V Pro charges one or two Litium Ion batteries. Hahnel was kind enough to send us a unit, so we could test drive this charger ourselves. We were quite impressed.

The Twin V Pro looks like a small cigar container in black plastic and brushed metal. The plastic cover slides open and backward, allowing you to position the charger upright in an upside-down “V” configuration. With the cover open, the charger reveals its two charging control holders. These contain the gold-plated contacts for powering the batteries.

Underneath these charging holders are two LCD displays, one for each battery. The LCD displays show you graphically that the unit is powered. On insertion of a battery, and with no power chord attached to the Twin V Pro, the LCD display also shows you the amount of energy still available for that battery, a very useful feature indeed. When the power chord is attached, and the battery inserted, the display shows the charging process graphically and with a dynamic percentage read-out.

I tested the Twin V Pro with a Sony Alpha 100 battery from the test camera Sony provided me with. Inserting the battery took some getting used to, due to the battery’s “hooks” that must be clicked in position on the charger. The charger itself looks pretty sturdy and I never felt like I must be very careful not to break it.

The Twin V Pro has specially designed charging technology which should make charging faster and more secure. I can’t say anything about the latter --I didn’t try to make the battery explode or over-charge it-- but I can safely say the Twin V Pro charged the Alpha 100 battery a lot faster than Sony’s own charger that comes with the camera.

Charging time to 100% energy for a battery that I depleted until 10% power was left in it, was less than 1 hour with the Twin V Pro. With the standard Sony charger, it took well over 1.5 hours to charge the battery to 100%.

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The Twin V Pro’s technical specifications mention variable charge current as the responsible technology for this speed. Furthermore, the Twin V Pro comes with interchangeable battery contact plates. This protects your initial investment in the unit, because if you only want to charge two batteries at a time, you can buy the full unit only once, and buy additional plates for all the cameras you wish to charge separately.

The Twin V Pro comes with a multivoltage switch mode power supply for in-house use and a 12V DC input with car lead included, allowing you to take the Twin V Pro with you and charge batteries in the car, using the cigarette lighter connection.

In short, the Hahnel Twin V Pro battery charger is more than just useful. For serious amateurs and professional photographers, it is a necessary tool and the difference between shooting as many photos as they need or continuously keeping an eye on the battery power level.