Kiwi Design RGB Vertical Charging Stand for Quest Review

Today I’m going to write a review the RGB vertical charging stand that Kiwi Design sent me for evaluation. I think it is a great addition to my desk, let me tell you why in this post.

Unpacking and installing

The RGB vertical charging stand comes in a nice box, where it is taken apart into a few pieces. The user must Set it up by following very simple instructions. It took me about 2 minutes to put all the parts together. I recommend following the instructions on the little pamphlet, as the instructions on the lid of the box do not explain how to attach the magnetic USB connector.

Below you can watch the video with my unboxing and installation:

Design

The stand has a vertical design that holds the Quest in a position above the desk: it’s not like the official Quest Pro charger which is really thin and you can basically just put your Quest on your desk. I think this is a more elegant choice because it looks like your Quest is sitting there on a shelf, it’s kind of like you’re displaying it.

The shapes of the standard are quite essential and the black color gives it an elegant touchwhich contrasts nicely with the pure white of the Quest 2 and 3. With a Quest Pro on, however, it becomes a bit too monochromatic.

The standard has a small shelf where you can place the headsetAnd two small arms which can be opened, with two round holes where the controllers can be placed. On the back of the product there is a USB-C port where you can connect the power and on the sideThere is another USB-C connector that needs to be plugged into the headset to charge it. Please note that there is no cable included to connect the stand to a USB charger. I assume Kiwi Design assumes you already have enough of those at home, but I personally disagree with this decision.

There is a small stripe around the board that can emit colored light effects. This is nice if you like to add a bit of color to your desk, and fits nicely into your workspace if you have other colored gaming hardware. Underneath the shelf are two buttons: one is to turn the small colored stripe on or off, and the other is to change the light pattern.

All in all it fits very well on my desk, also because almost all the stuff I have on it (my PC, laptop, keyboard, etc.) is also black.

Charging the headset

The Kiwi Design RGB Vertical Charging Stand allows you to charge the headset, but not the controllers. This solves the problem of always having a charged headset, but not the problem of always having charged controllers. The official Quest Pro charging stand charges both (also because Quest Pro controllers have an integrated battery) and in my opinion this is the ideal scenario. In any case, given the low battery usage of Quest 3 controllers, this solution is also acceptable.

The small shelf of the stand has a USB-C connector made of rubber attached to it, which can connect to the headset. But it is very interesting to see how that happens. This small rubber USB-C connection cable has a magnetic end. You still have a USB-C magnetic endpoint that you need to plug into your headset. This way, when you put the headset back in the stand, The two magnetic ends attach to each other, powering and charging the headset. Thanks to this, it is possible to charge the device without having to worry about inserting the USB-C plug into the headset every time: you just put the headset on your shelf and everything happens magically! The magnets are strong enough to find each other even if you don’t put your headset in the perfect position. I loved this.

via GIPHY

The problem with this solution is thatThis small magnetic endpoint is required to be inserted into the USB-C port on the headsetThis is perfectly acceptable if you’re just using your headset as a standalone device to play Gorilla Tag, but it’s a bit annoying if you’re a PCVR gamer and you’re using a wired Quest Link connection, or if you’re a developer and you regularly need to upload builds to your device. In this case, you’ll have to regularly remove this little dongle every time you want to connect the Quest to your PC.

Compatibility

I am currently a Quest 3 user, so the first thing i did was check if the Kiwi Design RGB Vertical Charging Stand worked well with this headset. And it works great for both the headset and the controllers.

I have also tried it successfully with Quest 2.

With Quest Pro I have seen that it works, but a little worse. First of all, the headset has a sturdy strapand if you don’t open the band enough, it won’t fit on the stand. Because the Quest Pro has magnets to support the side blinds, it sometimes happens that the magnetic connector of the stand tries to attach itself to the magnets of the headset instead of the one connected to the USB port of the device.

I also wanted to try if it could work with other unsupported headsets, so I got my Pico 4 Company. As you can see, it fits somehow, but the headset stays in a bit of an odd position, and the rubber tube with the magnetic end point bends a bit too much to fit the height of the headset. The Pico 4 controllers don’t fit in it of course. Anyway, it’s remarkable how it can be used with unsupported headsets too.

Practical

I have been using the stand for a few days and I must say that it works great: it fits on my desk, it keeps my headset charged, and it gives off a colored light that I like. Thanks to the little rubber pads underneath, it is also quite stable and doesn’t move when I pick up the headset or the controller. The magnetic connection with my Quest 3 also does its job and I don’t have to think about how I put the headset down to see if it’s charged.

I only have three minor negative reactions to it:

1. The arms that hold the controllers forcing me to remove the controllers from their top section. This is quite unnatural, I want to grab them by the handles, not by the part where the buttons are.
2. As I said, the little magnet that I have to attach to the USB-C port of my headset prevents me from using that port for other purposes. So it’s a minor inconvenience that you sometimes have to turn it off and on again
3. Sometimes the two magnetic ends stick together, but They do it in a slightly different way and the electricity doesn’t flow between them. I have to pay close attention to the sound of the Quest 3 when it starts charging. If I don’t hear any sound, I have to move the connectors a little to get them to click into place.

Price and availability

If you are interested in purchasing this productyou can find it on the Kiwi Design website: https://www.kiwidesign.com/products/rgb-vertical-stand. The retail price is $59.99/€56.95.

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And that’s it for today! As usual, if you have any questions or comments about this booth, let me know in the comments below or on my social media channels!

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