Amazon’s Battery Recall, New Ultrabooks, A Soundbar Mistake: New This Week

The handful of news-based updates published on our site in a typical week represents a minute fraction of the total number of stories our Updates team must digest to keep our reviews up to date. That’s because Wirecutter prioritizes making useful observations that get the facts right over breaking stories first. As the updates editor, it’s my job to ensure everything we publish is accurate and timely, but there are rare instances where these two goals seriously contradict each other.

On Tuesday, the Wirecutter operations email account received a message with the subject line “IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL NOTICE.” It detailed how six AmazonBasics Power Banks, sold between December 2014 and July 2017, were being recalled in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. According to the notice, the battery cells were at risk of overheating and could pose a fire hazard.

There are so many great USB battery packs available right now that we no longer recommend AmazonBasics models, and don’t even discuss them among the competition anymore. But I thought it’d be worth mentioning the recall in our guide just in case any longtime readers might need to return an old unit.

Then we noticed CPSC’s website hadn’t yet mentioned the recall, and on a quick phone call the Commision told us it hadn’t seen the notice yet. The email contained only one link, which went to a vinyl.expertproductinquiry.com URL, not an Amazon URL as one would expect. And when I called the included customer service phone number, (855) 215-5134, I was left listening to hold music for half an hour.

So I—an Internet savvy, but slightly too paranoid editor—immediately thought we were getting phished.

It turns out, that phishing freakout was unfounded. That afternoon, one of our editors was able to verify with Amazon help that the recall was legit, which we later confirmed with yet another Amazon rep, and CPSC eventually put up its own page detailing the recall. Then came quick news hits from sites like The Verge, Engadget, and Business Insider within 24 hours. If you got an AmazonBasics battery on our recommendation a few years ago, go to this Amazon verified Expert Product Inquiry URL to see if you qualify for a refund.

Of course, you can also just recycle a battery nearing the end of its life. According to Wirecutter staff writer Mark Smirniotis, who writes most of our battery and power guides, you got a pretty good deal if a $30 gadget lasted you more than two years—which is longer than the period of time since we last recommended an AmazonBasics Power Bank. New models, like the Jackery Bolt, are smaller, charge your phone faster, and are worth every cent. And Mark told us in Slack, “For me, batteries are like pens. I’ve never kept one long enough to use all the ink.”

Here are some other things we updated this week:

After another round of testing, we now recommend the Dell New XPS 13 as a lighter alternative to our top picks, and added four other laptops to the competition section. [Windows Ultrabooks]

We’ve replaced our smaller pick for travel, Anker’s PowerPort 2, with its successor, the PowerPort 2 Elite. [Multiport USB Wall Charges]

After receiving some reader feedback about IKEA’s Pax wardrobe, we now recommend it for people who want a built-in DIY feel. [Closet Organizing Ideas]

Early reviews of the new Speed Queen are mixed, so we no longer recommend these machines. We’ve added info on those models, along with some alternative suggestions. [Washing Machines and Matching Dryers]

Our top pick, the HomeSeer HS-WD100+, is on backorder. We expect it to be back by the end of April, but for now, we recommend our runner-up, the GoControl WD500Z-1, instead. [Z-Wave In-Wall Dimmers]

The AmazonBasics 12-sheet shredder is currently unavailable. The 8-sheet shredder works just as well and is still in stock. [Paper Shredders]

Our generator pick, the Honda EU2000i, has been discontinued. We expect the new version, the EU2200i, to perform just as well, and will add details as we learn more. [Portable Generators]

The Yamaha YAS-207BL cannot use Yamaha’s MusicCast streaming protocol to play music over Wi-Fi. We have corrected our review and regret the error. If you bought this pick because of this feature and were disappointed, please contact us here so we can help make it right. [Budget Soundbars]

We’ve added a note about Android Wear changing its name to Wear OS (or, alternatively, Wear OS by Google). We also added the Fitbit Versa to the What to look forward to section. [Smartwatch for Android Phones]