Best Xbox One Battery Packs 2023

Constantly draining and replacing the batteries for your Xbox controller is both time-consuming and expensive, which is why getting your hands on one of these rechargeable equivalents is an essential move.

Instead of disposing of AA batteries once the juice runs out, you’ll be dealing with rechargeable packs that can quickly and easily refill their supplies and pop right back onto your controller.

Often, these rechargeable packs will come with a couple of packs, too, which means you can swap between them and always remain in the game. As we detail below, a few of the best options are also compatible with the latest generation of Microsoft controllers, designed for the Series X and Xbox Series S.

Best Xbox One battery packs: Our top picks

These battery packs from Venom are extremely popular, and there’s a good reason for that.

Not only are they very affordable, but they’ll give you up to 18 hours of playtime on a charge.

If your controller starts dying in the heat of the moment, you can just plug it in and continue playing while it charges.

With two packs included in the deal, you can have one on standby or game with a friend.

PowerA is a really well-known and respected name in the accessories market, for good reason – it has a range of useful gadgets you can add to your consoles to make them more user-friendly.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that it has an excellent charging kit for Xbox One gamers, letting you easily add a rechargeable battery pack to your controllers that you can charge while using.

Rii’s play-and-charge alternative isn’t quite as long lasting as others, in our experience, but it’s still a very good solution for those who want to keep a consistent charge running to a pair of Xbox controllers.

The LEDs on top of the rechargeable unit let you know when the charge levels are full or running low, with each able to provide power for around 6-8 hours.

As with any play-and-charge kit, you do have to put up with the cable during charge, but at least Rii gives you the option to match the colour to your pad.

Offering four batteries and a 4-bay charger, this pack from Tunrop is an amazing value.

It’s perfect for households with lots of gamers, and also great for single players who’d just like to have lots of batteries on standby.

At 1500 mAh, they aren’t the most capacious batteries on our list, but they should see you through some long gaming sessions – and you’ll have plenty of spares.

Another excellent alternative for those hunting a rechargeable duo comes from Smatree, with its offering also compatible with Xbox One, Xbox One Slite and Xbox Series X/S controllers.

While the company claims you get around 48 hours of total playtime, we found that each battery pack typically lasted around 10-14 hours, putting it only marginally ahead of the rest of the field.

As with others, the LEDs also let you know when the packs are fully charged. However, in our experience, they do take quite a while to get to this point, often in the range of around seven hours.

The bottom line: What is the best Xbox One battery pack?

Because of its reasonable price, quick charge, and convenient buld, the Venom Rechargeable Battery Pack wins our vote for the best Xbox One battery pack you can buy.

How I picked the best Xbox One battery packs

It’s been a long-standing nitpick at Pocket-lint that Xbox still hasn’t embraced rechargeable controllers, so we’re always keen to test new battery packs for its otherwise excellent controllers. Obviously capacity is our top priority, since the best battery is the one that lasts longest, but value and ease of use are also key. That’s what sees Venom take our top spot, and it’s also why easily recharged options like Tunrop’s are well worth considering.

How to choose the best battery pack for your Xbox One controller

Choosing the best battery pack for your Xbox One controller isn’t necessarily the hardest decision you’ll ever have to make, but there are a few things to consider before you select one of the picks above.

Battery pack charger vs. play-and-charge kit

This is the biggest point of distinction between the rechargeable batteries you can get for your Xbox controller. They all roughly do the same job, and that’s replacing the need for individual AA batteries, but the way they recharge is fundamentally different – and neither will work for everyone.

One type, as shown in the picks above, will see you have an external dock for a battery pack. The benefit of these models is that they often come in twin packs, meaning that you can use one while another waits in the wings. However, they don’t, of course, allow you to play while it charges – and households who like to use two controllers won’t necessarily see the benefit of having a spare battery ready to swap in.

On the other hand, play and charge kits do allow you to, well, play while charging. The downside here is that you’ll have to plug in a wire until the pack is recharged, but they are extremely versatile.

How much do you want to spend?

Naturally, battery packs for your Xbox One aren’t wildly expensive, but there is a slight variance depending on which type of recharger you go with.

Typically, external recharging docks will usually cost a little more, but this is usually due to the batteries included featuring a higher mAh figure – and therefore packing more life into the same size.

Play and charge kits, while convenient, are often cheaper but offer slightly weaker battery life.

How much you want to spend, as ever, will depend on whether the above matters a lot to your play sessions.

Is it compatible with your controller?

The Xbox One controller has been out for a long time, and therefore has tons of compatible batteries. By comparison, though, the newer Xbox Wireless Controller (that launched in 2020 with the Xbox Series X and Series S) has less options designed for it. Most, in our testing and research, do work with Xbox’s most up-to-date pad but be sure to double-check this.

This also applies to those using wireless, third-party Xbox controllers.