The most significant benefit over charging batteries in an external charger is that you can use the dock to top the battery up easily and avoid the rechargable battery from every running dry while in the player. There is some evidence that the Nomad II may permanantly malfunction after using NiMH batteries (Creative may claim that it is only "other" brands of batteries), and all of the stories I have heard involve the batteries running down while in the device. Nothing scientific, but I am being careful to avoid NiMH batteries running down to zero. With the dock you can charge a single battery, so you do not have to wait until it is fully drained (so that it has the same power level as its twin). Beyond that, I no longer have to carry spare batteries and there is a lot less wear and tear on the battery door!
By the way, you can use the dock-player to charge other brands of NiMH batteries in the player if you carefully remove 1-2 mm of the plastic cover from the (-) end of the battery so that it touches the charging contact inside the player that presses against the SIDE (not the end of the battery). This is reportedly a "safety feature" to prevent the cradle from charging alkaline batteries. Last tip, if your dock will not charge your battery it may be because it has been completely drained and the charger's other "safety feature" mistakes it for an alkaline. The way to deal with this is to initially charge the battery in an external charger for a bit. If you don't have access to an external charger, it is reported that you can run your player with a full power Alkaline and then quickly swap to the dead NiMH and the snap it in the dock. Last method involves some risk, I am told. If you want the straight dope on Nomad products (and downloads of all of the software, including the historical stuff) check out Nomadness.net
By the way, you can use the dock-player to charge other brands of NiMH batteries in the player if you carefully remove 1-2 mm of the plastic cover from the (-) end of the battery so that it touches the charging contact inside the player that presses against the SIDE (not the end of the battery). This is reportedly a "safety feature" to prevent the cradle from charging alkaline batteries. Last tip, if your dock will not charge your battery it may be because it has been completely drained and the charger's other "safety feature" mistakes it for an alkaline. The way to deal with this is to initially charge the battery in an external charger for a bit. If you don't have access to an external charger, it is reported that you can run your player with a full power Alkaline and then quickly swap to the dead NiMH and the snap it in the dock. Last method involves some risk, I am told. If you want the straight dope on Nomad products (and downloads of all of the software, including the historical stuff) check out Nomadness.net
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