Looks like I need one of those battery packs for topping up ipads and phones. Has anyone got any recommendations? I guess I probably need a bigger one that can do two ipad and two phones.

This is the best one I’ve ever used:

https://www.powertraveller.com/en/shop/portable-chargers/outdoor-adventure/powermonkey-extreme-12v/

One of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/15000mAh-Portable-External-smartphones-lightning-Black/dp/B00D5T3QK4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=XFBZQIOG95PL&coliid=I1XPKSRVL0QE86
I’ve got a 10000mAh version, and it’s excellent, but when I bought it around a year ago, it was only a little cheaper than the 15000mAh version is now, which would have been £75+ a year or so ago.
Really good quality, and very compact, can’t go wrong, really. And yes, they will charge an iPad.
Plus anything else that charges from USB, like cameras, portable speakers…

I just got an Anker Astro pro2 at a whopping 20,000mAh for £50, and it’s great. The main reason for going for that was that it has a 9/12V output as well so it can run this 10.8V laptop too.

Thanks for the heads-up on the Astro Pro2 Mol, at that price it’s a steal!
While having a shufti at the Anker, I also spotted this, which would be worth considering by the OP:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/EC-TECHNOLOGY®-Ultra-high-Thunderbolt-Incredible/dp/B00F5Q4F0U/ref=pd_cp_ce_1

Anker Astro E4 (13000mAh) here. Bought for 27 quid in sale. Appreciate the led torch function and simplicity . 2 USB ports, one high one low. Charges my 4s about 5-6 times, iPad just use to top up haven’t tried from flat yet. The Anker takes 8hrs or more to charge full to four bars.

plus 1 for power monkey and solar panel – it will recharge battery and phone very quickly

The reason I went with Anker is that it had lots of positive reviews and some real tech mag reviews too. There are so many dodgy battery merchants out there I thought solid recommendations were worth listening to.

While the Powermonkey may be good, it’s still £120, compared to £50 for the 12v Anker, and only 9000mAh compared to 20,000mAh, so over twice the price for less than half the capacity.
Not so much of a bargain, really.

What about a battery pack that can attach to an iPhone 5 so it extends the battery life? Not something which is big, something I can attach to the phone and still use as normal (albeit making phone bigger).

Thanks guys, appreciate your advice.

I’ve been using one of these for a over a year and it’s good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/EasyAcc®-12000mAh-Portable-Capacity-Smartphone-Black/dp/B008YRG5JQ

Later models marked the port output current, earlier ones were annoyingly unlabelled. Going by the links above it looks like you can get more for similar money now though.