Power banks – which?

I’ll be camping for a few days with no power but would still like some tech.

I’ve got fag packet sized power banks but what do you recommend that I won’t have to worry about that’s not going to break the bank?

Anker you’ll have to choose the capacity for your own needs

^^ Anker.

Anker. They invented them. A 20.000mAh one is pocket sized, and should keep you going for a weekend or so.

Anker <b>325</b> Power Bank (PowerCore 20K)

Anker. Work out what capacity you need and buy that one. Don’t be tempted to go huge as it’s just extra weight you don’t need.

Been using this 10,000 mAh powerbank for a few weeks, using it to charge iPhone, chord mojo 2 , AirPods/max and it works great with the provided cables as they are compact and very good quality, fast to charge and surprisingly light compared to my other power banks with the useful addition of a % charge left indicator.

Inui 10000 mAh charger here

I’ve got an Aukey PB-WL02 Basix Wireless power bank from mymemory and really like it.

Aukey wireless power bank

It was on HotUKDeals a few weeks ago so took the plunge.

Make sure you get one to that will charge (i.e. itself, and also the devices you carry) at the speed you need.
Fast charging of the power bank could be needed if you ever plan to charge it (for example) in a cafe while you are having lunch on a bike packing trip.

I’ve been pondering similar.

I like the look of this one, even if you don’t need the wireless charging functionality:-

https://www.mymemory.co.uk/aukey-pb-wl03s-20w-pd-qc-3-0-20000mah-power-bank-with-foldable-stand-10w-wireless-charging.html

Anker. They invented them. A 20.000mAh one is pocket sized, and should keep you going for a weekend or so.

Anker <b>325</b> Power Bank (PowerCore 20K)

The USB C puts me off that one – it can only be used to charge the powerbank, you can’t use it as an output to charge other devices. Only the USB A ports for output.

Also have an Anker, they came out on top when looking at the reviews

I’ve got a couple of different ones depending on what I’m doing. Just bought an alpkit one in the sale. The 20000 one is heavy but seemed to last well. Comes with a 3 year alpkit warranty. They do a smaller 10000 and 5000 one.

Juice Holder

Anker, I’ve had a couple and they’re good bits of kit.

I bought a couple of powerbanks recently for the campervan so the teenagers can charge their devices without me getting battery anxiety when “off grid”.

I was looking at Anker, but someone recommended Veger as an alternative. I bought a couple of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B097P345BC. They are the 30000mAh version so they are quite heavy, but I’m impressed so far and they were a lot cheaper than the equivalent Anker model.

I have a couple of no name power banks, under half the price of Anker, work fine and lasted years. Was using the 20,000 mAh one at the weekend whilst bike packing.

I’ve got a 20,000mAh one and it’s total overkill for me. I need to charge a phone + watch for 1-2 nights away and even a 10,000 would be more than I need.

Obviously if you’re charging bigger things, iPads, laptops etc multiple times then get a big one, but even the battery in my MacBook Pro is apparently only 5000mAh. For camping when travelling light, car journeys, plane trips etc then smaller/ lighter is more important IMHO.

Anker

Or as above nice to support Alpkit

As much as Alpkit are great guys, they didn’t design or make that power-bank – it’s just a generic OEM one rebranded, quality unknown. Absolutely no logical reason to get it in preference to a known quality brand like Anker – who often have discounts on their official Amazon store – or if you want cheap, any random one (had several random brands over the years and they’ve all worked, at least!)
Personally only buy Anker these days though (my favourite one lately is the little magnetic one – Anker 521 – that fairly discretely attaches to my iPhone to almost triple its battery!)

Superficial

I’ve got a 20,000mAh one and it’s total overkill for me. I need to charge a phone + watch for 1-2 nights away and even a 10,000 would be more than I need.

Obviously if you’re charging bigger things, iPads, laptops etc multiple times then get a big one, but even the battery in my MacBook Pro is apparently only 5000mAh. For camping when travelling light, car journeys, plane trips etc then smaller/ lighter is more important IMHO.

You can’t really compare phone & laptop batteries, as the mAh capacity values given depend on the battery voltage. Phone batteries are generally ~3.8v whereas laptop batteries are 11-15v.
It’s a bit misleading to quote mAh capacities, but I suspect most powerbank manufacturers quote capacity at the same voltage as phone batteries as that’s what most people would be using them to top-up.
So a 10,000mAh powerbank will charge a 5000mAh phone battery, twice (ignoring losses).

The real value you want to look for, if interested in charging something like a laptop is Wh.
My powerbank is a Tecknet one:
Tecknet Powerbank
and has the specification of 10000mAh/37Wh – so that 37Wh is derived from 3.7v*10000mAh.

A laptop battery – say 14.8v and 5000mAh, will have a capacity of 73Wh – so my powerbank can only charge it to about half-capacity.

Anyhoo – going a bit off track. For most people charging phones with a powerbank you can just divide the capacity of the powerbank by the capacity of the phone battery.
My pixel4A has a capacity of 3140mAh, so my powerbank can charge it about 3x.

I realised I had a second large powerpack after posting on here, it’s a Charmast one, 23,800mAh. I saw a couple of reviews somewhere, at the same time I’d mislaid my Anker powerpack, and it seems ok. Not using it so much now, as I’m no longer using a tablet for twelve hours a day at work, so it’s just been sitting in my work bag.
One nice touch it has a charge readout, when you press a button on the side, it’s currently at 70%, and I haven’t used it for months.

Review – The Charmast 23800mAh 18W powerbank. #Tech #Charmast #Charging

£22.94 at the moment.

I’ve had a few over the years both big and small. I find Lidl good for smaller ones and have a few 5, 8 and 10k mA ones still on standby. My favourite heavy duty pack is the Storm 2 which was on kickstarter and was quite pricy then. But 26800 and lots of info and control of outputs. Not sure on availability now so not much help.
The biggest one I have is a Maxoak 50k beast which was about £120 a few years back. It’s a tank but will output all sorts including 20v if I recall.
The one pack I would choose is a FLOUREON USB C PD 60W Power Bank 3 Ports 26800mAh. It’s smallish and lightish but is quick to charge and recharge. I can’t see it on Amazon but it looks like Anker may have bought/copied it.
Worth mentioning that a decent mains charger is important for happy use.

Topper

I got one from Boompods. They sponsor a cycling team. It has a solar panel so leaving it in the sun means I can get more life out of it. It works other than that, Anker for things like this.

Assuming you mean a proper big boy unit rather than the toytown stuff already recommended then the Ecoflow , Hyundai or Jackery stuff is meant to be ok.

Anker !

Had an Anker one for years, now got a few different ones from them. I wanted something I can plug in over night and not worry about what dreadful components or workmanship lay below it’s shiney surface.
I’ve only had experience of ‘give away’ ones from conferences etc which may as well go straight to land fill.

Another vote here for anker.

I just took a 20,000 mAh Anker power bank with me to Le Mans. Charged my iPhone 12 with it 3 times and still had 2 out of 4 LEDs lit showing remaining charge.

They’re just a Li-Ion battery – will be a load of 18650 cells in them. So if you’ve got a Li-Ion cordless drill you can get adaptors that let you charge your phone from the batteries.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394009250226?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1nOQt80Z9Rf6_LyHedjEu1Q15&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=394009250226&targetid=293946777986&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045894&poi=&campaignid=17116423086&mkgroupid=134652533165&rlsatarget=pla-293946777986&abcId=9300856&merchantid=113711851&gclid=CjwKCAjwqauVBhBGEiwAXOepke7orRdxp155okO4Kk67evuuJZDiThMnYlbbVOkdNhapszwSEjkASxoCVAgQAvD_BwE

Anker 10000mah or Xiaomi mi 50w 20000mah or 10000mah compact both support fast charging

What’s the power bank of choice nowadays for fast charging ?

Still Anker or INIU

Ended up with two of these as well as my Anker ones. Bought one, then got an offer for 50% off for another.

Will do two “big phones” before needing a recharge.  I’ve used them with a solar panel whilst camping and they charge up quite quickly – over an afternoon.

CountZeroFull Member
I realised I had a second large powerpack after posting on here, it’s a Charmast one, 23,800mAh. I saw a couple of reviews somewhere, at the same time I’d mislaid my Anker powerpack, and it seems ok. Not using it so much now, as I’m no longer using a tablet for twelve hours a day at work, so it’s just been sitting in my work bag.
One nice touch it has a charge readout, when you press a button on the side, it’s currently at 70%, and I haven’t used it for months.

I’ve had the original 20,000 mah version for a good few years now & It’s still perfectly good.  Multiple option including fast charge & wireless.

Assuming you mean a proper big boy unit rather than the toytown stuff already recommended then the Ecoflow , Hyundai or Jackery stuff is meant to be ok.

Benefit of having an electric car with V2L 🙂

@fossy – that’s a dead link

Anker. Upgraded to one of these a few weeks ago, massive capacity.

Anker Power Bank, 325 Portable Charger (PowerCore 20K II), 20,000mAh Battery Pack with 2-Port, 15W High-Speed Charging for iPhone15/15 Plus/15 Pro/15 Pro Max/14/13 Series, Samsung Galaxy and More https://amzn.eu/d/0epyhCXF

Apologies the Amazon links aren’t working.

thanks @fossy & @Drac