I think +Andrew Penner went crazy with power over the last little while. Check out what he's got to say about this beast.
Several weeks ago a friend of mine told me about “the geek app” - basically “Nerd Heaven” was the words used. It’s powered by Wish Shopping, and is fairly heavy on electronics, phone accessories, and so forth - but isn’t limited to just that
Anyway - after poking
around I decided to see if I could find a 2nd larger power bank to augment my
first one (see my review on the Fine Life Audio power bank).
Things on my features
list this time around: it had to have a healthy capacity, 20,000 mAh or better.
(Why? Bigger is always better. Well, almost always…) I also wanted 2 output USB
ports, and at least one had to support 2.0 mAh output. Both would be nice, but
one at 2.0, mAh, and one at 1.0 mAh would suffice. I wanted a fuel gauge. Even
though it would probably not be seen in public, I wanted something that wasn’t
flashy - so no blue or red aluminum bodies. And I was looking for a deal.
Partly, I wanted a larger pack for Ingress, partly for the kids/wife to charge
devices while we’re on the go or traveling, and partly for those power outages
that happen every summer (and usually in the evenings when most people’s phones
are pushing the red anyway...)
So I found one. It ticked almost all the boxes exactly.
50,000 mAh? Check. 2 USB ports, and at least one has 2.0 mAh output? Check. Fuel gauge, and a good price? Check! Speaking of price I paid $19+$3 shipping - so for under $25 I figured it was worth trying out.
Behold, the beast. 151x79x22mm, according to my tape measure. On the
front face is a 4 LED fuel gauge at the top right, lit up in a nice shade of blue.
Just below that is the power button in chrome - more on that later. Near the
bottom right corner is the label, black lettering on a white background. The
overall shape is similar to a book, as the left “spine” has a curve to
it, while the top, bottom, and right edges are slightly concave as you can see
in the pictures.
Speaking of the top edge, that’s where the good stuff is. 3 ports and a
LED flashlight. As I mentioned before, there are 2 full-size USB ports up
there, one is rated at 1.0 mAh, good for iPhones, basic electronics, etc. The
2nd USB port is rated at 2.0 mAh, for the flagship devices and tablets, anything
with a larger battery. Centered between the 2 full size USB ports is a microUSB
port for charging the pack, and an LED flashlight that’s activated by the power
button. Not a whole lot else to see, except on the back - which has a fairly
typical regulatory sticker, mostly in what I assume to be Chinese (please
correct me if I’m wrong, it could be Korean or Japanese for all I know). Not
surprisingly, it’s a fairly hefty unit as well, but I don’t have an accurate
scale to give a specific weight.
The packaging also
included a short USB cable, and a bunch of adaptors. 4 are different USB ends
(including the common micro USB, and the not as common Mini USB. There is one
for what I assume is Apple’s 30 pin dock, 2 small barrel connectors of varying
sizes, and what I think is for either an old Nokia or Sony phone - I’m
not geek enough to know for sure!
So far I haven’t really
pushed this thing too much. I received it in the mail the other day, and after
a quick examination of the packaging and contents, I plugged it in and left it.
Incidentally, it was already showing about ¾ charge, but I figured I’d top it off
and see how it did. I’ve had my phone plugged into it on and off throughout the
day. For my usage, today was fairly heavy - and I’d top off (or just leave it
plugged in) as I went. So far it’s still about ¾ full and I was charging up my
phone from about 65% at least twice today (and its topping up for the 3rd time
as I’m typing this. I have no doubt it could charge up all our household electronics once - at least.
While “feel in the hand” isn’t something I was too worried about, I have to say, the plastic they used for this thing is pretty terrible. Very hard, and
somewhat slippery despite the very faux-leather stamping. And while I’m
pointing out flaws, it’s not fitted together very well. Gaps are not even and
there’s a sharp edge or corner here or there. As well, the LED for the
flashlight does sit higher than anything else around it - including the edges
of the case itself - so one bad drop, or if you drop it into your bag, it could
be the first thing to go. So far, those are the biggest complaints I’ve had
with it.
The flashlight was a nice touch - part of the reason I got this unit was
for emergency use - and having a built-in flashlight was a nice touch. It’s
activated by tapping the power button twice, tapping it twice turns it off
again. This wasn’t a feature I was looking for specifically, but certainly it’s
a nice addition. I hope I won’t be needing to use it - but again, it’s nice to
have just in case. As far as flashlights go, it’s fairly unremarkable. However -
considering it’s got a significant size battery behind it, you could use it a
VERY long time before it it died out on you.
I’m sure I’ll update once I’ve had a bit more time with it - but as it stands
now I think my portable power bank needs are met rather nicely. The larger bank
will be for emergencies, Ingress games, or anything else where I or the family
will be away from an outlet for long periods. I’ll still use the smaller - and
much more pocket friendly - 3000mAh pack for work days.
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