My dad recently brought home a Power Bank portable battery charger, a gift he got from work. Of course, it immediately became mine. Here’s my brief review.
Overview
There’s not much to the Power Bank’s packaging. A plastic tray, which contains the charger and a wrapped USB cable, slides out from the main box.
The charger is plain and inconspicuous. It has a rectangular black body reminiscent of a tube of lipstick. There are two 5V ports on the face of one end, 1) a microUSB port for charging the charger itself, and 2) a regular USB port for charging other devices.
The white USB cable allows you to charge compatible devices and the charger itself (if you have a separate adapter). It’s fairly short at 11.5 inches, which makes it all the more portable. You don’t have to use the included cable, though.
Features
The Power Bank doesn’t come with a manual. You don’t really need one. Using the charger is pretty straightforward, and anything else you need to know about it is on the box (in very bad English).
Even so, I discovered some surprise features. For instance, the charger illuminates its ports with different colored lights to indicate what device is charging and what’s happening in the charging process.
A red light shines through the microUSB port when the Power Bank itself is charging. The light blinks throughout the process and remains steady when the charger is fully charged.
A blue light comes on in the USB port when the Power Bank is charging another device. Unlike the red light, the blue one only blinks to warn you that the charger is about to die. The light goes out completely when the charger is depleted.
Usage
The Power Bank charger isn’t that powerful (2200 mAh). The box describes it as a “contingency” device that helps you get through the day. That’s accurate. I never found a device that it could fully charge.
Here’s an idea of how much (on average) the Power Bank can charge different devices before giving out:
- Smartphone: 10% to 77%
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iPad mini: 10% to 37%
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Nook HD tablet: 5% (powered off) to 53%
Overall charge times vary. It usually takes three to four hours to charge the Power Bank itself, but it charges other devices in about an hour.
I had one snafu with the Power Bank: it wouldn’t charge my 3rd generation iPod nano. The iPod would charge a little, then stop. I’m not sure if the problem was with the iPod, my Amazon Basics 30-pin cable, or the Power Bank. I didn’t experience this issue with any other device I tested, though.
Conclusion
Overall, I’m happy with the Power Bank charger. I use it all the time. It’s often more convenient to plug a gadget into the charger than to plug it into the wall (especially if I’m still using it). I can’t wait to take it out for a trip.
That said, I don’t expect the charger to last long despite the fact that it’s supposedly good for 500 cycles. I don’t know how many cycles I’ve gone through in the past two months, but I can already see that the charges don’t go as far as they once did. I’ll just enjoy it while it lasts.