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toge64

Choosing a power bank for your device

Article

V0.1 – have lots of reddit formatting to fix

V0.2 - rewritten some parts to clear confusion, fixed formatted, added disclaimer, added more recommended products. OnePlus 3 advice

v1 (27/07/2016) - more user recommendations. corrected charging technology section to make more sense. Now version 1.

#Please note this is just advice gathered from my own experience with products and research into products from known companies and am not responsible for anything going wrong

#How to choose the best power bank for you

#CRITERIA

You should choose power banks which fit your needs in the following criteria. How important they are of course, is up to you to decide. Rank them yourself to make your decision to what power bank to buy.

###Safety/brand names There are lots of power banks on sale, in shops and online. My advice is to steer away from no name or little known name power banks and power banks from places like the pound shop.

I personally question the safety testing this device has had to reach the market so cheaply. Go for a big name like Belkin/Samsung/Anker/RAVPower. Try to buy online if possible for the best deal. If you have to buy from a brick and mortar shop, go to PC World, Currys or Maplin as all their products will have passed safety strict testing. Is it really worth damaging your phone (or something even more catastrophic) to save yourself a fiver or tenner?

I also have seen in the past people online being scammed by being sold a device not at the advertised capacity. People were buying 20000mAh batteries were actually sold 10000mAh or 6000mAh batteries.

This criteria, I put as first on my list.

###Capacity/size/weight The question to yourself is – what am I willing to carry and how many charges do I need?

Are you looking for a power bank which is light and can slip in your pocket at the expense of maybe only getting half to 1 charge, depending on your phone’s battery capacity? Or are you wanting to charge your phone, maybe your friend’s phone for an all day and night Pokemon hunt? How long are you going to be away from a wall socket? If you carry a bag or purse, perhaps you’re willing to carry a bigger battery? Does it just need to fit in your jacket pocket? How good or poor is your phone’s battery life - maybe you do need a bigger battery than you think you do to catch those Pokemon?

The smaller the power bank, the fewer charges you get, but the more pocketable and easier it is to carry and vice versa. Also watch out for the material – plastic power banks will be lighter than the aluminium power banks (see looks). Find your middle ground.

###Charging output/technology If you have an iPhone is it dead easy to decide – make sure your power bank has at least 5V/2 amp output over USB.

if you have a recent Android phone which supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 technology for rapid charging, (check here), you may want to go for a charger which supports that. The recent Nexus 5X or 6P supports USB C charging, for quick charging at 5V/3 amps, you’d want maybe go for a power bank that supports that. OnePlus 3 owner? Great choice on the phone, but you're stuck to 5V/2A charging for now like the iPhone until OnePlus releases a Dash Charge compatible power bank. Any other phone? make sure you get a 5V/2A output for the best output for your phone and future phones outside of quick charging technologies.

###Looks

This is obviously down to personal tastes, especially colour and design. Just bare in mind that plastic is probably slightly more durable and lighter, whereas aluminium will be heavier and might be prone to scuffing a bit easier on a rough surface (like your iPhone or metal HTC phone)

#RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BUYING ONLINE BY ME

All of these recommendations are from me I have either personally tested them, done lots of research on them or am happy to trust the brand as they are reputable and have been around for a while. I’ll try and comment on as many as possible. There are no affiliate links, I make no money whatsoever. Want to make a difference for someone? Buy via Macmillian Cancer’s Amazon link and they get donated 5% of every purchase by Amazon

Prices are correct as of 20th July 2016

##20000mAh+ power banks

I call this one the daddy, the ultimate power bank as it supports almost every major charging technology (apart from OnePlus/OPPO’s VOOC/Dash charging). Pricey too.

I own the 1st gen version and whilst I rarely use it, (as it's heavy) it still works and is genuinely 20000mAh. Bare bones charger, but works as advertised. Also available at 16000MaH capacity for £20.

Ignore the funny name, Anker have been doing power banks for years, and are reputable. This one supports QC 3.0 as well as their own PowerIQ technology, which auto detects the best charging rate for your phone.

This one is really good for iPhone users as you can charge it with a Lightning cable – normally these things only charge only charge with Micro USB. Once again Aukey have been in the game for long, so are trustworthy.

Big big battery with USB C output - perfect for your Nexus 6P or 5X.

##10000mAh+ power banks

I own the QC3.0 version and I think highly of it. It is future proof and supports Lightning cable charging – what else do you need? Aluminium casing, feels awesome.

I also own this one and rotate this with the Choetech one above. Aluminium casing again – this one is heavy and scuffs quite easily from my experience, but still works 100%. Only 1 output too.

I own one of these and imported from this Banggood when they were dirty cheap last year - amazing capacity for the size, at 9cmx6cmx2.7cm, 2A output but no Qualcomm quick charging. IMPORT AT YOUR OWN RISK. Available from Amazon UK at around £17. Xiaomi are the Apple of China, and make excellent products.

Light (in weight) plastic casing, dual USB outputs & a little LED torch too. Available in multiple colours.

Slim power bank with 2 USB outputs. Svelte and attractive design

Jointly recommended by u/GregorF92. Comes with a USB C to USB C cable weirdly, despite having no USB C output. Good as a spare for those with a 2015 Nexus device (which it'll charge at 2A, rather than 3A). I've never used this but is brand is reputable.

This is a very interesting product. Charges via USB C Power delivery, so at 5V/3A. Also outputs at 5V/3A over USB C and supports Quick Charge 3.0! Amazing!

##5000mAh+ power banks

Lipstick style and smaller power banks

##Credit card power banks

###General known reputable brands – Anker, RAVPower, Aukey, Choetech, Belkin, Xiaomi, Samsung, Sony, Amazon, EC Technology, EasyACC, Mophie

###Reddit user comments recommended brands - Lumsing, PowerAdd, iMuto, DBPower (check the comments section for many recommendations from fellow reddit users)

#Frequently asked questions:

  • I have a 10000mAh power bank but it only charges my iPhone SE with a 1624 mAh battery only 4 to 4.5 times when it should charge around 6 times?

This is due to conversion lost, the power bank batteries output at 3.7V but your input on your phone is 5V. How you should calculate is as follows, for a 10000mAh battery

3.7 x 10000 / 5 = 7400 mAh

It is a bit of cheeky marketing from basically every company- don’t worry too much. Just make sure you remember this and don’t think you’re being conned.

    1. I have a OnePlus 3 – any particular power banks you would recommend for this?

Not reallly, OnePlus has its own proprietary charging technology, and has yet to release a power bank which supports the technology. OPPO has released a power bank for its VOOC supporting phone, but is hard to find and extremely pricey.

    1. Is Quick Charge 3.0 backwards compatible with 2.0?

Yes

Posted Jul 20, 2016, 3:09 PM UTC · edited

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