The USB charging adapters that cordless power tool brands make are great accessories, and allow you to power or charge personal electronic devices. But if you’re looking for a pocketable battery bank for regular use, a dedicated charger is more highly recommended.
Shown above is the Anker Powercore II 10000, a portable battery bank for charging smartphones and other such USB-chargeable devices.
The Anker Powercore II 10000 comes with a micro USB charging cable, but you can plug in any other USB cord with an Type A-style plug on one end.
Just to warn you, this battery bank is larger than others, and heavier, but still fairly compact and lightweight. I have an older model of similar form factor a PowerCore+ 10050 that I bought for $36 three years ago for travelling.
What I like about this form factor is that the power bank is made with 3 standard Li-ion battery cells, which I feel are more stable and durable than LiPo packs found in some other brands and models. Anker says that this battery bank and charger uses LG lithium ion cells.
It features PowerIQ 2.0 for fast-charging select devices at a rate of 18W. PowerIQ 1.0 achieved max charging rates of 12W. Anker says that this charger can recharge a Samsung S7 in 1.5 hours. A PowerIQ 1.0 device would take 2 hours, and a standard 1A charger would take 2.8 hours.
Anker says that the charger can provide up to 2.3 Galaxy S8 charges, 3.4 iPhone 8 charges, or 1.2 iPad mini 4 charges.
I like the rotary-style charge indicator button on my charger, and I imagine that the identical-looking gauge on this model works just as good.
There are all kinds of other smart-sounding features, but the bottom line is that this is a compact charger with 10000 mAh charge capacity.
As you can tell, this charger’s an older model. So why talk about it? First, I like the 3-cell form factor. Second, it’s on sale right now, with “deal” pricing o f$24.55, down from $36.
Sale Price: $24.55
What do you guys use for on-the-go smartphone charging when an outlet or vehicle USB port isn’t available?
