I'd like to add one, to me, important piece to the puzzle: use the best cable possible for the job to increase a power bank efficiency. Power losses on an already limited source are not great. I bought the Satechi C to C cable you suggested and use in all your videos just for my small power bank and it made a difference. Great work as always!
I am absolutely positive your understanding of the issues you talk about here (and your other videos) are without question. But from an educational point of view I have a constructive point I wish to share. I would like to suggest that you slow down your delivery of information. There is so much info and you hardly give us time to think about what you say. Take a breath please. To those of us trying to follow along, it becomes difficult to tie your many points together. Yes, we could view your videos over and over but is that what we should be doing? I am impressed with your breath of knowledge you have on these subjects but please consider those of us who are trying to digest this info on the consequences of the speed of your delivery. I mean all this with sincerity. Cheers
I agree with the slowing down and delivery bits. I actually slow down the audio but yeah pauses and repetition would help too. The one issue it raises is longer videos. For me I really struggle with attention so fast pace keeps me engaged but it isn’t for me it’s for you so I need to get more focus on that. I also want it to be fast but too fast doesn’t help either. Thanks for the comment!
I personally find it fine and no issue with delivery or speed maybe cuz im add and also very faces paced and im able to digest info quite rapidly. Ps really appreciate the content extremely valuable info for ppl like me who need the best but dont want to do the work to dond the best lol@AllThingsOnePlace
You can change the playback speed, on the top right of the video , hit the gear, and select playback speed, then lower the playback speed, or make it faster.
Bought the ZMI based on your recommendation and man does it deliver. Brought in on a 15 day vacation recently, 4 people with iPads, smart watches, phones and a MacBook and we had zero issues and plenty of capacity and output for pretty demanding situations. Even during 100+15 watt discharging in 30 C ambient temps, I saw no overheating. Also, charging the pack while being able to charge devices from it simultaneously saved us a few times where we had limited outlets.
Additional note about the ZMI PowerPack No. 20, QB826G: I have been using it for a few projects as it works as a UPS (DC output with pd trigger). When connecting/disconnecting the battery to power, the other USB C port does not temporarily lose power. Most battery packs do not support this!
I love your recommendations. Some suggestions for improvement. 1. Create more categories such as 5K, 10K, 20K or higher mah. 2. Each category names the top 3 or 5 power banks. 3. Update this recommendation every 6 months or 1 year. 4. Save it to UA-cam playlist My Recommendation
Thanks! Yeah, I just haven't tested enough to complete all those categories. Power banks take a long time to evaluate which limits how many I get done. Good idea on a playlist and 6 month updates. I also want to get them on the website.
Discovered your channel after Hurricane Helena. I have the iniu B1-B5 20,000, and it came in clutch and really saved the day. It has an amazingly slow discharge as i hadn't charged it in 5 months, but it was at 100% and kept 3 phones and 3 tablets topped up for 3 days during the outage. I liked it so much i just picked up the iniu 27,500. Then I discovered your channel, so I'm trying to buy the ZMI you recommended as well, but i can't find it anywhere . The Ugreen powerbanks look like it are they the same, but using a different name?
Yeah the zmi is out of stock a lot. The UGREENS do not behave the same. I will be checking out the larger iniu's at some point. Anyway, good to hear the 20,000 kept things going for you.
Thank you for this 🙇🏻 Any plans to make a 2024 buying guide? I've been holding off buying a replacement for my current 5-year old dead Anker powerbank for a few weeks while binge watching your reviews and chargerlab's teardowns.
This video is soooooo helpful even when, like me, you have already watched the reviews. Thanks for doing it. Always so very helpful. People come to me for advice, and I tell them what you tell us. I also sent them your way, but many wouldn't want to get into the details. I am so much more deliberate about my power needs now. Also, I am using a Windows laptop, so I have power anxiety.m I wouldn't have to think about these videos if I had a recent Macbook. My PC gives me at most 5 hours of on-the-go power - I actually really need my power bank, and I need wasll-power wherever I am. I have a NEW Windows laptop PC. i7 b13th gen intel chip. I really need your videos and am grateful for them. Thanks again!
Thanks for commenting! I have some applications that only work on windows still... and aren't VM friendly. So, yeah, stuck for the time being also. I've always wanted a mac but they are also too damn expensive. I am hoping to upgrade to a Framework at some point.
Thanks so much for the great video. I would also like to see a guide on smaller capacity power banks (2,500mAh to 10,000mAh), as I don't like carrying around bulky accessories. I have a superex 2,500mAh power bank with integrated cable; it served me well for 5 years, but it recently failed.
For daily use, i'm using Anker power core 10,000 mah because it's small and portable, while i have 50,000 mah Crave powerpack, but i only use that one for camping or hiking since that "brick" is too heavy for daily commute.
Also a EE here, and I love your approach to this topic, and I found this video incredibly helpful for deciphering which power bank to choose for my upcoming long-haul bicycling adventure(s). Thanks.
I have a 1 cell DIY powerbank that has one 18650 in it and has Velcro holding it to the back of my PS vita takes the play time from 2/3 to 8/9 hours and is supper light. Perfect for my needs . I have like 5/6 powerbanks for different needs. Like fits my pocket or supper big for camping or mid-size that can charge my Mac. It's hard to just pick one. The best is the one you have when your phone dies. Lol
@@AllThingsOnePlace your channel reminds me of a Russian channel www.youtube.com/@_KvP_ I don't speak Russian, but I still watch to keep up with what's going on in powerbank world. The dude has some good testing
Looking forward to your video on the smaller power banks. I'm more interested in a small power bank I can carry in my pocket which can recharge my phone around 1-2 times
I have had a Baseus 20,000mAh 65W powerbank for almost two years now and it's fantastic, charges my laptop no problem and is made of metal so maybe it's a bit heavier than it could be but feels nice. It also has a nice form factor unlike the powerbanks like the ankers that are just bricks. I like flat and wide (not too wide like tge baseus 100w lol) Maybe it overheats and throttles after a good while, or it's the laptop that reaches the end of the charge. Maybe both, can't tell honestly lol. Even if it's a bit older I'd love to see what you think of it!
hope you continue focusing on power banks next year! Been really into 10000 and the rare 15000 packs. smaller packs is rarer to have pps or higher charging speeds. They are the ideal size to fit in a fanny pack or sling and is just about enough juice for like a full day traveling abroad of heavy google maps/citymapper and photography/videos.
I really like your videos! Keep up the great work! Now back to powerbanks… what about those car jump starter? I mean, do they really work? There are so many and so many sketchy brands… 😝
I have some specialized needs for power bank (and no one power bank meets all of them), but I thought I would mention them for people to think about. The biggest issue shows up when I'm doing all day science fiction conventions, steampunk events, and/or renaissance faires, where I might be going out for 8+ hours: 1) Does the power bank have a US style fold out A/C plug? I hate having to have a wall wart to charge the power bank. At times I need to recharge a power bank during the day, and it is convenient if the power bank has a US style fold out plug so I don't need a separate wall wart. Now, in general it is faster to recharge the power bank if you use a USB C-PD high wattage wall wart than a US style A/C, but it is more convenient if it has plug built in. This is particularly true if I need to recharge multiple things at the end of the day, where I might need multiple wall warts. 2) In some cases, just having a US style A/C plug isn't enough. Some of the lower end power banks with plugs cannot recharge their battery at the same time they are supplying power to other devices. Normally, I don't need this at the same time, but a few times I do. If you need to do both, be sure to read the fine print. 3) Is the power indication just a series of single LEDs, a simple bar graph, or does it have a digital display that gives the remaining capacity? The issue is if you are running a power bank as long as possible, and maybe having to switch to a second power bank, it is more useful to know the power bank has 5% capacity remaining, rather than 25% (i.e. one LED). The last time I looked for power banks, I could not find a power bank that had 70+ watt-hours (i.e. 20000mAh of power at 3.6/3.7 volts), a US style A/C plug, and a digital display. I could find 35-50+ watt hour batteries with an A/C plug and digital display, 70+ watt-hour power bank with an A/C plug and just 4 LEDs, or a 70+ watt-hour power bank that had a digital display and no A/C plug. 4) One question is how usable the power remaining display is. If I'm doing outdoor events where I'm wearing polarized sunglasses, I might not be able to read the digital display or bar graph without taking off the glasses (I need to wear polarized sunglasses to reduce the frequency of my migraines). If the battery has LEDs, they might not be visible in bright sunlight or some people with shades of color blindness might not be able to see the power level LED. In addition, if I'm mounting the battery in a device, I might not be able to see the display depending on how I need to mount the battery. 5) When I do steampunk events, I have my digital camera mounted in an elaborate box that takes me 10-20 minutes to disassemble and reassemble to change batteries. So I've started powering the camera with a power bank that augments the 2 batteries in the camera itself. This way I can run for an entire day without having to change batteries. I first used voltage boosters from a standard 5v power bank, but it could be tricky to find a booster circuit and a power bank that together could produce enough power to run the camera (typically 9 volts at 1 amp). One booster I ran into had 2 USB plugs so you could use 2 power banks in parallel Then I used one of the few power banks with an aux. power output for 9 volts and at least 1 amp of power (preferably 2 amps). Now I use USB C-PD. One camera takes USB C-PD directly. With the other camera, I use a USB C-PD trigger cable that tells the power bank it needs 9 volts and 2 amps of power. 6) Similar to #5, in the past I recorded video of performers at small renaissance faires or I recorded theatrical shows. The issue is you don't want to run out of battery power while recording a performance. When I did it in the past, I occasionally used a power bank, powering a dummy battery to run the camera. If the event was indoors and the cameras were in fixed locations near A/C sockets, I could use a wall wart providing the power to the camera. My current main camera uses USB C-PD, so I then attach the power bank to the camera to run it. I calculate that with a single camera battery, I can go maybe 2 hours doing continuous or near continuous video. I now have a battery grip for the camera, which means I could go 4 hours. In theory, a 70+ watt-hour power bank could power the camera for 7 hours, which means I might be able to go 13 hours without having to change batteries. 7) One issue I discovered in powering the camera via a power bank is the size of the power bank can be an issue. I had been using a battery holder from a company called smallrig to hold the power bank and screw it into the camera cage. When I replaced the power bank with a different model that had the digital display, the battery was now too wide to fit into the battery holder. Weight can also be an issue, if I am powering microprocessors with LEDs in a costume. 8) One issue buried in the spec sheets is if the battery supports USB C-PD, is how much power can it put out. Most power banks that I've looked at tended to only deliver 18 or 20 watts of power with USB C-PD. According to the documentation for the camera, the camera requires 27 watts (9 volts at 3 watts). Now, the camera doesn't actually enforce that requirement, and it runs fine with 18 watts. However older models of the camera did require 27 watts in order to use USB C-PD, and they would not turn on. Similarly, the battery charger for my camera does require 27 watts of power to do fast charging. Thus if I didn't want to power the camera with USB C-PD, but use the power bank to recharge the batteries in my camera bag, while I was shooting with the spare batteries, I wouldn't be able to charge them fast enough, unless I got a power bank that provided at least 27 watts of power. 9) Another issue that comes up is how many ports can a power bank power at the same time, and how much power can each port get? If I was doing high end video, I might need 4 ports -- one for the camera, one for the external monitor, one for the external recorder, and at least one port for other things, including charging a phone. Each of these might have different requirements in terms of power. Presently, none of my power banks have more than 1 USB C-PD slot, and 1-2 USB A slots (a few of the older power banks might have 4 USB A slots, but no USB C-PD slots). The alternative might be separate power banks, but then you have the issue of making sure all power banks get charged at the end of the day. Sometimes when we are a vacation, both me and my wife would like to charge our phones at the same time, but currently none of the power banks that I have more than one USB A-QC (or USB C-PD) port, so we tend to use his and her power banks. Similarly when we are on a long plane ride, it would be useful to charge both the phone and kindle at the same time. In going over the ads for power banks (and chargers), I have noticed a few that go into great detail of how much power they can supply. Good for them. 10) A different problem is whether the power bank can supply power to devices that only need a trickle of power. Most new power banks seem to cut off their power if the device isn't guzzling power. However, I like to wear electronics gear that has lights going on/off, such as a wooden bowtie with 16 multi-colored LEDs that displays the LEDs in a pattern, or a set of goggles with a micro processor controlling two displays that show a pair of eyes going back and forth. These microprocessors and displays/LEDs don't typically use that much power. There are devices that pull in more power occasionally to fool the power bank, but it might be useful if there was a control to say don't turn off power if the device is merely sipping power. 11) My cell phone (Samsung A32 5g) does not support USB C-PD, but it supports USB A-QC to do fast charging. However, with a lot of the QC cables, I've noticed that you have to insert the cable in one orientation to get fast charging (shades of micro USB-B). If you insert the cable in the other orientation, the phone will not do fast charging. This also means, when I'm selecting a power bank, I have to get one that provides both USB C-PD and USB A-QC. 12) It is convenient if a power bank has built in cables, but I find these are only really useful for occasional use. But there are times when I need to recharge something, and I don't have the appropriate cable on hand. Of course, everybody has different needs in terms of which cable is used. I have no IOS devices, but I still have micro USB-B devices, so a built in micro USB-B cable would be more useful to me than an IOS cable. From the ad, one power bank has one of the built in cables double as a loop to hold the power bank. I'm sure I would trust a cable that you use to hang a power bank from and make sure the cable still does its job. 13) While built in cables are nice, I did discover one power bank had a USB C cable, but the power bank would not support USB C-PD on the built in cable, but only with the USB C-PD external port. This meant you could not recharge the power bank using the built in cable. 14) Unfortunately as you mentioned in the video, some power bank companies lie in terms of the numbers printed for the capacity. It would be nice if they listed watt-hours as the main statistic instead of mAh. 15) While I have collected a stash of power banks over the years, I tend to draw the line at power banks more than $50US.
Wow, that's one heck of a long comment! I think you have some good anecdotes mixed in with some of your personal needs and hopefully they will be helpful to readers looking into power banks.
My journey started with a recliner sectional. Yeah I know but I will get there. One of recliner seats had an intermittent issue I determined was from the button. If I moved the button a certain way it would work. I took it apart looking for a part number and discovered a broken wire. I dragged my soldering station in the house and repaired it. I now realized I wanted a portable soldering iron. After looking at no great options I decided on a TS101 and I would use a USB-C charging bank to take advantage of it's 90watts. I bought the Anker 250w. On first bootup the iron in setup mode would loop. I switched cables with no difference. I plugged it in to the Ankers charging base all the while thinking the iron was DOA and the looping stopped. I fired up the iron and it was fine. I plugged the iron back into the charging bank but instead of the setup mode I turned it on and it works fine. I can only assume in setup mode it doesn't have enough of a draw on the power bank. The best laid plans . . .So it works fine just can't make any menu changes.
mm yeah, I think great scott, mr carlsons lab, and a few others, have made videos on keeping power banks awake. I didn't throw my hat into the ring on that one, not that I'd be at their levels of production. But yeah, your experience is how my projects usually go. Why is everything broken! haha
Update from my other comment: after extensive testing, I have come to the conclusion that scaling down voltage has quite a penalty on battery efficiency. Since the Anker 27650 battery voltage is 25.2 volts, it would be most ideal at 80 watts plus and 20 or 28 volts. Pulling at 50 to 60 watts yields 93.15 wh usable for me, but pulling at 20-40 watts yields 91.5 wh. The most ideal situation for this power bank is around 70 watts. Power stability also plays a role in battery efficiency, hence when testing with a tester that can deliver a fixed and stable load, you got better results than me.
Thanks! Also, awesome work. Yeah, I am trying to keep the measurements more repeatable so I can go back in a few years and retest some of these. Of course every power bank with slightly different layouts and components will yield different peak efficiencies in different modes of operation but yeah, so is electronics. I think you've done a great job demonstrating how this changes with varying the load.
@@AllThingsOnePlace one more thing. Most power banks have a nominal voltage of 3.7 volts and some number of amp hours. Anker is the blatant exception to this rule, choosing to connect the battery circuitry in series instead of parallel, giving high nominal battery voltage of 10 volts on the Anker 12,000 up to the nominal voltage of 25.2 volts on the 27650. That’s why Anker’s power banks hold up well with 20 and 28 volts.
The thing that's very confusing to me is that all of them list 5v as the output on Amazon, i need one that does 9v 2a and isn't the size of a brick and looking for one available here in the Netherlands is a pain and a half, great info though! i do feel a lot more informed after this video!
I went back and forth between the Anker 737 and the Anker Prime power bank. After finding out that the 737 (Power Core 24k) is the one that is powerful enough to charge my laptop, I settled on the 737 and couldn't be happier. It is a hell of a power bank.
It's a big power bank. The 250 is the same size with a little more capacity but from a price perspective you can get the 737 for a lot less $$$ and it's basically the same capability wise. Sounds like a good choice to me.
I love how there's always an expert in any tech niche. I'm looking for a bank around +-50 euros with min 20k mah. Had the baseus 20k mah 65w or iniu 25kmah 65w in mind, do you have any thoughts on those 2 or even a better suggestion? good vid
Can you please review some smaller power banks! Especially the new Anker nano (A1259), Anker 533 (A1256) and Spigen ArcPack (PA2100) - the 10,000mah ones. Thank you!!
Great explanation! Will you review the Anker nano power bank (10000mAh, 30W)? I need a portable power bank but there are so many options to choose from
In the past I have been a huge fan of the Onmicharge products. I got into them when they were a kickstarter product but they are now outrageously expensive. Have you ever looked at their products? I have 2 units that have died, wish there was a way to get them repaired, what that kind of tech in them it sucks to have to toss them. . Great job on the videos!
Yeah, I haven't looked at any Omnicharge products. The price usually tells me everything I need to know compared with the specs. Too many watts too small of a battery on a few I looked at. I'm sure I will get into some at some point. But yeah, there's basically no repair on any of these. They are glued shut, welded plastic, and made to not be serviceable.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I have 2 Omni 20 units you. One is dead and the other has a cracked screen and doesn’t work right. I can send them to you if you want to do a tare down video.
Times and times again..these brand powerbanks also been updated in a somewhat an upgraded lineup, as what we all saw.. hope the same product made in this year also will be review and ranking accordingly. i wont say the same brand for this year .. but im excited to watch these videos .. and sale season of the year are coming ! im waitin..
Thanks for the video. I appreciate the time involved, although it didn't fully answer what I'm looking for. I'm curious if you'd recommend any power bank for this use case: Small size (fitting in an adult male's pant pocket) with a quick recharge time, 20-30W delivery and 50 watt hour capacity. I also value good energy retention. I like to leave my cable plugged into the power bank, so ideally it doesn't drain unless that cable is connected to a device. Ideally two USB-C ports, but one is fine. Willing to pay a premium for a reliable/durable and feature-rich device that looks good. I've never had a bad time with Anker in the past, so that's my go-to, but I haven't shopped for a power bank in a long time (my old Anker only has one USB-A out and charges by mini-usb...)
Yeah, I checked out some of the newer Anker offerings and they were fine. They were a bit slow, 20W top speeds for the pocketable sizes but they are reliable and have excellent ratings online so I would think if you've had good luck with them before I'd stick with them and get a newer one. I recently looked at the Iniu power banks, they were compelling from a performance perspective. Any power bank will struggle with the cable plugged in all the time, they really don't like that. So, you may have to manually wake up the power bank when it's time to charge because it will probably turn off on it's own after a brief time period. This is because to supply 5V even with nothing connected consumes the very limited energy capacity in a battery bank.
@@AllThingsOnePlace Thanks! Yeah, the Anker PowerCore 13,000 is what I've got currently and have really enjoyed, it's mostly just missing usb-c. I think it has an auto-shutoff which is nice for me leaving the cable in. I also really like the 13-15k range for power, since it can still be pocket sized but have a bit more juice than 10k. I'll give more consideration to the Iniu one - I see they have a 15,000 mAh offering. Your review said it was average, but I think the performance is sufficient for my needs. Or I may just wait for another product in a shape/size/capacity that works better
Disappointed to see the anker 737 wasn't in your picks. Recently picked one up for $100 on amazon. Still, the super charging on the 737 is amazing and so far it's serving me great.
@@AllThingsOnePlace The newer one appears to have more issues according to Amazon reviews. They did drop the price to $144 but even then I'm not sure it's an additional $44 value.
I have the shargeek storm 2 for over half a year now and im using it very often for charging my phone or other devices. I never had any overheating issues although im using the full 100 watts it can deliver. Its expensive, i know, but i think its a really good powerbank for my usecases. I can definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a powerbank with a special design due to the transparent sides.
The Storm 2 didn't do bad in my testing. The slim did awful. But yeah, it goes to show that some devices from each manufacturer are good and some are bad.
Ive been purchasing cheap ryobi batteries when on sale, about 30 bucks per 4a/h battery. Naturally I got 4 of them for an accumulative 288wh. I modified another cheap ryobi tool to house 12v plugs and more usbc plugs directly inside of it. I am able to pull a continuous 240 watts from the battery, 2 100watt 12v car chargers powering 2 macbooks and the embedded usbc port charging an ipad. Battery gets drained quick but it does work. Things do get toasty but i was able to remedy with a little pc fan with a thermal controller blowing over the circuits/chargers. I havent found any other charger that can outcompete my diy version.
Yeah, that's a pretty good DIY solution. I have thought about it myself. The battery packs should easily be able to handle the power being tool rated but yeah the converters and things at those power levels probably need some cooling. I think the small car chargers like to run on more voltage for higher power levels, to keep the current more reasonable. I have 160W charger that won't even output that much without 24V on the input.
@@AllThingsOnePlace Yep! The advertised 18v and any other 20v batteries are actually the same at 20v when fully charged. Not much conversion when connected to just one high power device per plug. Temperatures rise when you mix and match devices from one converter. Do you know if any portable battery banks to date have a base voltage above 4.2v? I've opened so many(back in the day) and they seem to all be wired in parallel, omitting a bms(probably cost cutting measure😩)?
Brilliant reviews, thanks. Could you suggest a good charger/power bank combination for cycle touring/hiking please? Power adapter requirements are: charger with mains cable to C7 (figure 8) plug for multi country use, ability to fast charge a power bank, small and light. Power bank requirements are: 20,000mAh for multi-day charging away from the grid, fast charge to take advantage of cafes, campsite charging, doesn't need to be high power as just for iPhone or GPS device, small and light. Thank you.
After much research (many of your great videos), and a spreadsheet to track results, I went for an Anker Prime GaN 100w wall charger which I feel has a good quality/power/weight ratio with USB C and USB A for convenience. Now I have to find the optimum Power Bank. Currently leaning towards the Anker Prime 12,000mAh Power Bank (130W) as my iPhone SE has a smaller battery than most so I can save a lot of weight compared to the 20,000mAh equivelent. It's always going to be a compromise somewhere!
Can you start to test the the “battery stations” like the Jackery, Anker, Ecoflow, etc. Maybe test their common solar panels somehow too? And maybe explaining lithium ion vs lipo batteries for us newbies.
Thanks for the suggestions! Yeah, more work to do for sure. I have only done one of the power station things so far. Solar panels, without very large test jigs are essentially subjective. Basically can say yes it works in the sun.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I got a jackery explorer 100 plus for my kids for christmas from another commenter somewhere on these out of curiosity. It only charges at 40-50 watt but the label states "100w total" between 2 usbc ports. 100% useless for my use-case which is currently held by the anker 737 powerbank + anker 717 charger where I don't totally care about capacity per se, but the speed of charge input to the battery for topping off between flights at an airport. The Jackery for similar price is vastly inferior at a cursory glance in my opinion. These portable power stations open a whole can of worms for you potentially on the inverter efficiency, charger efficiency, solar panel efficiency, which is all fairly well covered on other channels imo.
Also when travelling make sure to check the country of arrival policy on power banks For whatever reason Thailand takes away your power bank if it's over 20.000
I have a 10k Anker with both USB-C and USB-A output. Do you think there would be a noticeable decrease in usable charge due to what I assume would be poorer efficiency when fast charging with USB-C PD versus USB-A? I only have this assumption because fast charging creates so much heat as opposed to a slower 12W standard charge. I’m a little surprised your tested efficiency of the 20k Essential is so poor and under 70%.
Yeah, that was the best of the bunch of low power Anker ones I tested, ha. The 10k was 50's%. Which yeah faster charging just makes more heat. A 5W charger would take forever though it might gain a few percentage points. But it'll lose all of that in the charger being inefficient.
It is a Sony ZV-1 camera, set to 24mm and a medium F-stop within the camera range for reasonable depth of field, I have a lot of light on the bench. Certainly not a cinematographer though. I don't own a camera with an interchangeable lens surprisingly.
First, thank you *very much* for the videos you publish. I've watched a few and they are extremely useful. The no BS approach is a rare quality, especially online! Any thoughts on why the ZMI is not available for purchase anywhere? (apart eBay coming from China).
thanks for uploading. true og info, doubt i could find it anywhere else. any chance you could do a review of the "IP2368 Bidirectional 100w" power bank board? or "IP5328P Dual USB 18650 Battery Charger" board? im kind of a noob and was thinking of making some projects with them and i know Great Scott has some project videos he uses both of them in but his explanations just go way over my head and its more of side commentary that he adds in during other project builds. for some reason ur explanations just make sense to me as a lay person also, the flying battery size made me think of some of my LVAD patients i had at a previous hospital. i myself would be super interested in a tear down video of a "HeartMate REF 102515 14V Li-ion" battery. i am sure these are the exact batteries that the flying exemption was made for. LVADs are pretty cool, in many scenarios they have gotten to the point of having better outcomes compared to heart transplantation.
Medical stuff is crazy. The extra rules and requirements that go into something like that just make it nothing like the consumer product. A mission critical piece like that probably has backups for the backup. It would be cool to look at for sure.
Nice video. ZMI QB826G is great because it uses Samsung 21700 battery cells, but the only downside is that it only supports up to 3A in PPS mode. Samsung's 45W charging requires 5A PPS.😢
Please do a version of this but for 10000mAh class power banks - I've been using Nitecore NB10000 for backpacking, and have had good luck so far but many people also have had their power bank died mid trip. Would love to see what alternatives there are out there that's not pure scam.
This video is great! At the moment I can’t seem to find the ZMI. Right now I’m between both the Baseus blade 100 W and the Anker 737 . Which one would you recommend?
Yeah, the zmi is perpetually out of stock it seems. I don't know how I got one. That's a tough comparison. The 737 is bigger and a bigger battery, and more capable. The blade is convenient.
Have spent hours and hours on your site. Fantastic info. Looking for a recommendation between the Baseus 100 watt power bank (PPBLD100HD) and the UGreen 100 watt (20000mAh 100W Power Bank, Nexode Portable Charger USB C 3-Port PD Fast Charging)? Using it primarily to charge my iPad Pro 11" 2024 but also, on occasion, my MacBook Pro 2024 14". Either one seem a better choice over the long term (at least 3 years)?
I think battery packs are the future. Especially an emphasis on smaller, portable battery packs. Considering most people can’t stay put for too long, and the fact that most people can’t put their phone down for too long, portable battery packs will replace standard wall chargers, even while charging indoors, at work or in the house. Lately I have seen more and more people using smaller, portable battery packs to charge their phones no matter where they are. At a restaurant, at the bar, at the game, in the house, at work, walking around, doing whatever.
Yeah, there is a physics limit to how long the devices can stay on, especially with brighter and larger screens. So, baring a gasoline powered phone I think you are right. What I learned is I need to stare at my phone more, haha. I don't need a power bank to get through the day yet.
I sure hope this isn't the future in store. Batteries add an additional layer of efficiency losses, degrade over time, and are not very eco-friendly when it is time to dispose of them. Plugging into a wall will always be cleaner and more efficient.
Thank you 👍 With the higher end banks, can one control how fast to charge a device? My interpretation of this video is that the faster the charge the less efficient, therefore if I am *not in a hurry and want to maximize my battery bank, I want to intentionally charge my device slower. Would that be correct?
Sort of. You can limit charge to 60W by using a USB C - C non-E marked cable. The Anker may have a power limit you can set in the app though. I know the ecoflow power stations have this function in their app. In either case, the charge efficiency wasn't too much different, none of them charge beyond the batteries capabilities. They will attempt to discharge beyond the batteries ability though, and that is where efficiency drops, 3 - 5% from 50W to 100W output. None of them run at the rated power full time.
Would love to see you review the INIU B63 65W. I purchased the evatronic 60w 20,000 mAH powerbank after your review, and was extremely disappointed in its performance, so I figured I'd try the b63 and have been very pleased thus far.
Huh, the evatronic did everything it says it does, and I still use mine since it is small. It isn't very capable though, 30w charging and 60w output isn't exactly fast and being small the battery isn't that high of capacity. Of course if you need certain PPS modes it probably doesn't work correctly. That version is gone now anyway, replaced with one with more ports. Also, I do need to get into some Iniu power banks, I have some here.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I think I received a bad unit. After fully charging the evatronic, it will charge my laptop @ 60w for about 10 minutes, then appear to be fully discharged. Anyhow, thank you for your in depth reviews! You're providing a great service to everyone :)
Hmm…. I don’t get how 94% efficacy was possible on the Anker 27650. The best I’ve gotten is 92.17 wh (92.5%) at 94 watts. Maybe it’s because the battery is natively 25.2 volts? This can definitely be a factor because downscaling has penalties. Maybe I could try testing it at 28 volts 5 amps 140 watts.
Efficiency, this is probably because the battery is a bit over the capacity they claim, it is really efficiency of storage claim, still efficiency though since it is a ratio, wh out/wh in, and since there is no real way to know how big the actual battery is without destroying the power bank, it's of moderate usefulness. True the converter is working differently for each output voltage, so there would be differences, this is a time constraint on my end, I can't test every mode, on the newer videos I state the power levels I used for testing. Efficacy is a method for comparing two different metrics. So, lumens per watt, CFM per watt, or a number of watt hours per phone charge, etc.
Was going to buy the zmi power bank on your recommendations, but sellers on Lazada (Thailand) give 3-6 months warranty but the Ugreen offer 2 years.......
Thanks for the video! Any plans to test the Baseus 140W 24Ah power bank? Seems like a decent deal at $80 and it uses silicon carbon which supposedly has higher energy density than lithium ion, though it seems a bit bulky compared to other power banks with similar capacity.
Hey :) I couldn’t find a video on your channel about the efficiency of the apple 5w 10w 20w etc adapters. Could you please make a comparison about them?
Everyone's use case is different, so I don't know your specific situation. I personally use a larger charger, no where near the maximum wattage, so it doesn't over heat and will hopefully last longer, then I also have my pick of power banks, but most people don't have that. If you really need 100 watts and the limit of battery size is 100 watt hours remember that's only a maximum of 1 hour of run time, probably more like 40 minutes after losses of converters and what not. Plugged in you can use that power continuously, as long as power is available.
Great video! I’m slightly confused with the ZMI by the way, are their two versions of this power bank because I’ve saw it say 200w on the front then another says 210w? Are they the same?
I think one has an extra mode of operation. I mean in reality it doesn't do 210 watts for long anyway so they should really just call all of these 100 watt power banks.
Thanks for the video! Hoping you can provide a recommendation for a power bank that fast charges my iPhone 15 Pro, can charge my laptop (slow is ok), and has the smallest form factor. Would that be the Anker Prime 12,000mAh?
What is your opinion on charging a phone using a laptop's USB-C port (which I already have) vs buying an efficient (but additional) power adaptor/bank? (Assuming there is no inconvenience in doing so for the user)
I don't see any problem with that. The laptop could be just as efficient if using the high power port. If using a more data focused port it may not be as fast or efficient though.
For a basic power bank, I really like the Baseus 30k 22.5W for value for price. Yeah it's not high watts but it has decent capacity compared to the others on the market.
Thank you so much for the awesome reviews ❣ I bought the ZMI QB826G and it is great! But I noticed a slight hissing noise when nothing is plugged in. It is especially hearable at the top when you place the USB-A port close to your ear. I also saw another comment about the same issue on the web. Is this a normal behavior of this power bank?
I don't think I noticed anything, but the lab area where I do testing is not particularly quiet. All the test equipment have fans. So, usually if I hear the power supply noise it has to be pretty loud. It is not uncommon for power supplies to make a little bit of noise though, especially those of higher wattage variety.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I really appreciate the response! Yes, that sound is pretty quiet, so you can only notice it by bringing the USB-A on top of the power bank up to your ear. This is a very strange behavior to me, because no other power bank I own, in its idle state, without any connected devices, does not hiss or crackle (actually, it sounds like a speaker that hisses at high volume without playing anything). For curiosity's sake, I checked Baseus Elf 65W 20000mAh, Baseus Bipow 20W 30000mAh, Realme 30w 10000mAh, old Pineng 10000mAh and Xiaomi 16000mAh - none of them make any audible sound when idle. I'm wondering if anyone has noticed such behavior and if it's normal, despite being weird.
Hi @AllThingsOnePlace. Great explanation. Have you ever bought or tested the Ilano 100W 30000mAh. I am considering it but don't know how good it is (primarily for 60Wh laptop, 120$ budget).
Ha. Yeah not sure. They’ll all work. Some will be slower than others. For a battery pack maybe slower is safer? But the basic Samsung requirement is the 11v PPS mode.
I run them until the protection circuit inside the device kicks in. Typically, at that point the USB circuit will turn off on larger power banks, but yes, sometimes I have to set a trip voltage inbetween since it will only turn off the boost circuit and the output will float around 3 volts so, between 3.5 and 4 volts depending on the type of power bank. 4.5 is sometimes too high and can cause false trips.
Please can you try to check / measure : EGO MAGPOWER Gen.4.1 5000mAh magsafe powerbank ? It seems to be the latest addition to 5000mAh powerbanks, it is considerably smaller than any competition, super strong magsafe magnet, amazing design. Wondering how it stands in terms of measurements.
I just picked up the ZMI QB826G from your recommendations and it's mostly great, but I'm not quite getting the charging capacity I was expecting. Charging my Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 with a 8,400 mAh battery, from 3% to 100%, depletes 55% of the ZMI power bank's capacity. I know there's some efficiency loss with power banks but by my math, that's roughly ~16,000 mAh total...does that sound right? I thought it was supposed to be one of the most efficient power banks in the market and was expecting it to be closer to the marketed 25,000 mAh rating. I bought it brand new and manufacture date on my ZMI is very recent, October of 2023. Using an Anker 643 Type C to C cable on port 3. EDIT: Seems this is to be expected. The ZMI product page says it will charge the iPad Pro 11" with a 7812 mAh battery, 1.9x times, which is roughly in line with what I'm getting.
Samsung is a bit tricky, and also yes, there is an efficiency hit with faster charging too, the phone gets warm when you charge it, that's additional loss. I want to make a video on that at some point. So, 0.85 times 25000 mah, but then you have to do that again for the phones charging circuit, plus any possible extra cable losses, so 0.85*25k the power bank, then 0.80*21.5k is about 17k real usable capacity, then a little loss from cables and it sounds about right.
What would you personally recommend as the better choice for 20,000 mAh ? I was looking at the Anker Powercore Metro 20000PD (20W) but reviews says it does not feature USB-C Power Delivery for output, which may limit its fast charging capabilities for certain devices. I wanted something along the price range of this model as well. The anker 737 is too expensive for me. Also, finding a reliable powerbank on the lower price range is a lot harder than I thought. Lots of false advertisements out there. Thanks!
So, if you only need to charge a phone and a watch, the much less expensive powercore will probably be fine. It won't have any advanced charging so fast charging is off the table. I would check out the Iniu videos on my channel. They offer reasonable value and have some options with fast charging.
hi great job on the video, very in depth explanation man! Can you do review on Aukey Sprint X 20,000 vs Ugreen 25,000 145w? Keep up the great work buddy!
Thanks for the video! Can you provide a recommendation for a power bank that fast charges my iPhone 15 Pro, can charge my 65W laptop (slow is ok), and has the smallest form factor? Would that be the Anker Prime 12,000mAh?
I doubt the 12k Anker will handle the power and not overheat. For what is essentially a 100 watt load you probably have to step up to a 20k mah minimum power bank. Even those tend to struggle at that power level. One at a time sure. But also remember a laptop battery tends to be fairly large so a 12k mah power bank is not going to get far charging a laptop.
The ZMI looks eerily similar to the UGreen 140W battery. I don't know if you've seen that one floating around online but do you think they're the same guts in a different exterior shell?
do you think li-ion or lipo batteries are better for powerbanks? I heard most powerbanks use li-ion but those new anker prime powerbanks use lipo batteries
Those are both lithium ion batteries. Larger packs or cars, tend to use lithium iron phosphate cells which last longer but have lower energy density. There are a bunch of other technologies too, it really comes down to the quality of the battery and how they charge and discharge them. Using better manufactured cells and charging and discharging them correctly is important.
I do have a laptop asus g502du and use a dc to type c adapter , normally using a 65w pd charger is enough for it to use but not enough to charge at the same time. Charging wattage is 50w average max 65w on this laptop and my power consumption for the laptop is around 10-15wh do you think baseus blades can keep up with it or the ugreen 145w? btw another side question for when I am not charging my laptop but have a heavy usage. Which one is able to keep for longer at 100w baseus blades or ugreen 145w and they both shutdown when they get hot right no way of them to lower the wattage ? my adaptor is only for pd 100w so wont be benefiting 145w either way and the battery is rated for 78wh also any thought on anker powercore iii elite will that be capable of providing 87w consistently ? any interest for reviewing it ?
The one trick people use is a 60W USB C to C cable instead of a e-marked one. This will force lower negotiation of power so the power bank won't overheat. For heavier loads the larger power banks are kind of required.
As an electrical engineer, what you are doing here is priceless❤
Thanks!
can you make a video about the best battery for iphone ?
@@arlindkastrati7104he just did.
As a basic bitch consumer, what you're doing here is priceless ❤
I'd like to add one, to me, important piece to the puzzle: use the best cable possible for the job to increase a power bank efficiency. Power losses on an already limited source are not great. I bought the Satechi C to C cable you suggested and use in all your videos just for my small power bank and it made a difference. Great work as always!
Ah yes, great point, and I always forget to mention the cable.
I am absolutely positive your understanding of the issues you talk about here (and your other videos) are without question. But from an educational point of view I have a constructive point I wish to share. I would like to suggest that you slow down your delivery of information. There is so much info and you hardly give us time to think about what you say. Take a breath please. To those of us trying to follow along, it becomes difficult to tie your many points together. Yes, we could view your videos over and over but is that what we should be doing? I am impressed with your breath of knowledge you have on these subjects but please consider those of us who are trying to digest this info on the consequences of the speed of your delivery. I mean all this with sincerity. Cheers
I agree with the slowing down and delivery bits. I actually slow down the audio but yeah pauses and repetition would help too. The one issue it raises is longer videos. For me I really struggle with attention so fast pace keeps me engaged but it isn’t for me it’s for you so I need to get more focus on that. I also want it to be fast but too fast doesn’t help either. Thanks for the comment!
I personally find it fine and no issue with delivery or speed maybe cuz im add and also very faces paced and im able to digest info quite rapidly. Ps really appreciate the content extremely valuable info for ppl like me who need the best but dont want to do the work to dond the best lol@AllThingsOnePlace
You can change the playback speed, on the top right of the video , hit the gear, and select playback speed, then lower the playback speed, or make it faster.
I have no idea bout power banks and your channel is the first and only one I trust so far
Haha, thanks.
MobileReviewsEh is just as good as this channel.
Bought the ZMI based on your recommendation and man does it deliver. Brought in on a 15 day vacation recently, 4 people with iPads, smart watches, phones and a MacBook and we had zero issues and plenty of capacity and output for pretty demanding situations.
Even during 100+15 watt discharging in 30 C ambient temps, I saw no overheating.
Also, charging the pack while being able to charge devices from it simultaneously saved us a few times where we had limited outlets.
Thanks for sharing, good to hear some positive feedback!
Is it a recent purchase? Where did you buy it from?
Additional note about the ZMI PowerPack No. 20, QB826G:
I have been using it for a few projects as it works as a UPS (DC output with pd trigger).
When connecting/disconnecting the battery to power, the other USB C port does not temporarily lose power. Most battery packs do not support this!
Ohhhh that's something unique
I feel like this is an interesting feature that will be worth checking in the future.
Maybe he will add it to his review checklist?
I do check that.
My power bank stoped charafyerb4 days what part should i probably looknfor? Im fine in soldering@@AllThingsOnePlace
I love your recommendations. Some suggestions for improvement. 1. Create more categories such as 5K, 10K, 20K or higher mah. 2. Each category names the top 3 or 5 power banks. 3. Update this recommendation every 6 months or 1 year. 4. Save it to UA-cam playlist My Recommendation
Thanks! Yeah, I just haven't tested enough to complete all those categories. Power banks take a long time to evaluate which limits how many I get done. Good idea on a playlist and 6 month updates. I also want to get them on the website.
Planning on becoming an electrical engineer in the future, watching your videos makes me excited to learn more about it in college
Nice! Good to hear and good luck.
Discovered your channel after Hurricane Helena. I have the iniu B1-B5 20,000, and it came in clutch and really saved the day. It has an amazingly slow discharge as i hadn't charged it in 5 months, but it was at 100% and kept 3 phones and 3 tablets topped up for 3 days during the outage. I liked it so much i just picked up the iniu 27,500. Then I discovered your channel, so I'm trying to buy the ZMI you recommended as well, but i can't find it anywhere . The Ugreen powerbanks look like it are they the same, but using a different name?
Yeah the zmi is out of stock a lot. The UGREENS do not behave the same. I will be checking out the larger iniu's at some point. Anyway, good to hear the 20,000 kept things going for you.
Thank you for this 🙇🏻
Any plans to make a 2024 buying guide?
I've been holding off buying a replacement for my current 5-year old dead Anker powerbank for a few weeks while binge watching your reviews and chargerlab's teardowns.
Yeah, the power bank guide will be a little while. I still want to test more power banks.
This video is soooooo helpful even when, like me, you have already watched the reviews.
Thanks for doing it.
Always so very helpful.
People come to me for advice, and I tell them what you tell us. I also sent them your way, but many wouldn't want to get into the details.
I am so much more deliberate about my power needs now.
Also, I am using a Windows laptop, so I have power anxiety.m
I wouldn't have to think about these videos if I had a recent Macbook.
My PC gives me at most 5 hours of on-the-go power - I actually really need my power bank, and I need wasll-power wherever I am.
I have a NEW Windows laptop PC. i7 b13th gen intel chip.
I really need your videos and am grateful for them.
Thanks again!
Thanks for commenting! I have some applications that only work on windows still... and aren't VM friendly. So, yeah, stuck for the time being also. I've always wanted a mac but they are also too damn expensive. I am hoping to upgrade to a Framework at some point.
This video is really underrated. It explains the technical and also easy enough to digest for the layman.
Great video
You have new sub. 👍🏻
Glad you liked it!
Thanks so much for the great video. I would also like to see a guide on smaller capacity power banks (2,500mAh to 10,000mAh), as I don't like carrying around bulky accessories. I have a superex 2,500mAh power bank with integrated cable; it served me well for 5 years, but it recently failed.
Yeah, I have a bunch of them to look at here. So, many power banks so little time.
For daily use, i'm using Anker power core 10,000 mah because it's small and portable, while i have 50,000 mah Crave powerpack, but i only use that one for camping or hiking since that "brick" is too heavy for daily commute.
I bought the ZMI (now also sold as Cuktech) powerbank after your recommendation, and I love it.
Love your content!
Thanks, yeah, I noticed that.
What about the latest cuktech 20 vs the anker prime 27650mah? Which one to choose? @@AllThingsOnePlace
Thanks. Very good timing for this video because I want to buy a Power Bank for my travel.
Thanks for watching!
Also a EE here, and I love your approach to this topic, and I found this video incredibly helpful for deciphering which power bank to choose for my upcoming long-haul bicycling adventure(s). Thanks.
Thanks! Have fun on your adventures!
I have a 1 cell DIY powerbank that has one 18650 in it and has Velcro holding it to the back of my PS vita takes the play time from 2/3 to 8/9 hours and is supper light. Perfect for my needs . I have like 5/6 powerbanks for different needs. Like fits my pocket or supper big for camping or mid-size that can charge my Mac. It's hard to just pick one. The best is the one you have when your phone dies. Lol
haha, yes!
@@AllThingsOnePlace your channel reminds me of a Russian channel www.youtube.com/@_KvP_ I don't speak Russian, but I still watch to keep up with what's going on in powerbank world. The dude has some good testing
Looking forward to your video on the smaller power banks. I'm more interested in a small power bank I can carry in my pocket which can recharge my phone around 1-2 times
Yeah, I need to get more of them on. I have 4 or so of them to look at. Probably will be more than one video.
yes, would like reviews on smaller power bank for hiking@@AllThingsOnePlace
I have had a Baseus 20,000mAh 65W powerbank for almost two years now and it's fantastic, charges my laptop no problem and is made of metal so maybe it's a bit heavier than it could be but feels nice. It also has a nice form factor unlike the powerbanks like the ankers that are just bricks. I like flat and wide (not too wide like tge baseus 100w lol)
Maybe it overheats and throttles after a good while, or it's the laptop that reaches the end of the charge. Maybe both, can't tell honestly lol. Even if it's a bit older I'd love to see what you think of it!
I have that one here. Along with about 20 others, ha. I need to get going on more power banks. There are a lot.
hope you continue focusing on power banks next year! Been really into 10000 and the rare 15000 packs. smaller packs is rarer to have pps or higher charging speeds. They are the ideal size to fit in a fanny pack or sling and is just about enough juice for like a full day traveling abroad of heavy google maps/citymapper and photography/videos.
Yeah, I have 4 or 5 of them here to get into some videos. Including the much requested nitecore ones.
Thanks for your amazing reviews!
I'd like to buy a ZMI PowerPack No. 20 but it doesn't seem to be available anymore?
It's out of stock basically everywhere.
I really like your videos! Keep up the great work!
Now back to powerbanks… what about those car jump starter? I mean, do they really work? There are so many and so many sketchy brands… 😝
Project farm! He has two videos on them. They do work. Also, I own one and have used it several times. They do work.
@@AllThingsOnePlace oh! Good to know 💪 thank you
I came here to learn how to choose a powerbank, i am leaving now as an electrical engineer 😂😂😂
Thanks for watching!
An actual review without the fluffy intros, sexy hair or psid promotions......great job.
Thanks!
Would love to see your thoughts on Anker’s new Qi2 power bank
Yeah, mild goal is wireless stuff this year.
I have some specialized needs for power bank (and no one power bank meets all of them), but I thought I would mention them for people to think about. The biggest issue shows up when I'm doing all day science fiction conventions, steampunk events, and/or renaissance faires, where I might be going out for 8+ hours:
1) Does the power bank have a US style fold out A/C plug? I hate having to have a wall wart to charge the power bank. At times I need to recharge a power bank during the day, and it is convenient if the power bank has a US style fold out plug so I don't need a separate wall wart. Now, in general it is faster to recharge the power bank if you use a USB C-PD high wattage wall wart than a US style A/C, but it is more convenient if it has plug built in. This is particularly true if I need to recharge multiple things at the end of the day, where I might need multiple wall warts.
2) In some cases, just having a US style A/C plug isn't enough. Some of the lower end power banks with plugs cannot recharge their battery at the same time they are supplying power to other devices. Normally, I don't need this at the same time, but a few times I do. If you need to do both, be sure to read the fine print.
3) Is the power indication just a series of single LEDs, a simple bar graph, or does it have a digital display that gives the remaining capacity? The issue is if you are running a power bank as long as possible, and maybe having to switch to a second power bank, it is more useful to know the power bank has 5% capacity remaining, rather than 25% (i.e. one LED). The last time I looked for power banks, I could not find a power bank that had 70+ watt-hours (i.e. 20000mAh of power at 3.6/3.7 volts), a US style A/C plug, and a digital display. I could find 35-50+ watt hour batteries with an A/C plug and digital display, 70+ watt-hour power bank with an A/C plug and just 4 LEDs, or a 70+ watt-hour power bank that had a digital display and no A/C plug.
4) One question is how usable the power remaining display is. If I'm doing outdoor events where I'm wearing polarized sunglasses, I might not be able to read the digital display or bar graph without taking off the glasses (I need to wear polarized sunglasses to reduce the frequency of my migraines). If the battery has LEDs, they might not be visible in bright sunlight or some people with shades of color blindness might not be able to see the power level LED. In addition, if I'm mounting the battery in a device, I might not be able to see the display depending on how I need to mount the battery.
5) When I do steampunk events, I have my digital camera mounted in an elaborate box that takes me 10-20 minutes to disassemble and reassemble to change batteries. So I've started powering the camera with a power bank that augments the 2 batteries in the camera itself. This way I can run for an entire day without having to change batteries.
I first used voltage boosters from a standard 5v power bank, but it could be tricky to find a booster circuit and a power bank that together could produce enough power to run the camera (typically 9 volts at 1 amp). One booster I ran into had 2 USB plugs so you could use 2 power banks in parallel
Then I used one of the few power banks with an aux. power output for 9 volts and at least 1 amp of power (preferably 2 amps).
Now I use USB C-PD. One camera takes USB C-PD directly. With the other camera, I use a USB C-PD trigger cable that tells the power bank it needs 9 volts and 2 amps of power.
6) Similar to #5, in the past I recorded video of performers at small renaissance faires or I recorded theatrical shows. The issue is you don't want to run out of battery power while recording a performance. When I did it in the past, I occasionally used a power bank, powering a dummy battery to run the camera. If the event was indoors and the cameras were in fixed locations near A/C sockets, I could use a wall wart providing the power to the camera. My current main camera uses USB C-PD, so I then attach the power bank to the camera to run it. I calculate that with a single camera battery, I can go maybe 2 hours doing continuous or near continuous video. I now have a battery grip for the camera, which means I could go 4 hours. In theory, a 70+ watt-hour power bank could power the camera for 7 hours, which means I might be able to go 13 hours without having to change batteries.
7) One issue I discovered in powering the camera via a power bank is the size of the power bank can be an issue. I had been using a battery holder from a company called smallrig to hold the power bank and screw it into the camera cage. When I replaced the power bank with a different model that had the digital display, the battery was now too wide to fit into the battery holder. Weight can also be an issue, if I am powering microprocessors with LEDs in a costume.
8) One issue buried in the spec sheets is if the battery supports USB C-PD, is how much power can it put out. Most power banks that I've looked at tended to only deliver 18 or 20 watts of power with USB C-PD. According to the documentation for the camera, the camera requires 27 watts (9 volts at 3 watts). Now, the camera doesn't actually enforce that requirement, and it runs fine with 18 watts. However older models of the camera did require 27 watts in order to use USB C-PD, and they would not turn on. Similarly, the battery charger for my camera does require 27 watts of power to do fast charging. Thus if I didn't want to power the camera with USB C-PD, but use the power bank to recharge the batteries in my camera bag, while I was shooting with the spare batteries, I wouldn't be able to charge them fast enough, unless I got a power bank that provided at least 27 watts of power.
9) Another issue that comes up is how many ports can a power bank power at the same time, and how much power can each port get? If I was doing high end video, I might need 4 ports -- one for the camera, one for the external monitor, one for the external recorder, and at least one port for other things, including charging a phone. Each of these might have different requirements in terms of power. Presently, none of my power banks have more than 1 USB C-PD slot, and 1-2 USB A slots (a few of the older power banks might have 4 USB A slots, but no USB C-PD slots). The alternative might be separate power banks, but then you have the issue of making sure all power banks get charged at the end of the day.
Sometimes when we are a vacation, both me and my wife would like to charge our phones at the same time, but currently none of the power banks that I have more than one USB A-QC (or USB C-PD) port, so we tend to use his and her power banks. Similarly when we are on a long plane ride, it would be useful to charge both the phone and kindle at the same time.
In going over the ads for power banks (and chargers), I have noticed a few that go into great detail of how much power they can supply. Good for them.
10) A different problem is whether the power bank can supply power to devices that only need a trickle of power. Most new power banks seem to cut off their power if the device isn't guzzling power. However, I like to wear electronics gear that has lights going on/off, such as a wooden bowtie with 16 multi-colored LEDs that displays the LEDs in a pattern, or a set of goggles with a micro processor controlling two displays that show a pair of eyes going back and forth. These microprocessors and displays/LEDs don't typically use that much power. There are devices that pull in more power occasionally to fool the power bank, but it might be useful if there was a control to say don't turn off power if the device is merely sipping power.
11) My cell phone (Samsung A32 5g) does not support USB C-PD, but it supports USB A-QC to do fast charging. However, with a lot of the QC cables, I've noticed that you have to insert the cable in one orientation to get fast charging (shades of micro USB-B). If you insert the cable in the other orientation, the phone will not do fast charging. This also means, when I'm selecting a power bank, I have to get one that provides both USB C-PD and USB A-QC.
12) It is convenient if a power bank has built in cables, but I find these are only really useful for occasional use. But there are times when I need to recharge something, and I don't have the appropriate cable on hand. Of course, everybody has different needs in terms of which cable is used. I have no IOS devices, but I still have micro USB-B devices, so a built in micro USB-B cable would be more useful to me than an IOS cable. From the ad, one power bank has one of the built in cables double as a loop to hold the power bank. I'm sure I would trust a cable that you use to hang a power bank from and make sure the cable still does its job.
13) While built in cables are nice, I did discover one power bank had a USB C cable, but the power bank would not support USB C-PD on the built in cable, but only with the USB C-PD external port. This meant you could not recharge the power bank using the built in cable.
14) Unfortunately as you mentioned in the video, some power bank companies lie in terms of the numbers printed for the capacity. It would be nice if they listed watt-hours as the main statistic instead of mAh.
15) While I have collected a stash of power banks over the years, I tend to draw the line at power banks more than $50US.
Wow, that's one heck of a long comment! I think you have some good anecdotes mixed in with some of your personal needs and hopefully they will be helpful to readers looking into power banks.
The best charger and powerbank reviews. I'd look nowhere else.
Thanks! No idea how I ended up at that status but why not.
My journey started with a recliner sectional. Yeah I know but I will get there. One of recliner seats had an intermittent issue I determined was from the button. If I moved the button a certain way it would work. I took it apart looking for a part number and discovered a broken wire. I dragged my soldering station in the house and repaired it. I now realized I wanted a portable soldering iron.
After looking at no great options I decided on a TS101 and I would use a USB-C charging bank to take advantage of it's 90watts. I bought the Anker 250w. On first bootup the iron in setup mode would loop. I switched cables with no difference. I plugged it in to the Ankers charging base all the while thinking the iron was DOA and the looping stopped. I fired up the iron and it was fine. I plugged the iron back into the charging bank but instead of the setup mode I turned it on and it works fine. I can only assume in setup mode it doesn't have enough of a draw on the power bank. The best laid plans . . .So it works fine just can't make any menu changes.
mm yeah, I think great scott, mr carlsons lab, and a few others, have made videos on keeping power banks awake. I didn't throw my hat into the ring on that one, not that I'd be at their levels of production. But yeah, your experience is how my projects usually go. Why is everything broken! haha
@@AllThingsOnePlaceDuring my research they also make a cap run rechargeable unit but the reviews weren't great. The best laid plans . . .
Update from my other comment: after extensive testing, I have come to the conclusion that scaling down voltage has quite a penalty on battery efficiency. Since the Anker 27650 battery voltage is 25.2 volts, it would be most ideal at 80 watts plus and 20 or 28 volts. Pulling at 50 to 60 watts yields 93.15 wh usable for me, but pulling at 20-40 watts yields 91.5 wh. The most ideal situation for this power bank is around 70 watts. Power stability also plays a role in battery efficiency, hence when testing with a tester that can deliver a fixed and stable load, you got better results than me.
Thanks! Also, awesome work. Yeah, I am trying to keep the measurements more repeatable so I can go back in a few years and retest some of these. Of course every power bank with slightly different layouts and components will yield different peak efficiencies in different modes of operation but yeah, so is electronics. I think you've done a great job demonstrating how this changes with varying the load.
@@AllThingsOnePlace one more thing. Most power banks have a nominal voltage of 3.7 volts and some number of amp hours. Anker is the blatant exception to this rule, choosing to connect the battery circuitry in series instead of parallel, giving high nominal battery voltage of 10 volts on the Anker 12,000 up to the nominal voltage of 25.2 volts on the 27650. That’s why Anker’s power banks hold up well with 20 and 28 volts.
This is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you for this video, exactly what I needed.
Glad it was helpful!
ZMI can charge my macbook pro 14 from 0 to 50% in half an hour. When fully charged I still have 20% left in powerbank
Nice!
The thing that's very confusing to me is that all of them list 5v as the output on Amazon, i need one that does 9v 2a and isn't the size of a brick and looking for one available here in the Netherlands is a pain and a half, great info though! i do feel a lot more informed after this video!
Thanks! Yeah, the goal is to at least help you find something better. I do wish they'd list the specifications more carefully though.
I went back and forth between the Anker 737 and the Anker Prime power bank. After finding out that the 737 (Power Core 24k) is the one that is powerful enough to charge my laptop, I settled on the 737 and couldn't be happier. It is a hell of a power bank.
It's a big power bank. The 250 is the same size with a little more capacity but from a price perspective you can get the 737 for a lot less $$$ and it's basically the same capability wise. Sounds like a good choice to me.
Thank you for your hard work to test and review all these powerbanks. Keep up the good work !
Thanks for watching!
I love how there's always an expert in any tech niche. I'm looking for a bank around +-50 euros with min 20k mah. Had the baseus 20k mah 65w or iniu 25kmah 65w in mind, do you have any thoughts on those 2 or even a better suggestion? good vid
Yeah, I think either of those should work. No idea on actual usable capacity. I have the Baseus here to test at some point.
Can you please review some smaller power banks! Especially the new Anker nano (A1259), Anker 533 (A1256) and Spigen ArcPack (PA2100) - the 10,000mah ones. Thank you!!
Thanks for the suggestions. Yeah. I have some more smaller power banks to get into.
“More bigger number, more better” is hilarious!
haha thanks!
Great explanation! Will you review the Anker nano power bank (10000mAh, 30W)? I need a portable power bank but there are so many options to choose from
Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah, I have a lot of power banks in the queue.
In the past I have been a huge fan of the Onmicharge products. I got into them when they were a kickstarter product but they are now outrageously expensive. Have you ever looked at their products? I have 2 units that have died, wish there was a way to get them repaired, what that kind of tech in them it sucks to have to toss them. .
Great job on the videos!
Yeah, I haven't looked at any Omnicharge products. The price usually tells me everything I need to know compared with the specs. Too many watts too small of a battery on a few I looked at. I'm sure I will get into some at some point. But yeah, there's basically no repair on any of these. They are glued shut, welded plastic, and made to not be serviceable.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I have 2 Omni 20 units you. One is dead and the other has a cracked screen and doesn’t work right. I can send them to you if you want to do a tare down video.
Times and times again..these brand powerbanks also been updated in a somewhat an upgraded lineup, as what we all saw.. hope the same product made in this year also will be review and ranking accordingly. i wont say the same brand for this year .. but im excited to watch these videos .. and sale season of the year are coming ! im waitin..
Thanks for the video. I appreciate the time involved, although it didn't fully answer what I'm looking for. I'm curious if you'd recommend any power bank for this use case:
Small size (fitting in an adult male's pant pocket) with a quick recharge time, 20-30W delivery and 50 watt hour capacity. I also value good energy retention. I like to leave my cable plugged into the power bank, so ideally it doesn't drain unless that cable is connected to a device. Ideally two USB-C ports, but one is fine. Willing to pay a premium for a reliable/durable and feature-rich device that looks good.
I've never had a bad time with Anker in the past, so that's my go-to, but I haven't shopped for a power bank in a long time (my old Anker only has one USB-A out and charges by mini-usb...)
Yeah, I checked out some of the newer Anker offerings and they were fine. They were a bit slow, 20W top speeds for the pocketable sizes but they are reliable and have excellent ratings online so I would think if you've had good luck with them before I'd stick with them and get a newer one. I recently looked at the Iniu power banks, they were compelling from a performance perspective. Any power bank will struggle with the cable plugged in all the time, they really don't like that. So, you may have to manually wake up the power bank when it's time to charge because it will probably turn off on it's own after a brief time period. This is because to supply 5V even with nothing connected consumes the very limited energy capacity in a battery bank.
@@AllThingsOnePlace Thanks! Yeah, the Anker PowerCore 13,000 is what I've got currently and have really enjoyed, it's mostly just missing usb-c. I think it has an auto-shutoff which is nice for me leaving the cable in. I also really like the 13-15k range for power, since it can still be pocket sized but have a bit more juice than 10k. I'll give more consideration to the Iniu one - I see they have a 15,000 mAh offering. Your review said it was average, but I think the performance is sufficient for my needs. Or I may just wait for another product in a shape/size/capacity that works better
Disappointed to see the anker 737 wasn't in your picks. Recently picked one up for $100 on amazon. Still, the super charging on the 737 is amazing and so far it's serving me great.
That is still a good one too, but the newer one is a little better so took the top spot here.
@@AllThingsOnePlace The newer one appears to have more issues according to Amazon reviews. They did drop the price to $144 but even then I'm not sure it's an additional $44 value.
I have the shargeek storm 2 for over half a year now and im using it very often for charging my phone or other devices. I never had any overheating issues although im using the full 100 watts it can deliver. Its expensive, i know, but i think its a really good powerbank for my usecases. I can definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a powerbank with a special design due to the transparent sides.
The Storm 2 didn't do bad in my testing. The slim did awful. But yeah, it goes to show that some devices from each manufacturer are good and some are bad.
Ive been purchasing cheap ryobi batteries when on sale, about 30 bucks per 4a/h battery. Naturally I got 4 of them for an accumulative 288wh. I modified another cheap ryobi tool to house 12v plugs and more usbc plugs directly inside of it. I am able to pull a continuous 240 watts from the battery, 2 100watt 12v car chargers powering 2 macbooks and the embedded usbc port charging an ipad. Battery gets drained quick but it does work. Things do get toasty but i was able to remedy with a little pc fan with a thermal controller blowing over the circuits/chargers. I havent found any other charger that can outcompete my diy version.
Yeah, that's a pretty good DIY solution. I have thought about it myself. The battery packs should easily be able to handle the power being tool rated but yeah the converters and things at those power levels probably need some cooling. I think the small car chargers like to run on more voltage for higher power levels, to keep the current more reasonable. I have 160W charger that won't even output that much without 24V on the input.
@@AllThingsOnePlace Yep! The advertised 18v and any other 20v batteries are actually the same at 20v when fully charged. Not much conversion when connected to just one high power device per plug. Temperatures rise when you mix and match devices from one converter. Do you know if any portable battery banks to date have a base voltage above 4.2v? I've opened so many(back in the day) and they seem to all be wired in parallel, omitting a bms(probably cost cutting measure😩)?
Brilliant reviews, thanks. Could you suggest a good charger/power bank combination for cycle touring/hiking please? Power adapter requirements are: charger with mains cable to C7 (figure 8) plug for multi country use, ability to fast charge a power bank, small and light. Power bank requirements are: 20,000mAh for multi-day charging away from the grid, fast charge to take advantage of cafes, campsite charging, doesn't need to be high power as just for iPhone or GPS device, small and light. Thank you.
Yeah, I want to make a focus video at some point for use cases. Bike-packing or hiking are great examples to cover. Need to think about it for awhile.
After much research (many of your great videos), and a spreadsheet to track results, I went for an Anker Prime GaN 100w wall charger which I feel has a good quality/power/weight ratio with USB C and USB A for convenience. Now I have to find the optimum Power Bank. Currently leaning towards the Anker Prime 12,000mAh Power Bank (130W) as my iPhone SE has a smaller battery than most so I can save a lot of weight compared to the 20,000mAh equivelent. It's always going to be a compromise somewhere!
Can you start to test the the “battery stations” like the Jackery, Anker, Ecoflow, etc. Maybe test their common solar panels somehow too? And maybe explaining lithium ion vs lipo batteries for us newbies.
Thanks for the suggestions! Yeah, more work to do for sure. I have only done one of the power station things so far. Solar panels, without very large test jigs are essentially subjective. Basically can say yes it works in the sun.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I got a jackery explorer 100 plus for my kids for christmas from another commenter somewhere on these out of curiosity. It only charges at 40-50 watt but the label states "100w total" between 2 usbc ports. 100% useless for my use-case which is currently held by the anker 737 powerbank + anker 717 charger where I don't totally care about capacity per se, but the speed of charge input to the battery for topping off between flights at an airport. The Jackery for similar price is vastly inferior at a cursory glance in my opinion. These portable power stations open a whole can of worms for you potentially on the inverter efficiency, charger efficiency, solar panel efficiency, which is all fairly well covered on other channels imo.
Thx for the video,
Are you tested ugreen 100w yet? do you recomend baseus blade 100w over ugreen 100w powerbank?
I haven't yet.
Watch this video I didn't learn nothing but you sound like a really smart guy and I just want a power bank.😂
haha, thanks for watching. Smart and this video would be better, ha.
Also when travelling make sure to check the country of arrival policy on power banks
For whatever reason Thailand takes away your power bank if it's over 20.000
Ah, thanks! That is good to know.
I was in Thailand last July and they definitely checked my power banks specs.
Hi. So which power bank is best in 2023 for iPhone 14/15 you think?
ZMI or Anker 250 are the most efficient. They're big power banks but they're the best also.
I have a 10k Anker with both USB-C and USB-A output. Do you think there would be a noticeable decrease in usable charge due to what I assume would be poorer efficiency when fast charging with USB-C PD versus USB-A? I only have this assumption because fast charging creates so much heat as opposed to a slower 12W standard charge. I’m a little surprised your tested efficiency of the 20k Essential is so poor and under 70%.
Yeah, that was the best of the bunch of low power Anker ones I tested, ha. The 10k was 50's%. Which yeah faster charging just makes more heat. A 5W charger would take forever though it might gain a few percentage points. But it'll lose all of that in the charger being inefficient.
Hi awesome video. what lens did you use for this video?
It is a Sony ZV-1 camera, set to 24mm and a medium F-stop within the camera range for reasonable depth of field, I have a lot of light on the bench. Certainly not a cinematographer though. I don't own a camera with an interchangeable lens surprisingly.
@@AllThingsOnePlace i see you have great lighting and the focus is great.
First, thank you *very much* for the videos you publish. I've watched a few and they are extremely useful. The no BS approach is a rare quality, especially online! Any thoughts on why the ZMI is not available for purchase anywhere? (apart eBay coming from China).
I think it's just out of stock. Hopefully they aren't ending the model that is the best one. ha
thanks for uploading. true og info, doubt i could find it anywhere else.
any chance you could do a review of the "IP2368 Bidirectional 100w" power bank board? or "IP5328P Dual USB 18650 Battery Charger" board?
im kind of a noob and was thinking of making some projects with them and i know Great Scott has some project videos he uses both of them in but his explanations just go way over my head and its more of side commentary that he adds in during other project builds. for some reason ur explanations just make sense to me as a lay person
also, the flying battery size made me think of some of my LVAD patients i had at a previous hospital. i myself would be super interested in a tear down video of a "HeartMate REF 102515 14V Li-ion" battery. i am sure these are the exact batteries that the flying exemption was made for. LVADs are pretty cool, in many scenarios they have gotten to the point of having better outcomes compared to heart transplantation.
Medical stuff is crazy. The extra rules and requirements that go into something like that just make it nothing like the consumer product. A mission critical piece like that probably has backups for the backup. It would be cool to look at for sure.
Nice video. ZMI QB826G is great because it uses Samsung 21700 battery cells, but the only downside is that it only supports up to 3A in PPS mode. Samsung's 45W charging requires 5A PPS.😢
Yeah, that'll happen. I've found many devices lately don't even make it to 5A, even if they claim it.
I understand Qi2 chargers are coming out anytime this year. Looking forward for your review!
haha, yeah, saw that. I haven't done any wireless anything yet.
Please do a version of this but for 10000mAh class power banks - I've been using Nitecore NB10000 for backpacking, and have had good luck so far but many people also have had their power bank died mid trip. Would love to see what alternatives there are out there that's not pure scam.
I am hoping to get that video out in the December timeframe.
Hello @AllThingsOnePlace, great job with last year guide, are you planning to do 2024 Buying Guide maybe? Before BlackWeek
Done.
This video is great! At the moment I can’t seem to find the ZMI. Right now I’m between both the Baseus blade 100 W and the Anker 737 . Which one would you recommend?
Yeah, the zmi is perpetually out of stock it seems. I don't know how I got one. That's a tough comparison. The 737 is bigger and a bigger battery, and more capable. The blade is convenient.
Have spent hours and hours on your site. Fantastic info. Looking for a recommendation between the Baseus 100 watt power bank (PPBLD100HD) and the UGreen 100 watt (20000mAh 100W Power Bank, Nexode Portable Charger USB C 3-Port PD Fast Charging)?
Using it primarily to charge my iPad Pro 11" 2024 but also, on occasion, my MacBook Pro 2024 14".
Either one seem a better choice over the long term (at least 3 years)?
I think they are pretty similar. I think it comes down to form factor. Flat wide thin power bank or the usual brick shape.
I think battery packs are the future. Especially an emphasis on smaller, portable battery packs. Considering most people can’t stay put for too long, and the fact that most people can’t put their phone down for too long, portable battery packs will replace standard wall chargers, even while charging indoors, at work or in the house. Lately I have seen more and more people using smaller, portable battery packs to charge their phones no matter where they are. At a restaurant, at the bar, at the game, in the house, at work, walking around, doing whatever.
Yeah, there is a physics limit to how long the devices can stay on, especially with brighter and larger screens. So, baring a gasoline powered phone I think you are right. What I learned is I need to stare at my phone more, haha. I don't need a power bank to get through the day yet.
I sure hope this isn't the future in store. Batteries add an additional layer of efficiency losses, degrade over time, and are not very eco-friendly when it is time to dispose of them. Plugging into a wall will always be cleaner and more efficient.
Thank you 👍
With the higher end banks, can one control how fast to charge a device?
My interpretation of this video is that the faster the charge the less efficient, therefore if I am *not in a hurry and want to maximize my battery bank, I want to intentionally charge my device slower. Would that be correct?
Sort of. You can limit charge to 60W by using a USB C - C non-E marked cable. The Anker may have a power limit you can set in the app though. I know the ecoflow power stations have this function in their app. In either case, the charge efficiency wasn't too much different, none of them charge beyond the batteries capabilities. They will attempt to discharge beyond the batteries ability though, and that is where efficiency drops, 3 - 5% from 50W to 100W output. None of them run at the rated power full time.
Would love to see you review the INIU B63 65W. I purchased the evatronic 60w 20,000 mAH powerbank after your review, and was extremely disappointed in its performance, so I figured I'd try the b63 and have been very pleased thus far.
Huh, the evatronic did everything it says it does, and I still use mine since it is small. It isn't very capable though, 30w charging and 60w output isn't exactly fast and being small the battery isn't that high of capacity. Of course if you need certain PPS modes it probably doesn't work correctly. That version is gone now anyway, replaced with one with more ports. Also, I do need to get into some Iniu power banks, I have some here.
But there is a difference. INIU B63 is a Li-Po battery and Evatronic is a Li-Ion battery.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I think I received a bad unit. After fully charging the evatronic, it will charge my laptop @ 60w for about 10 minutes, then appear to be fully discharged. Anyhow, thank you for your in depth reviews! You're providing a great service to everyone :)
Where'd the bender reference come from? Lol...another awesome video! 🤘🏽
I shove in random references on occasion. There's no logic... board?
Hi! Could you test the cuktech 20? I want to decide between anker prime 27650 mah and the cuktech 20
Yeah, I haven't done a power bank in a while, it's here, it's been here. I have to test a lot of power banks...
@@AllThingsOnePlace well i bought both yesterday, they are coming tomorrow, can't decide without your video or at least your personal opinion 🥲
Hmm…. I don’t get how 94% efficacy was possible on the Anker 27650. The best I’ve gotten is 92.17 wh (92.5%) at 94 watts. Maybe it’s because the battery is natively 25.2 volts? This can definitely be a factor because downscaling has penalties. Maybe I could try testing it at 28 volts 5 amps 140 watts.
Efficiency, this is probably because the battery is a bit over the capacity they claim, it is really efficiency of storage claim, still efficiency though since it is a ratio, wh out/wh in, and since there is no real way to know how big the actual battery is without destroying the power bank, it's of moderate usefulness. True the converter is working differently for each output voltage, so there would be differences, this is a time constraint on my end, I can't test every mode, on the newer videos I state the power levels I used for testing. Efficacy is a method for comparing two different metrics. So, lumens per watt, CFM per watt, or a number of watt hours per phone charge, etc.
Was going to buy the zmi power bank on your recommendations, but sellers on Lazada (Thailand) give 3-6 months warranty but the Ugreen offer 2 years.......
Thanks for the video! Any plans to test the Baseus 140W 24Ah power bank? Seems like a decent deal at $80 and it uses silicon carbon which supposedly has higher energy density than lithium ion, though it seems a bit bulky compared to other power banks with similar capacity.
I have it here, so yes, it will be getting a video at some point.
@@AllThingsOnePlace awesome, looking forward to the video!
Hey :) I couldn’t find a video on your channel about the efficiency of the apple 5w 10w 20w etc adapters. Could you please make a comparison about them?
The 5 watt adapters are pretty low, like 75% or so. I don’t think I’ve made a video on them though. Maybe I can do a short on them.
id like to ask for your advice on whether should i buy a 100w powerbank or a 100w charger for long usage?
Everyone's use case is different, so I don't know your specific situation. I personally use a larger charger, no where near the maximum wattage, so it doesn't over heat and will hopefully last longer, then I also have my pick of power banks, but most people don't have that. If you really need 100 watts and the limit of battery size is 100 watt hours remember that's only a maximum of 1 hour of run time, probably more like 40 minutes after losses of converters and what not. Plugged in you can use that power continuously, as long as power is available.
Any chance youll be able to cover the Elecjet Apollo Pro? The graphene battery seems interesting
hah, yeah no way to prove it does anything different without testing it. I'm not sure I can get one of those.
Great video!
I’m slightly confused with the ZMI by the way, are their two versions of this power bank because I’ve saw it say 200w on the front then another says 210w?
Are they the same?
I think one has an extra mode of operation. I mean in reality it doesn't do 210 watts for long anyway so they should really just call all of these 100 watt power banks.
Thank you for such an informative video. Definitely know your stuff.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the video! Hoping you can provide a recommendation for a power bank that fast charges my iPhone 15 Pro, can charge my laptop (slow is ok), and has the smallest form factor. Would that be the Anker Prime 12,000mAh?
.
Maybe a review on UGREEN Nexode 25000mAh 200W? Seems like good competitor to latest Anker best offerings.
200W and a 25k mah battery, sounds like it overheats, something to check out for sure.
What is your opinion on charging a phone using a laptop's USB-C port (which I already have) vs buying an efficient (but additional) power adaptor/bank? (Assuming there is no inconvenience in doing so for the user)
I don't see any problem with that. The laptop could be just as efficient if using the high power port. If using a more data focused port it may not be as fast or efficient though.
And what do you think about it Omni 40+ Launch Bundle power bank which is a better option. Omni or Anker
I haven't looked at anything from Omni yet but when I do it'll be interesting.
For a basic power bank, I really like the Baseus 30k 22.5W for value for price. Yeah it's not high watts but it has decent capacity compared to the others on the market.
Yeah, that's a lot of capacity if you don't need to go fast.
Thank you, what are good chose, Anker 737 or baseus 100w
Those are both reasonable performance wise. The Blade is a smaller battery and a bit less powerful. The Anker is pretty big and it's more expensive.
Thank you so much for the awesome reviews ❣
I bought the ZMI QB826G and it is great! But I noticed a slight hissing noise when nothing is plugged in. It is especially hearable at the top when you place the USB-A port close to your ear. I also saw another comment about the same issue on the web. Is this a normal behavior of this power bank?
I don't think I noticed anything, but the lab area where I do testing is not particularly quiet. All the test equipment have fans. So, usually if I hear the power supply noise it has to be pretty loud. It is not uncommon for power supplies to make a little bit of noise though, especially those of higher wattage variety.
@@AllThingsOnePlace I really appreciate the response!
Yes, that sound is pretty quiet, so you can only notice it by bringing the USB-A on top of the power bank up to your ear.
This is a very strange behavior to me, because no other power bank I own, in its idle state, without any connected devices, does not hiss or crackle (actually, it sounds like a speaker that hisses at high volume without playing anything).
For curiosity's sake, I checked Baseus Elf 65W 20000mAh, Baseus Bipow 20W 30000mAh, Realme 30w 10000mAh, old Pineng 10000mAh and Xiaomi 16000mAh - none of them make any audible sound when idle.
I'm wondering if anyone has noticed such behavior and if it's normal, despite being weird.
Hi @AllThingsOnePlace. Great explanation. Have you ever bought or tested the Ilano 100W 30000mAh. I am considering it but don't know how good it is (primarily for 60Wh laptop, 120$ budget).
Yeah. I haven’t checked that out. There’s so many now. I have about 30 here still to look at.
Would you perhaps have a recommendation for a laptop power bank under 120$? For a laptop that charges at 60W. (and 60Wh battery)
Hello!. What is the best power bank for an S24 Ultra that is safe and won't burn your plane/house down?. Thanks.
Ha. Yeah not sure. They’ll all work. Some will be slower than others. For a battery pack maybe slower is safer? But the basic Samsung requirement is the 11v PPS mode.
When you test the power banks, what Cutoff Voltage did you choose to test the power bank efficiency? (Maybe 4.5V?)
I run them until the protection circuit inside the device kicks in. Typically, at that point the USB circuit will turn off on larger power banks, but yes, sometimes I have to set a trip voltage inbetween since it will only turn off the boost circuit and the output will float around 3 volts so, between 3.5 and 4 volts depending on the type of power bank. 4.5 is sometimes too high and can cause false trips.
Please can you try to check / measure : EGO MAGPOWER Gen.4.1 5000mAh magsafe powerbank ? It seems to be the latest addition to 5000mAh powerbanks, it is considerably smaller than any competition, super strong magsafe magnet, amazing design. Wondering how it stands in terms of measurements.
Yeah, I haven't touched any of the magsafe stuff yet.
I just picked up the ZMI QB826G from your recommendations and it's mostly great, but I'm not quite getting the charging capacity I was expecting. Charging my Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 with a 8,400 mAh battery, from 3% to 100%, depletes 55% of the ZMI power bank's capacity. I know there's some efficiency loss with power banks but by my math, that's roughly ~16,000 mAh total...does that sound right? I thought it was supposed to be one of the most efficient power banks in the market and was expecting it to be closer to the marketed 25,000 mAh rating. I bought it brand new and manufacture date on my ZMI is very recent, October of 2023. Using an Anker 643 Type C to C cable on port 3. EDIT: Seems this is to be expected. The ZMI product page says it will charge the iPad Pro 11" with a 7812 mAh battery, 1.9x times, which is roughly in line with what I'm getting.
Samsung is a bit tricky, and also yes, there is an efficiency hit with faster charging too, the phone gets warm when you charge it, that's additional loss. I want to make a video on that at some point. So, 0.85 times 25000 mah, but then you have to do that again for the phones charging circuit, plus any possible extra cable losses, so 0.85*25k the power bank, then 0.80*21.5k is about 17k real usable capacity, then a little loss from cables and it sounds about right.
Careful with buying 160wh power banks
Have seen many airlines only allowing 100wh max. So any of the 30.000mah 3.7V aren't allowed.
Thanks!
What would you personally recommend as the better choice for 20,000 mAh ? I was looking at the Anker Powercore Metro 20000PD (20W) but reviews says it does not feature USB-C Power Delivery for output, which may limit its fast charging capabilities for certain devices. I wanted something along the price range of this model as well. The anker 737 is too expensive for me. Also, finding a reliable powerbank on the lower price range is a lot harder than I thought. Lots of false advertisements out there. Thanks!
So, if you only need to charge a phone and a watch, the much less expensive powercore will probably be fine. It won't have any advanced charging so fast charging is off the table. I would check out the Iniu videos on my channel. They offer reasonable value and have some options with fast charging.
hi great job on the video, very in depth explanation man! Can you do review on Aukey Sprint X 20,000 vs Ugreen 25,000 145w? Keep up the great work buddy!
Thanks for watching. There are two versions of the ugreen, the one was not great. I don't expect much of the other one.
Thanks for the video! Can you provide a recommendation for a power bank that fast charges my iPhone 15 Pro, can charge my 65W laptop (slow is ok), and has the smallest form factor? Would that be the Anker Prime 12,000mAh?
I doubt the 12k Anker will handle the power and not overheat. For what is essentially a 100 watt load you probably have to step up to a 20k mah minimum power bank. Even those tend to struggle at that power level. One at a time sure. But also remember a laptop battery tends to be fairly large so a 12k mah power bank is not going to get far charging a laptop.
Thanks for your response! Is the ZMI still your favorite after testing additional? It’s quite pricey…
Whats your opinion on the Baseus 10000MAH power bank? I noticed you didn't list it as the cheap option and it can be had for 15.99$ on Amazon.
I have it here, haven't tested it yet. I have a few other 10k's as well to check out.
video so good I'm commenting to feed the algorithm lol
Thanks!
The ZMI looks eerily similar to the UGreen 140W battery. I don't know if you've seen that one floating around online but do you think they're the same guts in a different exterior shell?
They aren’t tested that one in another video.
do you think li-ion or lipo batteries are better for powerbanks? I heard most powerbanks use li-ion but those new anker prime powerbanks use lipo batteries
Those are both lithium ion batteries. Larger packs or cars, tend to use lithium iron phosphate cells which last longer but have lower energy density. There are a bunch of other technologies too, it really comes down to the quality of the battery and how they charge and discharge them. Using better manufactured cells and charging and discharging them correctly is important.
I do have a laptop asus g502du and use a dc to type c adapter , normally using a 65w pd charger is enough for it to use but not enough to charge at the same time. Charging wattage is 50w average max 65w on this laptop and my power consumption for the laptop is around 10-15wh do you think baseus blades can keep up with it
or the ugreen 145w? btw another side question for when I am not charging my laptop but have a heavy usage. Which one is able to keep for longer at 100w baseus blades or ugreen 145w and they both shutdown when they get hot right no way of them to lower the wattage ? my adaptor is only for pd 100w so wont be benefiting 145w either way and the battery is rated for 78wh also any thought on anker powercore iii elite will that be capable of providing 87w consistently ? any interest for reviewing it ?
The one trick people use is a 60W USB C to C cable instead of a e-marked one. This will force lower negotiation of power so the power bank won't overheat. For heavier loads the larger power banks are kind of required.
have you seen any good micro banks that can fit on a keychain with embedded cables?
I haven't tested any, but I've seen the claims... they sound not realistic. 5000 mah and it's a keychain. Probably more like 500.
Wow this is a fantastic video!!
Glad you think so!
So whats the best value PB for travel? The INIU 25k is 40% off with a 50% voucher too at £28 ... seems good
Yeah, that's insanely good value.
@@AllThingsOnePlace cheers man. Just ordered it. Your vids really help me make a decision on this minefield
Can you do the Ugreen Nexode 130w powerbank
Nice video! How about some Nitecore power banks
Yeah, I have three of them here, hopefully can get that out in December sometime.