If you’re anything like me, you probably have a pile of aging external batteries. Up through this year, I’ve had countless 10,000mAh bricks — the classic “big battery” size through most of the 2010s — along with a handful of smaller cells designed to offer something a little more pocketable and portable. If you haven’t upgraded your battery bank collection in a while, though, it might be time to make a change, especially if you don’t mind dropping some serious cash for a life-changing power solution.
Earlier this year, I got my hands on Anker’s 20,000mAh 100W power bank. My initial hands-on with it at CES left me intrigued; with two built-in USB-C cables (including a retractable cord) and two additional USB outputs, it seemed like about as powerful a battery as you could ever hope for. But after actually picking up my own unit, it’s shocked me how much this single accessory has changed how I charge every device I own, both on the go and at home.
It’s one thing to list out those specs above, but really, it’s the actual act of using this battery that really convinced me it’s something special. It really started with travel; with a cross-country trip planned not long after I got my own battery to try out, I pretty quickly realized I could leave most of my other power bricks at home. Because this battery has passthrough power, it can actually output to three devices at once while plugged into the wall. While I won’t pretend to have less than three devices that need charging on a regular basis, this immediately removed two power bricks from my carry-on, while simultaneously acting as a beefy, fast-charging battery on planes.
I’ve adapted its utility to around the house as well. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve reached for this particular battery when playing something on my Steam Deck or Switch. The retractable cable is just long enough to place the battery next to me on my couch, while not too long as to be annoying to use. It’s also found a place next to the power outlet by my desk, always ready to utilize passthrough power as a quick multi-device hub.
It’s not going to be for everyone; this certainly isn’t the lightest battery on the market, for example, and the on-board display might strike some potential buyers as unnecessary. It’s also a pretty expensive battery when it isn’t on sale, having spent most of the past few months around the $120 mark on Amazon. But when it’s discounted — as it is right now, ahead of Black Friday — I think it’s the perfect accessory for power users of all types. I’ve had a lot of external batteries in my time, but this is the first one that has ever changed how I think about charging.
What it lack in built-in cables is more than made up for in sheer power.
Not to say it’s the only Anker battery bank I’ve tried out this year. Recently, the company sent me one of its latest Anker Prime power banks, and while I’m not sure it’ll change my charging habits to the same degree as that earlier, cheaper model that caught my eye during CES, for someone looking for power over an all-in-one package, I’m pretty impressed.
Despite its similar size and shape, Anker’s newer battery exchanges a couple of features for some pretty impressive specs. Gone are the two built-in cables, with a pair of USB-C ports and a legacy USB-A port left in its place. That might sound disappointing on paper, but what you get in return is a focus on sheer power. Its 26,250mAh cell is massive in size, and both of those USB-C ports are capable of outputting 140W with a single output. Even with two devices plugged in, you’re still looking at some surprisingly speedy output — and at 250W recharging speeds with two input cables, refilling is surprisingly powerful, too.
All that’s packed into a battery that remains approved for flight by TSA standards in the US, which usually results in the largest bottlenecks for batteries. While some of the additional features here feel a little tacked on — a silly “AI” logo on the built-in display, presumably to emphasize its charging prioritizations; Bluetooth support for a partner app that I don’t think most consumers will get much out of; a timer permanently set to 25 minutes — as long as you don’t mind carrying around all of your cables separately, it’s as mighty an external battery as I’ve ever carried.
As we approach Black Friday and the holiday shopping season, I really think it’s as good a time as any to take a look at your own battery collection, just to see if anything’s in need of an upgrade. As someone who has had to make it through some pretty rough power outages in the past, having too many battery packs is never really a concern of mine. And with just how much portable power you can lug around with you now, well, that 10,000mAh cell from 2016 might be due for a refresh after all.
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