10 Best Portable Power Banks in 2018

Anker is a brand, that in a few short years has ascended from obscurity to becoming a name that is almost synonymous with tech gadgets, and especially power banks. Their power bank products are what made the brand so popular and loved in the first place, and for good reasons, which we’ll discuss below.

The Anker PowerCore 10000 has a monstrous 10,000 mAh capacity which is incredibly impressive in itself. But to us, what’s more impressive, and incredibly rarer, is the fact that they have managed to make the PowerCore 10000 incredibly small and light for a powerbank of its capacity. The company bills it as being “smaller than a deck of cards and lighter than a baseball”, and after checking it out, we agree with them. We can comfortably say that you will be incredibly hard pressed to find another 10,000 Mah powerbank on the market that is as small and as light as the Anker PowerCore 10000 is.

There’s no point having a 10,000 mAh capacity battery if it takes all day to charge your device, fortunately, with the Anker PowerCore 10000 that’s not the case. As is the case with many other Anker powerbanks, this one has their ever popular PowerIQ high speed charging technology built in which means your device will charge blisteringly fast so you can get back to that game of Candy Crush faster than you thought.

The GETIHU is a portable power bank with a 10,000 mAh capacity. And this thing really deserves to be called portable. It’s an impossibly thin 0.37 inches/0.94 cm and super light 7 ounces.

The charger features GETIHU’s fast charging technology and has dual USB ports which lets you charge 2 devices at the same time, perfect for those gadget hoarders out there. So, you can easily simultaneously charge an iPhone and iPad at the same time using this thing which is something that can’t be said for many of the other portable power banks on the market today.

And GETIHU doesn’t skimp on safety either. The portable charger has intelligent safety protection built in which protects your charger and the devices being charged against a whole host of things including over-charging, over-discharging, over-voltage, over-current (basically, over everything), oh, and it also protects your devices against short circuit charging accidents.

For all you frequent travellers and campers out there, you’ll be pleased to know that the GETIHU power bank has an LED flashlight built in which you can turn on and off using the power button.

We’ve always said that one of the biggest signals of how much a company believes in their product and how honest they are can be seen from the warranties and guarantees they provide. GETIHU goes all out in this department, which is a very good sign. They offer a 30-day money back guarantee, 360-day warranty and lifetime technical support.

The package comes with the power bank (of course), 1 USB charging cable and 1 user manual (which we doubt you’ll need).

Next up we have the RAVPower 22000 and there’s no point in us beating around the bush, so we might as well start by discussing, by far, the biggest benefit of this power bank and that is it’s staggeringly large 22,000 mAh battery capacity. Just for some context, on a full charge, this beast can charge an iPhone 7 approximately 8 times, an iPhone 7 Plus approximately 5 times, an iPhone 6s approximately 9 times and a Samsung Galaxy S7 approximately 5 times.

And not only does the battery have a jaw droppingly large capacity, it’s also incredibly efficient. The Li-polymer battery inside impressively retains 70% to 80% of its capacity after 500 charge cycles.

Other features of the RAVPower include a large number of ports, which means you can charge 2 iPads and 1 iPhone at the same time! This is clearly the power bank for the gadget enthusiast. The device also has what they call “Ismart 2.0”, a system which adjusts current and voltage to drastically minimise charging time.

Now it’s time to talk build quality. Often large capacity power banks like this one disappoint when it comes to this area, thankfully that’s not the case with the RAVPower 22000 at all. The device has a UL94 V-O fire resistant shell which, according to the company, is the same type used by Mercedes Benz, BMW and other luxury car makers. Impressive. The company also claims that the RAVPower has the same battery manufacturer and quality control as the iPhone 6s, however, that is a claim that would be pretty hard to verify, especially as Apple is a notoriously secretive company.

When it comes to safety, the RAVPower 22,000 doesn’t shy away. Firstly, as mentioned above, it’s body is made from a UL94 V-O fire resistant shell. On the inside, the device has a “Battery Protecting NTC” which monitors battery temperature and provides self-regulating high temperature protection. Further, there is a built-in system called “Smart Protection With MCU” which provides over-charge, high temperature, and short circuit protection. It also allows charging and discharging simultaneously. Additionally, the device has “Surge Protection IC” which monitors the current for charging the external battery, adjusts the input voltage and provides circuit protection and “High Performance Charging IC” which maintains a stable 5V output current for connected devices. Finally, the RAVPower has an industry leading power management chip which provides 10-layer protection when charging.

With regards to looks. The RAVPower 22,000 has a sleek, elegant and subtle appearance with the RAVPower logo present on the front of the device, with a gloss effect. The only lights on the device are the string of small round blue charging lights at the bottom front of the device. We can’t help but feel that RAVPower borrowed heavily from Anker when it came to the design of this device, as it resembles some of Anker’s best-selling power banks.

And finally, in terms of product dimensions and weight, the RAVPower 22,000 has dimensions of 6.5 x 0.9 x 2.8 inches and a weight of 14.4 ounces. So not too bad for a product this powerful, with such a large capacity battery and so many ports.

The EasyAcc has an impressive capacity of 20,000 mAh. To put that in context, on a full charge this thing can charge an iPhone 7 around 6 times, a Samsung S7 around 5 times, and an iPad Mini 3 around 2 times. So not too shabby at all.

The area where the EasyAcc really stands out is charging speed. It’s proprietary “Life Saver” (which we thought was a really cool name) technology means it can be superfast recharged within 6 hours, reducing the recharging time by up to 50% compared to similar 20,000 mAh power banks from competitors.

Additionally, the device has auto detection technology built in which cleverly changes the charging speed depending on which device(s) you have plugged in, to deliver the optimum, fastest charging speed for each device, every time. This thing can charge your device up to 2.4A, which is essentially twice as fast as a standard computer USB port. Not too bad at all.

Unlike a lot of power banks out there that deliver big on charging capacity but are woefully inadequate when it comes to number of ports, the EasyAcc delivers strong on both accounts. It has an impressive four USB ports at the front of the device (i.e. four more than the new Macbook – we love you really Apple.). So yes, with the EasyAcc you can charge four devices at the same time. We can imagine the gadget fiends among you smiling with glee at reading that, and we don’t blame you.

So let’s talk safety. The device has adequate safety features built in which prevent your beloved devices from overcharge, overcurrent and short circuits. Further, the EasyAcc conforms to CE, RoHS and FCC regulations.

With regards to design, the device takes the ever-popular candy bar shape – it’s sleek rounded rectangular shape is a solid a black, however the device is accented with a strong, vibrant orange or red (depending on the colour you go for) across all sides. For those of you that don’t want to draw too much attention to yourselves, you will be pleased to know that the device also comes in black with grey sides too. The device weighs 1.2 pounds and it’s dimensions are 7.2 x 4.6 x 1.3 inches.

We don’t think it would be right for us to discuss the Anker PowerCore + Mini without starting with the most notable aspect of the device. The design. The look of the Anker PowerCore + Mini marks a great departure from the rounded rectangular “candy bar” shape that the overwhelming number of power banks have taken, the PowerCore + Mini, to us, closely resembles a Smarties tube. The Power banks small cylindrical shape looks elegant and portable.

Anker have dubbed the device “lipstick” sized, which we suspect may be, largely, a bid to appeal to more of the female market. Further evidence of this is the fact that the power bank comes not just in Anker’s staple, and now iconic, matt black, but also in a metallic pink, gold, silver and blue. The device is made of aluminium, it’s dimensions are 3.7 inches x 0.9 inches.

Despite this being one of Anker’s lightest and smallest power banks, it still packs a powerful punch in the capacity, speed and features department. It has a 3,350 mAh capacity and charges itself in 3-4 hours with the 1 amp adaptor (which it doesn’t come with) or the micro USB cable (which it does come with, and would have been an outrage if it didn’t come with). The device also has Anker’s PowerIQ technology built in which intelligently detects the device you have plugged in and charges it as fastest as possible up to 1 Amp.

Also, it’s really good to see that the Anker PowerCore + Mini has the same/similar safety features as it’s more expensive siblings in the Anker range. The PowerCore + Mini has Anker’s MultiProtect Safety System built in which protects you and your device from shorts and surges.