Want to buy a Power Bank - Any recommendations?

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#1592423 14-Jul-2016 11:38

sbiddle:

I've ended up being a mule for Anker products for a number of GZ users on my last few trips to the US. I'm not back over there until the end of Sept but an tempted to bring some more stuff back if it's not available here then.

I met with the Anker guys in Aussie in May at CeBIT and they said they expected Anker products to be in AU and NZ retailers within the next few months.

With a 200% markup over the US prices, I'd assume.

RickW

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#1592436 14-Jul-2016 11:53

Heres the best charger I've come across to date

sbiddle

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#1592438 14-Jul-2016 11:55

surfisup1000:

sbiddle:

I've ended up being a mule for Anker products for a number of GZ users on my last few trips to the US. I'm not back over there until the end of Sept but an tempted to bring some more stuff back if it's not available here then.

I met with the Anker guys in Aussie in May at CeBIT and they said they expected Anker products to be in AU and NZ retailers within the next few months.

With a 200% markup over the US prices, I'd assume.

They said prices would be competitive, but obviously don't have any control over the price big box retailers sell stuff for.

richms

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#1592439 14-Jul-2016 11:58

RickW: Heres the best charger I've come across to date

Hmm, I tried a milwaukee?? one of those out and it was useless. Barely more than an amp per side before it would shut down and come back again meaning phones were animating that they were charging but not much was happening. One iPhone at a time on it was ok, but 2 decent phones and just hopeless.

Still waiting on a ryobi one since I have so many batteries for that. I have used a car charger off the 18v packs with a couple of bits of wire and tape in the last long power cut which was great.

Edit - MIght have been a ridgid one. Was orange or red in anycase, wasnt mine.

Richard rich.ms

RickW

298 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1592441 14-Jul-2016 12:03

richms:
RickW: Heres the best charger I've come across to date

Hmm, I tried a milwaukee one of those out and it was useless. Barely more than an amp per side before it would shut down and come back again meaning phones were animating that they were charging but not much was happening. One iPhone at a time on it was ok, but 2 decent phones and just hopeless.

Still waiting on a ryobi one since I have so many batteries for that. I have used a car charger off the 18v packs with a couple of bits of wire and tape in the last long power cut which was great.

The Makita one is awesome, 2.1a for each usb so 4.2a total. It has no trouble charging 2 iPads at the same time at full speed.

kiwi_64

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#1592487 14-Jul-2016 13:20

I've bought several Power Banks internationally over the years but I note that having them shipped is becoming more difficult.

The last 20,000 mAh one I bought couldn't be shipped through youshop but was ok via ShipItTo, but I note that they too have now restricted shipping...

good luck

dafman

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#1594134 17-Jul-2016 18:54

kiwi_64:

I've bought several Power Banks internationally over the years but I note that having them shipped is becoming more difficult.

The last 20,000 mAh one I bought couldn't be shipped through youshop but was ok via ShipItTo, but I note that they too have now restricted shipping...

good luck

Probably restricted for good reason, not worth risking taking a plane with several hundred passengers out for the sake of saving a few $ on a power bank.

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hangon

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#1595664 20-Jul-2016 14:47

happy with xiaomi on gearbest.com, under US$15 shipped (takes a month or so)

old 10,000 mAh model a bit chunky, but does rapid charge on nexus 5x (5V 2A)

planning to get a couple more in different sizes. also a new 10,000 mAh USB-C model albeit twice as expensive.

bcourtney

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#1598872 26-Jul-2016 11:28

bcourtney:
CapBBeard:

I love Anker but it's always a pain shipping them over here; I always get the 'this item does not ship to...' message.

How are you guys ordering them? I have imported some of their stuff with YouShop previously, though have heard of them tightening up around batteries etc lately.

I've put through an order for 2 different Anker models on Amazon today. Getting them shipped through YouShop so will let you know how it goes. YouShop USA states that batteries can't exceed 100Wh per unit and all Anker models come in under this (as seperately stated on the Anker website specifically for air travel).

Fingers crossed.

An update FYI - Products shipped just fine from Anker to YouShop. YouShop contacted me and took my shipping payment. Tracking shows that it shipped on 23 July with an expected delivery date of 3 August. Will update further if I hear any more news. Not entirely confident it's left the states yet so that could be the first stumbling block

jonathan18

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#1598878 26-Jul-2016 11:37

jonathan18:

After our power failed for half a day a few weeks back I decided such a unit was a critical purchase, so I bought a 20,000Mah Xiaomi unit from eBay - cost about $55sh, whereas they sell here on TM for closer to $100 I think. Like many products on eBay, just be careful to check you're buying a legitimate version (Xiaomi provide an individual number on each product's box to confirm authenticity - this was mentioned on the listing of the one I bought).

I'd read some positive things about it online (eg reviews like http://www.androidcentral.com/xiaomi-mi-power-bank-review). That same review mentions that it'll not give type-c devices a quick charge, but not sure if that's critical for your purposes? I'd imagine units at this price or cheaper will generally fail in this regard. But for $55sh I decided this offered better value than most, as we don't have any relevant devices.

Just to report back on the 20k Mah Xiaomi unit discussed in my earlier post (above), which I used for the first time the other night. While this may not be a fast charger, which is irrelevant for my phone anyway, I was really impressed at how quickly it charged my phone - I think it went from 7% to over 50% in under an hour, and fully charged in about two. Given I've been using a long cable that was only getting the phone to 90% charged over night(!), this is relatively brilliant, and gave me the impetus to replace my regular charging cable.

FireproofSheep

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1599068 26-Jul-2016 14:21

Hi,

probably a bit late to the party - i've been really impressed with Aukey power bank 16000mAh PowerAll Quick Charge 2.0 (Qualcomm(R)) got it from Aliexpress offical store 1830134

i see they also offer 30000mAh quick charge 3.0 one now as well.

cheers

FPS

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1599080 26-Jul-2016 14:38

I just got a TP-Link (this one: http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=BAPTPL0400) and it's great. Handled the great school holiday Pokemon Go hunt with ease, which was great with my phone battery plummeting while I both played the game and hot-spotted my son's iPad. A bit chunky and heavy but that's an acceptable compromise. I believe they do a larger capacity one too. You'd need a USB-C adapter for it though.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

bcourtney

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#1600094 28-Jul-2016 10:56

bcourtney:

bcourtney:
CapBBeard:

I love Anker but it's always a pain shipping them over here; I always get the 'this item does not ship to...' message.

How are you guys ordering them? I have imported some of their stuff with YouShop previously, though have heard of them tightening up around batteries etc lately.

I've put through an order for 2 different Anker models on Amazon today. Getting them shipped through YouShop so will let you know how it goes. YouShop USA states that batteries can't exceed 100Wh per unit and all Anker models come in under this (as seperately stated on the Anker website specifically for air travel).

Fingers crossed.

An update FYI - Products shipped just fine from Anker to YouShop. YouShop contacted me and took my shipping payment. Tracking shows that it shipped on 23 July with an expected delivery date of 3 August. Will update further if I hear any more news. Not entirely confident it's left the states yet so that could be the first stumbling block

They've just arrived this morning. Not had a chance to do anything other than unpackage them. Such nice looking products.

nakedmolerat

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#1600139 28-Jul-2016 12:26

bcourtney:

They've just arrived this morning. Not had a chance to do anything other than unpackage them. Such nice looking products.

which one do you get?

bcourtney

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#1600152 28-Jul-2016 12:50

nakedmolerat:

bcourtney:

They've just arrived this morning. Not had a chance to do anything other than unpackage them. Such nice looking products.

which one do you get?

The Astro E5 16750mAh and the Astro E7 26800mAh

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