I bought a $5 6600 mah power bank at a Five Below store the other day. Judging by the reviews I'm reading it will either work OK or burn my house down...
Here's my rig - includes the ability to charge to, and powerbank from, Eneloops and flashlight Li-ion cells.
I EDC the 16000 Anker Battery Bank for my Samsung Note 5 and my daughters Samsung S5, it has the fast charge capability and can charge mine about 5 times Or my daughters 5 1/2 times. Small enough to fit in a pack and not much weight. Works great for when we are at concerts taking video. I'm looking into a solar power bank by Anker just to see how they work. You can find them on Amazon for around $30 to $50 bucks. Have not had any issue with charging either one, I bought this when I had the Samsung S5 then switch to the Note 5.
I personally have 3 ankers (one is dying slowly so it's being replaced but after 3 years of constant use and abuse im not surprised) And a Goal Zero Thumb Stick battery that will give me one full charge on my Galaxy S6. All of Anker's products have been top notch and have worked brilliantly for me. I also have a bunch of their cables which are really nice quality.
I really recommend the Jackery battery packs. You can find them at Amazon for reasonable prices. Good luck
I recently bought an Anker Powerbank+ 26800. I bought it for intermittent off grid travel and it will charge a MacBook 12". It gives about two additional charges which is impressive. Plus phones or tablets. It's a very well made bit of kit but I'd say it's too much for daily EDC for me as it weighs in at about 600g which is 2/3 the weight of the computer! BTW, it turns out that USB-C powered devices like the MacBook 12" will charge from 5V USB supplies (really needs 2.5A) as well as their normal (new standard) 12V chargers so I never carry a specific laptop charger for these days, just a couple of light Anker cables.
Just wanted to let you guys know that the Anker PowerCore 10000 Is on sale on amazon right now for 18$. That's a good price and if you were thinking of picking one up this is as good a time as any.
hey cool power bank can you charge your powerbank and use the powerbank to charge other things at the same time? like solarpower--to feed the powerbank- to charge other things at the same time.
Not to be resurrecting old threads, but I found a heck of a deal on a power bank that others might be able to get in on. I was looking for some power banks for an upcoming trip to Florida (both boys have iPad minis that will likely save our sanity on the trip). I noticed Walmart has a lot of electronics on some decent clearance and they had a 12000 Blackweb power bank (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Blackweb-Portable-AC-Adapter-Black/44931471) that hass a USB port that outputs at 2.4 A, and an AC outlet that is supposed to handle low output up to 65 W. It was originally marked $56.95, marked down clearance to $25.00, and rang up for $15.00. I was so surprised I actually went back and bought the other one they had in stock. Not a bad deal for what appears to be a well-built power bank.
I love my various Ankers. I have different sizes depending on use. Watch the Lifehacker daily deals. They regularly post deals on Ankers when Amazon has a price drop on them.
Have to agree with those having good experiences with Anker power banks. My wife uses the Anker Astro E1 5100 mAh power bank. It contains enough of a charge to keep her Galaxy S5 going for several days. I use an Anker Astro E5 16750mAh 2nd Gen power bank. Both can be charged from an Anker 21 watt 2 port solar panel. All items work well. The Astro E5 has been in use one year and holds a charge for months when not used. When heavily used it charges fully overnight.
I went with the Ravpower 16750 battery (#RP-PB19(B)) and the Ravpower 15W foldable solar charger (#RP-SC02). Been very happy with both. I typically charge the battery with the solar panel, then carry the battery in my work EDC. The battery is small enough that I would be perfectly fine carrying it in my normal EDC bag (maxped jumbo).
I've been using a Dark Energy "Poseidon" for almost a year now. It's almost indestructible. A very, very tough powerbank.