How to buy the best power bank
If you’re trying to understand watt hours, voltage and power management, then shopping for portable chargers can become a little bit daunting.
But, you only need to worry about the basics to make sure you’re getting the right one for your needs. Most importantly, is it the right size and weight for your needs? Does it have enough ports? And is there enough juice to charge up all your devices?
Capacity
One of the most crucial considerations is capacity. You want to know how long your power bank lasts and how many charges it’ll give you.
It’s best to look at the main battery you’ll need to fuel up – we’re guessing it’s your phone – and work out how large of a power bank you need (of course, all phones have different battery sizes). The capacity is measured in milliamp hours (mAh) and the more you have, the more recharges you’ll get.
Here’s a rough guide:
- Small power banks with 4,000mAh to 7,500mAh can provide decent backup power but, at most, enough for just one full recharge or so.
- Midrange power banks will pack in around 10,000mAh to 15,000mAh and charge up most phones two or three times. Need more than that?
- A big power bank with 20,000mAh or more will deliver almost five charges for an iPhone 13 – and we’d recommend this size if you want to charge bigger batteries like those in an iPad or laptop. These are also about as big as you can bring on a flight (more on that below).
Size and weight
Of course, bigger and smaller power banks also come with their benefits and drawbacks – one of the most important to note is that highcapacity ones will be bigger and weigh more.
Think about how you’ll be carrying it around and what you need it for – a power bank for your bag can be quite different than one for travelling or camping.
We tend to keep a midrange one for everyday use and a larger one ready for our trips, while we also have a petite lowcapacity variant as a backup battery that we might grab before heading out the front door.
Ports
Don’t know your USBA from your USBC or Micro USB? It doesn’t have to be too confusing. The older USBA is the connector you’ll have seen often over the past 10 years or so (think little portable USB drives) while the newer USBC connector is the one that has come with the newest Androids and iPhones (on one end at least, these still charge via Apple’s Lightning port).
It’s worth getting a power bank with both ports as USBC becomes more commonplace, and it’s the port that is faster and gaining popularity. When it comes to the power bank output, you’ll want to look for ones that can output at least 20W via USBC, as this is the fastest speed to recharge an iPhone.
Wireless charging
Also known as “inductive charging”, this power transfer method works by placing your phone on a charging pad – once both devices come into contact, they’ll create a magnetic field which your gadgets can use to collect energy and restore their battery power.
We like wireless charging as a fussfree way to refuel smartphones and earbuds, although it’s worth noting that it’s slower than the traditional wired approach.
In 2023, there are a good number of wireless power banks on the market, and the big benefit here is that you’ll not need to worry about bringing your cables quite as much.
Magnetic charging
Apple has added its clever “MagSafe” tech to every iPhone (other than the SE) since the iPhone 12. It uses magnets to ensure perfect alignment for a range of accessories including wallets, wireless chargers and, of course, power banks.
This makes it easy to quickly snap a charger right onto the back of your phone, and it eliminates any issues with alignment that you may find on other wireless chargers that lack this magnetic connection feature.
Extras
While you’ll probably have most of the cords that you’d need, we’d expect a power bank to at least come with a recharge cable and maybe some extra useful wires. It’s also a nice extra when it comes with a decent carrying pouch to keep the battery and cables together.
What is the largest power bank allowed on a plane?
This can get pretty complicated, to be honest, but to help we’ve made sure that none of the power banks included on our list is too large to bring on a plane.
All external batteries with a capacity lower than 27,027mAh (100 watthours) should be acceptable to bring on flights. Power banks and spare batteries always have to go in your carryon, too, not in your checked luggage.
The restrictions can also depend on the countries involved in your trip and the airline you’re flying with, so always check before you travel. Also, to recharge your power bank on a trip while away from a UK socket, you’ll want to look into buying a travel adapter like this.
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