I have bought too many portable battery banks over the past few years for one reason, and one reason only: I have teenage daughters. And that’s the thing about having kids — your stuff is going to wander off and disappear into the abyss that is their rooms. It’s an inevitability.
And so in preparing for a summer family excursion, I picked up a new battery bank, because I needed something a little more portable for fun time, so I could leave at home the monster battery I carry with me on work trips.
Enter the . It’s only a 10,000 mAh battery — half that of the Anker Prime Power Bank I’ve been carrying around — and I’ve had to convince my brain that’s a good thing. I just need something that can recharge my phone maybe twice at most, and not worry about giving emergency juice to my MacBook. And with that lower capacity comes less weight — a little more than half as much as the Anker Prime Power Bank at 8.8 ounces.
It’s also a better size and shape for more casual carrying — about the same as a deck of cards.
So, yes. I now have a work battery, and a play battery.
This is also the sort of thing that I might not let disappear into my kids’ lives. It’s not what I’d call a cheap battery, for starters, though Prime Day discounts could help with that. But you get a good bit of functionality for that price. Built in to this bank is Qi2 wireless charging, plus it’s MagSafe-compatible. So it sticks to my phone pretty well and negates the need to have wires dangling. Then there’s the included kickstand, so I can charge while still keeping my phone in view on a desk or table. That’s cool. And, of course, there’s USB-C to charge the battery itself (or to charge a device that’s not wireless).
And the real sweetener is a bit of overkill that is totally unnecessary, but (like on the Prime Power Bank I got earlier) is also very cool: A display to show how much charger is left in the battery, and how quickly it’s charging your device. That’s just easier on my brain than trying to decipher a series of LEDs.
So all in all, it’s a cool, portable battery that I’m going to make good use of. And hide from my kids.
