During the recent Florida hurricane, I spent a lot of money on a gas generator to run our fridge and a couple of fans. I had charged up our small chargers to help keep our iPhones and iPads going. but they didn’t last long. During our week without any power, we could have used something like the Jackery Explorer / Powerpro 500Wh Portable Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery Quiet Generator. That certainly would have helped!

The Jackery Explorer / Powerpro is a massive battery generator that will charge a smartphone 40+ times, a laptop 3-6 times and a mini fridge for 9 hours-all at the same time, yet only weighs 12.5 lbs. It can be recharged in 6-7 hours either by AC adapter or optional solar panel. But that’s not all. The Explorer sports a 110V outlet, 2 12V DC ports, a DC cigarette lighter socket, 2 USB ports, a built-in flashlight, and an LCD display. The LCD displays battery consumption, charge and discharge status. It also shows how much power in watts is coming in and how much load is on the battery.

The built-in Battery Management System (BMS) improves battery utilization, prevents over-voltage, over-current, over-temperature with advanced safety procedures, giving complete protection to your connected devices.

If you live in an area which can lose power for extended periods of time or want a long-lasting power source for camping, The Jackery Explorer / Powerpro may be what you need. Visit www.jackery.com/power-family/power-pro for more information and it sells for $599.99 on Amazon.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Batteries and Chargers

Jackery Explorer is a “Jack of all Trades” generator originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 20, 2017 at 9:00 am.

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As someone who travels a lot I often find myself in situations where my phone or other device is low or out of power and a wall outlet is not readily available.  Before I travel, I meticulously charge my phones (I carry a personal and a work phone), my headphones, iPad, and computer.  Where these plans fall apart is when I get to the airport and begin draining my batteries while waiting to board my flight.  I don’t know how I made it this long without a supplementary power supply but now that I have the ROMOSS Longuard Power Bank, I will never travel without it.  (Picture is the Longuard next to an Apple iPhone 7 plus) 

The size (2.4 x 4.06 x 1.18 inches) is very manageable and easy to tuck away when not in use and the 0.69 pound weight is what you would expect from a battery that can deliver 10000 mAh.  Included with the battery is a USB to micro USB cord for charging and a padded mesh pouch with drawstring closure for storage and protection.

This power bank features dual 2.4A outputs allowing you to charge two devices at once.  Many other external battery packs only offer one output, putting this in the front of the pack.  ROMOSS’ proprietary Quick Charge technology automatically optimizes the power delivered to your device so you get the fastest safe charging rate.  It performs self-diagnostics to protect your electronics against overcharging, overheating, short circuits and excessive current.  If it detects a problem, the Longuard will turn itself off in order to protect anything you have connected to it.

From empty, the Longuard can be fully recharged in 4 hours and after testing, I found the recharge time to be slightly less than this.  The same battery technology that is found in today’s electric cars can be found in the Longuard.  According to ROMOSS, there are 26650 battery cells in the device and have been certified for over 1000 charging cycles, 60% more than other leading power banks on the market.  There is just one button on the Longuard on which the four LED power level indicator lights can be found.  10000 mAh will charge an iPhone or Galaxy 2 to 3.5 times depending on which device you own.  For my needs, the balance of size and power capacity makes this just right for me.

I was using this for the first time in the field on a flight with some coworkers.  I hadn’t planned on talking about it or asking my colleagues if they had an external power bank but as soon as we took our seats, 3 of the 5 people traveling with me had taken out their own batteries and were charging their devices.  This began a show and tell session that led to everyone explaining why theirs was the best, even though nobody knew anything about the other batteries.  This is what you come to expect when you work in an industry with a lot of alpha personalities and everyone, including myself, thinks that we are all electronics gurus despite our need to call IT in a panic whenever the slightest thing goes wrong with anything that has a power button.  After a brief show and tell I realized that not every power bank has 2 outputs and charge in 4 hours.  Without even trying, one person used his in-flight WiFi to head to Amazon to pick up a Longuard so it was waiting for him when he got home.

One of the things that amazed me was how the price of these power banks have come down from what I remember.  With a price of $23.99, this is an absolute no-brainer for me to recommend for people looking for a power bank that is reliable, versatile (2 power outputs) and small enough to bring with you anywhere.  If you plan on being away from a power outlet for an extended period of time, you will likely need something more than 10000 mAh.  For those times where you just need to get you through a day or two or have a backup in case you forgot to charge your device, the Longuard will not disappoint.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by ROMOSS.  For more information or to purchase please visit their website or ROMOSS.  For more information or to purchase please visit their website or Amazon.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Batteries and Chargers

ROMOSS Longuard 2-Port 10000mAh Power Bank review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 14, 2017 at 8:37 am.

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When it comes to day trips and travel days, I’ve been using the same portable battery pack for years to keep my phone topped off. During that time, battery packs have become not only smaller but pack more power into that smaller unit. Belkin offered their Pocket Power 5,000mAh portable charger to review and I thought, “Why not?” I just couldn’t say no to the portability and the lovely pink color.

In the package you’ll find the Pocket Power 5k power bank, instruction manual, and a 6 inch Micro-USB cable.

I was happy that they offered a rose gold colored pack, since it made it easy to find when tossed into a backpack. The color was really nice, and despite being thrown in my purse, backpack, and car, the outer casing held up very well. The pack is thin enough to fit inside even my smallest purse, which was nice. My previous pack was too thick to do so.

The side of the battery pack is where the charging indicator lights are, as well as the button to start and stop charging. Sometimes it would automatically start charging my phone when I plugged it in, while other times I had to press this button.

On the bottom side you’ll find the USB port for charging your devices and the Micro-USB port for charging the battery pack. Charging the pack from empty took a few hours to do. I just left it to charge overnight for the most part.

At 5000 mAh, this pack should have enough juice to charge your phone about 1.5 times, which is better than the previous one I was using.

I was very happy with how fast this little battery pack charged up my phone. The ultimate test was when I forgot to plug in my phone overnight right before a weekend trip. I got to the airport, pulled up my boarding pass, and realized I was very low on battery. I plugged in my phone and in an hour I was up to almost 90%. What a lifesaver! I also used it to keep my phone topped off, and it had plenty of juice to do everything I requested of it that day. I charged it up that night and it lasted the entire weekend.

Overall, I am very happy with the Pocket Power 5K power bank. It has enough juice to charge my iPhone 7 Plus and
then some, and not only that, it charges very quickly. The pack itself fits well in my hand, purse, or backpack, and seems sturdy enough to hold up to daily use. I would definitely recommend the Belkin Pocket Power 5K as it will be my go to pack for travel from now on.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Belkin. Please visit their website for more information and Amazon to order one.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Batteries and Chargers

Belkin Pocket Power 5,000mAh charger review: A cute way to quickly charge your devices. originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 12, 2017 at 10:29 am.

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