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Battery Pack

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,193
19,158
Canaderp
Anyone have an exceptional experience with any particular portable battery packs?

Looking for one, mostly to charge the cellular devices on long trips where a running car not be available. It'll be almost solely used to charge phones, so usb output is key.

Size doesn't matter, looking for most bang for the buck. Would also prefer one that won't burn my house down.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,828
13,067
Are solar chargers a viable option yet?
I've kept looking at the ones on REI for when we're away car camping for a few days to recharge Garmin/phone. Haven't take the plunge yet though.
 

Montana rider

Turbo Monkey
Mar 14, 2005
1,741
2,164
@Full Trucker had one when we were all up in teh NoDak. Don't recall the brand.
I got one of these last summer to charge cell phone (i.e. my wifi hotspot) when camping (based off this review, but the one linked below has more power: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-portable-solar-battery-pack/)

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Charger-PowerPort-iPhone-Galaxy/dp/B012YUJJM8/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1494707361&sr=1-1&keywords=anker+21w+dual+usb+solar+charger

and one of these to charge my laptop (I only paid $199 early backer for 48,000 mAh model) but there's less powerful ones on Amazon, and seems like Anker is the lower price alternative.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/plug-the-world-s-most-powerful-battery-pack-powerbank-solar--2#/

I need to find an adapter to charge my power brick with the solar, but if you only need USB input/output (I wanted to be able to plug my laptop in...) I'd get the Anker solar charger and any well reviewed cheaper (Anker) battery pack.
 

Full Trucker

Frikkin newb!!!
Feb 26, 2003
10,484
7,531
Exit, CO
I have an Ankor with a bunch of mAh that I like really well. It's not small, but great for car camping and trips and such. I also have an older Goal Zero solar panel that does a pretty darn good job of charging the battery, which is the recommended way to do it from what I've gathered. Don't charge device directly, charge battery then use battery to charge device. The Goal Zero is the Nomad 7 of I recall correctly.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
no, but I hear there's a weird, unreliable east coast guy who's got a totally new design for it that's just two months away from finishing.
 

ICEBALL585

Bacontard
Sep 8, 2009
6,803
2,041
.:585:.
Make sure to get one that is somewhat shock resistant. I had one that wasn't and it fell off the kitchen counter and broke. So... now I have a different one that is shock resistant.

#coolstorybro
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,193
19,158
Canaderp
Went with an Ankor unit of some sort. Next choice would have been the Ravpower that @Nick mentioned. Maybe I'll pick up a smaller Ravpower unit and try out both.

Its scheduled for arrival on Thursday, but hoping that somehow it gets here tomorrow. If I wasn't such a 'tard I would have placed the order last week and had it ready to go for the trip on Thursday. Oh well, next time. :D
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,193
19,158
Canaderp
Battery pack in hand. Anker 20100. I was expecting it to be bigger, but it is definitely heavy. iPhone 5s for comparison.