The best powerbanks to keep you UP – a portable charger for your Nintendo Switch, Gameboy, cell phones and tablets

Too often have I been on a plane and running out of juice. TOO DAMN OFTEN. It’s probably the worst scenario to have a dying phone when you’re just about to take off on the plane – someone has to place the plants to destroy those zombies trying to take over your seemingly safe farm. Luckily, we no longer have to suffer the injustice of planes, trains and buses without power outlets thanks to our review of the best powerbanks. The only thing stopping you now is to make sure to charge your power bank before you leave home for a trip!

Now are all powerbanks built equal? Of course not otherwise this review wouldn’t exist. There are a few very important factors to take into account to really identify the best powerbank – battery capacity (how many recharges can it provide to your devices), fast charge capability and USB-C compatibility (this is a necessity for future-proofing) are the first important items that come to mind. As you go through this review, you’ll learn about the most reliable powerbank along with getting a chance to see how we rated it and the closest competitors. As always, there may be something in a power bank that you need that isn’t shared by everyone else so we’ve tried to personalize the reviews to identify the best use cases of the different portable chargers.

As an FYI, we’re looking at premium, high-capacity powerbanks. I refuse to carry low-quality, low-capacity powerbanks because it defeats the purpose of having that excess of juice needed to power everything in our lives. Here is the summary of our top powerbanks.

Why did you choose the metrics you did?

To find the best powerbanks, we looked at the following:

Capacity – what’s the point of a power bank if it’s dead as often as your devices you travel with? There isn’t one. This should be a no brainer.

Fast Charge – we’re always on the move and can’t really wait a few hours for our devices to charge. If you can’t get up and going within a meal, is it really that useful? Go find a power outlet instead. We look at iSmart and QuickCharge compatibility as an added bonus.

USB-C compatibility – USB-C (thunderbolt 3) is the future. Sure you can get a USB 2.0 to USB-C wire, but it does leave something to be desired for the power is can pass through. This is more important to high powered devices like MacBooks and Nintendo Switches that need as much power as possible when being used.

Portability – this is an important metric, but rated lower than capacity to me. A powerbank is not made for my pocket but for my bag. As long as I can carry it without it being an inconvenience, I’m happy.

What about the metrics you ignored?

Durability is something that you need if you’re using your power bank during a throwing competition. Any of these will last through normal wear and tear. Waterproof power banks are useless as they’re only waterproof when they’re not being used – this is as useful as the normal, dry one in my bag at all times. Weight also holds little influence but is overshadowed by the importance of the size of the powerbank.

I largely ignored the technical details like voltage – this is not important as long as it can successfully charge my devices without damaging them. At this point in the technology, there are no power banks which would fry your devices. Also note that all portable chargers are allowed through TSA as a carry on but not with a checked in bag.

PowerIQ, Quick Charge, iSmart, etc..?

As you’ll get to see in the below reviews, these technologies will make an appearance. What they do is detect the amperage at which your device can charged and, in theory, deliver that amount of power. I’m not too sure the technical details but the benefits are that they should deliver power at an amperage your device can handle and thus increase your devices longevity, stop overheating during charging and deliver enough power to actually charge your device. Note that Quick Charge is a Qualcomm technology which will only work with their specific chipsets (this means no Nintendo Switch) – you can find their supported devices here.

From our testing, we prefer the versatility of the iSmart technology the most due it being completely device-agnostic. PowerIQ performs just as well – when it worked. We noted that it would not properly charge some of our devices rapidly and the power packs using the technology tended to falter (for example, my Pixel would charge for a few seconds and then the charging would stop altogether. This behavior cycled indefinitely and can’t be good for my devices). Quick Charge, due to its super specific Qualcomm needs was out least favorite technology but perfect if your devices support it.

1. So what about the reviews?

Coming in first place in an electrifying comparison of portable power banks is the RAVPower 26800 PD Portable Charger. This is the only portable charger that really met all of our criteria and then passed them with flying colors. The RAVPower competitor boasts a whopping 26,800 mAh capacity. That’s enough for 9.5 full recharges for the regularly sized Pixel and iPhone! The Nintendo Switch (4310 mAh) can be charged fully six freaking times overs even while you’re playing it due the the Power Delivery (PD) technology. No more boring camping trips. It also boasts iSmart quick charge technology – proprietary to RAVPower, this technology is able to intelligently deliver power to your device so that you’re getting the most power you can and thus the fastest recharging times – on my Pixel, I get full charges in right over an hour. As you’ll see in further reviews, a few companies have their own quick charge technologies that should work just as well, but in my testing I was not able to get the consistent results that iSmart delivered. Most importantly, the RAVPower comes with two USB ports and one type-C port (the type-C port is where you see the fastest recharge times). I had no issues getting the same results with all these ports being utilized at the same time.

Ups:

1. performs well regardless of device being charged
2. huge capacity
3. USB-C port

Downs:

1. Slightly heavier than the competition

2. No USB-C? No problem.

Because USB type-C is relatively new in its mass adoption, there are not too many power banks which support the technology. As much as this sucks, our second pick in the line up actually supports a few types of technology and is an awesome “catch-all” device. The RAVPower 20,100 mAh portable charger is able to deliver excellent performance for a multitude of types of devices due to it’s three ports – one USB-C (doubles an an output and input), one iSmart USB port and one Quick Charge port. It’s even nicer that this pack comes with its own wall charger so you can have it fully charged in about 5 hours – probably the only powerbank I’ve seen that comes with it. It charges the Switch while you’re playing it and delivers about 10-12% charge per hour while you do so – not so shabby but not as good as the first place pick. For me, the 6,700 less mAh was enough to not brand it in first place, but it’s so close due to the included wall charger. I don’t put high value in the Qualcomm specific technology over iSmart either. This is the best all-around charger though.

Ups:

1. has all the technology/USB ports you could ask for
2. USB-C port
3. comes with the wall charger

Downs:

1. lower capacity than our top pick
2. no PD like its big brother

 3. But I need more powahhhhh!

Even though our top pick is pretty close to the peak of reasonable power you need with you at all times, there is an option for more power with our third place option – the ZeroLemon ToughJuice Portable Charger. Not only does this boast the highest amount of power that we review at 30,000 mAh, it also has 5 outputs for you to charge all your devices (three regular USB ports, one QuickCharge 2.0 port and one type-C port)! If you’re feeling nice, you could share the power with your family and friends or leave them in the dust. This ZeroLemon is actually built like a tank but not waterproof (which as we mentioned earlier is pointless anyways). If you’re tough on your technology, this is the way to go. We were able to get rapid charging using the type-C port but since it doesn’t use any specific technology on this port and so it can be dangerous and limit your battery’s overall longevity over time. This was not the fastest charger we tested, but it did the job well enough.

Ups:

1. built tough as a tank
2. huge capacity
3. USB-C port

Downs:

1. super heavy, super fat
2. QuickCharge only supports Qualcomm devices

Also, I think it’s our duty to warn you that one user said his battery pack burst into flames after it was dropped – we can’t verify this but if more reports come out of ZeroLemon taking a play out of Samsung’s book we’ll let you know.

4. I’m all about brand loyalty, quality and a good price

Great, so you don’t need all the power in the world but still a quality product. Coming up in a close race for fourth place for the best portable charger, we have the Anker PowerCore portable charger. Anker has made quite a name for themselves in the last few years and rightfully so. They offer some awesome products at the most reasonable prices. Their 20,100 mAh charger isn’t our top pick due to the lower capacity and issues we had with the PowerIQ technology [see above] as it’s listed as not being compatible with the Pixel phone – this really makes me question the standards used around the type-C port. Also, you’re getting about two less charges on mobile phones and 1.5 less charges on the Switch from their two PowerIQ enabled USB ports and one type-C port. It’s still fast (especially through the USB-C port) if it works on your device. The normal USB ports were pretty slow though – you’ve been warned.

Ups:

1. performs amazing through the USB-C port
2. USB-C port

Downs:

1. lower capacity
2. normal USB ports are sub-optimal

5. I don’t care about brands and want something more affordable

No problem, no problem. The fifth pick in the line up is from a not-so-well-known company and makes a strong case to avoid the brand name markups from Anker, RAVPower and ZeroLemon. The Jackery Titan S (so far the only device without an overly descriptive name) really is a phenomenal alternative to all of our picks. Like our second pick, it touts pretty much every technology as the RAVPower by replacing the iSmart port with its own SmartFit technology. It did deliver good performance at a slightly slower pace than our higher picks. At 20,100 mAh, it’s not the highest capacity but doesn’t leave much room to complain. There were some issues with the SmartFit technology stopping and starting similar to the issues with Anker we experienced. It’s highly recommended that you use high quality cables with this device for optimal performance. For some reason, there were a lot of weight complaints with this product as it was about a tenth of a pound heavier than our top two picks – in practical use, I don’t see this as a really big issue.

Ups:

1. performance without cost
2. USB-C port

Downs:

1. lower capacity
2. SmartFit technology is a hit-or-miss depending on your device
3. heavier than the top two picks

6. No more USB-C from here on out

I’m really harping on USB-C and I’m sorry. It’s just that good and makes that much of a difference. But as all good things come to an end, so does the number of quality powerbanks which support it as evidence by the sixth pick, the AUKEY 30,000 mAh Portable Charger. What it lacks in USB-C, it makes up in raw power. It’s an oddity, as you can charge it with either a micro-USB or Apple Lightning cable which will be good for those with a multitude of those already. It is going to a long, long time to charge this bad boy up. Otherwise, the AUKEY supports two USB ports for charging – one utilizing the Quick Charge technology previously mentioned and the other port supporting AUKEY’s proprietary AiPower Adaptive Charging technology. The AiPower technology is actually pretty good from our testing and was able to charge the Switch decently. We were able to charge around 8% an hour using the Joy-Cons, Wi-Fi and full brightness and right around 20% without airplane mode and low brightness.

Ups:

1. huge capacity
2. pretty good without USB-C

Downs:

1. no USB-C to boot
2. charges extremely slow
3. really heavy relative to our picks (1.28lbs compared to around .9lbs)

7. It’s huge, it’s Anker

Numero siete (that’s seven) comes through with the Anker PowerCore+. The plus is for… uh… more power, in and out! The three output ports work at the lightening speeds even when being used at the same time and the input port also supports rapid charge technology so you can empty the 26,800 mAh of power and replenish them with no hesitation. Two of these ports use Anker’s PowerIQ technology while the third supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology.  Surprisingly, this one also comes with it’s own power block for you to charge with. Using the branded power block, we did see faster recharge times but it wasn’t really anything to write home about as the whole pack still took ten hours to get to full (which is still fine). You already know my issues with PowerIQ from the earlier posts but something about the Anker brand and overall reliability still drives me towards it.

Ups:

1. huge capacity
2. pushes a lot of power evenly through its ports
3. decent recharge time

Downs:

1. no USB-C
2. charges extremely slow
3. heavy relative to our picks at near 1.26lbs

8. No more of the same!

For those of you that need a little more from your portable chargers, the final two picks are for you. Though they take away from the portability theme somewhat, they are amazing for those who just want to plug in their AC powered charging blocks. The Indiegogo crowd-funded ChargeTech portable AC Outlet Battery Pack (yes that’s actually the whole name) may as well replace power outlets as a whole for you. It comes with two FastCharge USB ports that let your phone negotiate how much power to draw but will deliver the max power allowed (so pretty much what every other technology described above does). These two ports do share the same source for power and is not optimized to deliver max power while they’re both being used at the same time. The kicker for the ChargeTech is that it comes with an AC outlet for plugging in everyday things like my toaster. On second thought, it specified 85W max output for safety so maybe avoid trying to make jam and toast on your camping trips and keep your warranty intact. For its super large size, it’s surprisingly light as it weights nearly the same as the AUKEY and Anker right above.

Ups:

1. huge capacity
2. AC plug

Downs:

1. no USB-C
2. AC output is lackluster
3. expensive, so expensive
4. enormous size

9. Last, but not least

All of our picks are high-quality and will server your needs so don’t let the final pick be ignored so easily. The RAVPower AC 27,000 mAh Portable Charger is a good competitor to the ChargeTech and in some cases better. It boasts a USB-C output along with its USB and AC outputs. The AC output supports 110W as opposed to the measly 85W from the competition. This is awesome right? Right! The reason we rank is lower than the ChargeTech is due to it’s amazing weight of 3.2lbs. This is nearly two pounds heavier than the competition and I just can’t imagine hauling it around. I guess, if I had to pick between this and the ChargeTech, this would be my pick but I’m trying to be practical. RAVPower is also quickly becoming one of my favorite brands in the battery world.

Ups:

1. huge capacity
2. AC plug
3. USB-C

Downs:

1. the heaviest of the bunch by nearly 2lbs
2. expensive
3. enormous size