Of all the charging electronics out on the market, power banks are the fastest growing ones and the reason for that is because they’re portable chargers. The other charging electronics that we have available to use are stationary ones, such as USB wall chargers and car chargers that require us to keep our devices close to the charger for charging to happen. That can be a hassle, to have to stay in a single place and waiting for your device or devices to be charged to their full power.
As power banks have gained so much popularity over the years there are now lots of companies that now sell power banks. This increased amount of competition has caused there to be lots of innovation within the portable charging space. As a result, there are now lots of different types of power banks on the market and it’s important to know what to look out for when you’re purchasing one.
The Power Capacity and the Size
All power banks have a power capacity, otherwise, they wouldn’t be portable, as the power capacity is what makes them portable in the first place. With that said, the power capacity places two major roles when it does come to a power bank; it determines the size and also the weight of the portable charger. Which brings us to two main types of the power banks that these charging electronics are based on.
Mini Low Capacity
A power bank that has low power capacities are ones that are the most popular. That’s because low power capacity of 3,000mAh to 5,000mAh means that these chargers use a single battery most of the time and that results in a lightweight and small power bank. These ones are so small that these chargers are able to go right into your pocket and some of them have Slim form factors that are able to fit into a pocket with your smartphone.
As awesome as the portability with these small power banks is, they do still have a flaw and that’s what makes them so good, which is their low power capacity. A power capacity means that these power banks are only able to charge most smartphones and similar devices to their power only once and then they need recharging. So these power banks are not meant for long-term use.
High Power Capacity
On the opposite side, there are power banks that have high power capacities, and these ones are a lot more useful than power banks that have low power capacities. And yet, these ones are not used as much, and the reason for that is because having a high power capacity means that there are more batteries being used and that results in a large and heavy power bank.
With that said, even though portability isn’t the best, these power banks are still very useful because they have enough power to charge a wide range of devices to their full power multiple times. Another thing is that they have multiple USB charging ports which means that you charge many devices at once.
Other types of Power banks to consider
Of course, those two types of power banks are just base types. There are plenty of other types of power banks on the market such as ones that have their own built-in cables and ones that are Rugged. Power banks that have built-in cables are the most reliable to have as they’ll always be useful.
Then there are Rugged power banks and those ones are a lot tougher than just normal power banks. That’s because they have structural reinforcements that they make them shockproof. Rugged power banks are also waterproof because they have USB charging port coverings that are able to block out water.
These are just a sample size of the types of portable chargers there are on the market and there are lots more options to choose from.
Charging Power and Recharging
The charging speed is an important aspect of not just power banks but also of any charging electronic. For the most part, though, Mini power banks have slow charging speeds when it comes to Output and Input charging and that’s normal. Since low power capacity power banks don’t have lots of power to refill.
With that said, when it comes to power banks that have high power capacities and have many USB charging ports then that’s when charging speed matters more. That’s because if you’re charging many devices at once, then you want each of those devices to charge at good speeds when they’re charging at the same time.
You also have to consider special charging techs like Quick Charge or USB-C, because there are quite a lot of Android smartphones that are compatible with Quick Charge and more smartphones are being made to use USB-C. As a result, getting a power bank that uses those charging technologies is the best course of action as they’ll deliver the faster speeds.
Brands that You’re purchasing
At the beginning of this article, I mentioned how there are lots of companies that sell power banks and that it has led to quite a lot of innovation and that’s true. But having many companies in this portable charging space also means that there are quite a lot of bad apples. That means that there are companies that sell low-quality power banks.
These types of companies advertise their power banks to have the fastest charging and the smallest sizes around and yet, in reality, their power banks have slow charging and large sizes.
This means that you have to take a closer look at the specifications that these power banks have and also take a look at power bank reviews. Taking a read at a product review will give you a better insight on what type of an experience you will have.