Review: VARTA Powerbank

As avid users of many gadgets, we are forever looking for ways to keep them charged when we’re camping or hiking. We both have phones plus a tablet, so it can be a real issue, particularly these days when the average smart phone battery seems to last a matter of minutes (or is it just mine?) We’ve tried pretty much everything, from battery packs, solar powered chargers and even our Biolite stove, but none have been perfect. I had vaguely heard about power banks, but I thought that they couldn’t be as good as they seemed.

I mentioned in my last post about how we recently spent a day with VARTA, finding out about their torches, batteries and portable power products. After hearing about their power banks, I was seriously excited, they sounded brilliant, and exactly what I need! My current smartphone is a massive Samsung Note and it eats batteries, especially when I use my mapping apps (or any apps in fact!)

I was therefore very happy to spot a VARTA 5200 mAh power bank amongst the treats in our impressive goody bag. I wasted no time in giving it a try. In fact, I opened it as soon as we were in the car on the way home, happily it had a decent amount of charge so I could use it right away.

This model is one of the smallest in the range but has a powerful output. When fully charged it should charge your phone twice and a tablet once. I used it last week when out walking as I wanted to take some photos on my phone and do a bit of filming. My phone was about half charged, but failing fast. I plugged it in and was immediately struck with how fast it charged. It’s comparable to plugging your phone into the wall.

Today I gave it a real test. My phone was at just 1%, so critically low. I plugged it into my fully charged power bank and just under two hours later it was at 100%. That is impressive! It was down to it’s last power light (of four as shown above) so I doubt that I would get two full charges from it. Having said that, I do have a massive phone, more like a mini tablet, so I’m sure that people with a normal size phone would fare better.

The Verdict

I love it! It is as efficient and powerful as I hoped and also very small and compact. Safe to say, this will always be in my rucksack from now on. I’m also impressed with the price, at just £16.99 I think it’s great value. There are many other VARTA power banks on the market and I am seriously tempted to get a more powerful version, especially given my stupidly big phone and how much we use our tablet. There are some new slimline models which I think are brilliant. They do get heavy as they get more powerful, so it will be a case of finding the right balance.

So far I cannot find any negative points. As long as smartphone batteries remain as rubbish as they currently are, this will be a  vital bit of kit for any blogger (or anyone who has a phone!)

Do you use a power bank?

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