Power banks might not be a sexy buy but they are incredibly handy – pop one in your bag and keep your phone, laptop, tablet, camera, drone and headphones charged on the go – once you’ve got one you’ll wonder why you didn’t invest sooner? Which one to buy though? Here we look at two new 300W models – the Anker Prime Power Bank and the EcoFlow Rapid Pro Power Bank and put them head-to head.
The Anker Prime Power Bank costs £180, has a total capacity of 26,250mAh, three charging ports, is flight approved and comes with a two-year warrantee. I really like that Anker’s PowerIQ 4.0 is used to detect connected devices – it then intelligently adjusts the power distribution across its three ports to optimise the efficiency of your charge.
Coming to the party with a slightly larger 27,650mAh total capacity, the EcoFlow Rapid Pro Power Bank costs a lesser £170 and has four charging ports, is flight approved and also comes with a two-year warrantee. Powered by Ecoflow’s X-Velo battery, it uses multipole tech to minimise energy loss and control temperature. Extensive testing includes -20°C, so you know it’s rugged enough for outdoor use.
Design
The Anker Prime Power Bank’s impressively small proportions and 600g weight – roughly as much as three phones – meant I was happy to have it in my bag at all times. Easy on the eye, it’s well made, feels nice in the hand and comes with a quality USB-C charging cable.
Bigger and heavier than the opposition, the design of the EcoFlow Rapid Pro Power Bank, although not awful, does look like it’s taken inspiration from a desktop charging tower. It comes with a 60cm retractable USB-C cable which makes on-the-go charging that bit easier – a truly handy feature.
Design winner: Anker
Power
In this category, the EcoFlow beats Anker with its total power capacity of 27,650mAh and impressively still remains flight friendly. It also has 300W total output and 140W high-speed output, but offers an extra port, coming with its 140W retractable USB-C cable, 140W USB-C port and two 65W USB-C ports.
With a total max output power of 300W, across its two 140W USB-C and 22.5W USB-A port, the Anker also provides a lot of juice. The 140W high-speed output which charged my MacBook to 50% in under half an hour, is impressive too. Even charging the charger is fast – it supports 250W max of input power using both USB-C ports. Speedy.
Power winner: draw
Usability
The Anker’s smart display makes it easy to see what’s going – with clear display screens for battery percentage, battery temperature etc. Connecting my phone to the Anker via Bluetooth took seconds and I was able to set my charging preferences and monitor stats in real-time instantly. A seamless experience.
The EcoFlow’s Rapid Pro’s smart display shows all your vital charging stats at a glance and changing settings is simple via three buttons on the side. Connecting to my phone via Bluetooth however, took multiple attempts, but once I could use the app, I found customisation and power management easy.
Usability winner: Anker
Overall winner: Anker Prime Power Bank
The Anker Prime is the best power bank, but with more ports, the EcoFlow Rapid Pro might be a better choice for those with lots of devices to power...
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