Any device these days is an engineering marvel compared to what I grew up with – smaller, faster, cheaper everything, including the battery! BUT the battery, in my opinion, is still and will always be the Achilles Heal of any portable device.
My smart phone uses A LOT of juice when I listen to Pandora especially. I would not dare access Pandora or any other audio app on my phone without some sort of external charger, especially now being an older phone where the battery is not what it once was.
The energy drain would kill it DEAD almost instantly (in about 1.5 hours).
Enter the ‘Portable Power Bank Device Charger.’ There’s plenty to choose from nowadays, but they’re not all created equal. This post is all about my experience with TWO such devices: the Anker and the Kmashi.
Buy Anker Here
Buy Kmashi Here
Full article on both chargers below
The Velcro Solution For Attaching Your Anker Charger to Your Phone
So you may think that the power bank charger, only connected by a cable to your phone, would be a hassle to carry around and might actually not be worth using if it acts as a dangling anchor that impedes your mobility and perhaps cramps your style.
Your concerns are not without merit. It only took me about 10 mins of lugging around my phone with the power bank dangling by the super long cable, to realize that it’s very much an irritation at best, and at worst a chore, given my very mobile daily activities.
This velcro solution will only work for the Anker Power Bank because it has a flat surface to attach the velcro. The Kamashi charger not so much….
Here is where you can purchase the velcro to marry your phone & power bank charger in heavenly bliss whilst you move about regardless of the rigors of your daily routine.
You can attach and pull them apart pretty much indefinitely with this velcro set up.
You’ll want to have a wider piece on your phone than the charger, especially if your case doesn’t allow perfect adhesion of the velcro, this way you can pull them apart by holding down the velcro on the phone with your thumb.
Put hook on the charger & wider piece of loop on the phone
Put together, it makes one solid unit
Won’t come apart until you want it to
Click HERE to Purchase the short charging cable to connect your Iphone and the power bank together Note: If you’re an Android user you’ll have to use a different cable.
Anker – Anker Sold Here
Cost is about $22 – $26 for 5200 mAh of juice. Enough to charge your cell phone completely, about twice over.
The only thing about this particular charger is that for some reason it did not charge my iPod classic – it would not even connect to it. Then after researching a bit I found this in the description “except for the iPod nano, iPod Classic, HP TouchPad, Dell Venue 11 Pro, Asus tablets and some GPS and Bluetooth devices.”
I contacted the seller ‘twice’ and got no response to the question of why it does not work with my iPod classic. Though my initial purchase went smoothly and they shipped very quickly.
But, for a phone charger it’s brilliant! It actually charges my phone faster than from the car cigarette lighter, wall charger or my computer.
The size and shape are very elegant. It’s got a solid feel to it (very beefy), so it seems to be built really well.
The Anker charges the battery quickly to 100%, even with a major power drain like with a Pandora app.
I choose this one over the Kmashi because though the charging capacity is about the same (5000mAh vs 5200mAh) the shape of the Kmashi is like a short pipe. Putting it into my pocket is clunky. Though the Anker is not super thin, it’s an easier to handle shape than the Kmashi, with rounded corners and more pancake like, so it’s a more efficient physical design. It’s about the size & shape of THICK small candy bar.
Anker has “improved” upon their 5200mAh with a 6700mAh version that is in the exact same case. Initially when I tried the 6700mAh it failed after a few short months. It died very quickly, even after charging all night & half the next day!
My original 5200mAh was tremendous! After serving me well for a very long time (beyond the 18 month guarantee) it started failing, so I upgraded to the 6700mAh.
Initially the 6700mAh version was subpar – the first two replacements died rather quickly.
That was then this is now – my most recent replacement has performed flawlessly. It’s been longer than 18 months and it still charges up & lasts ALL DAY and well into the night, even with the power demand of running apps all day.
Anker Sold Here
Kmashi – Kmashi Sold Here
The Kmashi costs about $10 – $15 for 5000 mAh, though it can charge many different devices, for instance: “Most models of Apple and Android smartphones, and most other 5V USB-charged devices.”
Making it a more versatile charger in terms of the many devices it is capable of charging.
It works great with my iPod classic, so i’ll use this Kmashi particularly for that purpose and the Anker for my phone.
It’s good to have more than one, but I would not have bought the Anker if the Kmashi was not as clunky.
They are both great and I know there are other chargers that would be as good or better, but these do just fine.
Re-charge is an overnight process for either charger.
Kmashi Sold Here
To Wrap Things Up
The Kmashi is about $10 – $15 for 5000 mAh and charges both my iPhone and iPod classic no problem, but is a bit clunky in shape. It works great and charges my phone fairly fast.
It chargers “most models of Apple and Android smartphones, and most other 5V USB-charged devices.”
The Anker is about $22 – $25 for 5200 mAh but did not charge my iPod classic and does not charge a number of other devices either like “iPod nano, HP TouchPad, Dell Venue 11 Pro, Asus tablets and some GPS and Bluetooth devices.”
This charger works great and charges my phone lightening fast, even with a major power drain like when using the Pandora app.
Which one would I recommend? If your not worried about some of the other devices that the Anker does not charge then the sleeker design and more powerful charging gives it the winning edge by a large margin, even in spite of it costing slightly more.
Keep in mind that there are tons of other chargers available, even from these two manufacturers. So far i’m impressed with both of them; they both have performed well with some minor hiccups regarding the Anker which seem to have been resolved.
If you do decide to purchase one of these chargers, lemme know what your experience is; good, bad or ugly, I’d like to hear back from you.
This post contains some affiliate links, so if you click on a link and buy something I will get a small percentage to help pay the blogging bills and keep my site ad free. But don’t worry, it’s absolutely NO extra cost to you. Thanks!
