Anker PowerCore 20100 Power Bank

Description

Anker PowerCore 20100 – Ultra High Capacity Power Bank with Powerful 4.8A Output and PowerIQ Technology

If you’re planning a long day or a long trip and will be away from a wall outlet or power source for a few days, Anker’s large capacity Anker PowerCore 20100 will keep your phone powered up as it is one of the Most Powerful 4.8A Output units for iPhone XS/ XR, X, 8/ 7 /6s, iPad and Samsung Galaxy S8 / S7 and More. 

This is one of Anker’s larger units. The 20,100mAh of power is enough to recharge a smartphone about 7-8 times and an iPad or tablet about one and a half times. It is ideal makes for when you’re travelling or camping and you won’t have access to a power outlet for a few days. Honestly, it will go on and on and on.

Anker’s PowerCore batteries feature new Panasonic battery cells and the case has a smart matte finish. They also the “VoltageBoost” feature, design to send a more stable and reliable current through the charging cable, even if it’s not an OEM cable. We recommend that for best performance, always try to use original charging cables or MFi-certified cables.

The PowerCore 20,100 has a smooth, matte finish. Thankfully, for those who value good looks, it’s not a fingerprint-magnet like some of Anker’s earlier power bank units. The unit is probably too big for your pocket giving its size and weight, even though it might fit. You are looking at carrying this in a rucksack or laptop bag. Beware that even though it’s a compact unit, do not expect a pocket-size unit.

The PowerIQ smart identification technology from Anker means that the unit will adapt to any device you plug it into it. The PowerIQ port provides 1 amp for charging smartphones, which is the maximum those type of devices can handle. The same port automatically adapts to 2 amp output when you connect a table/ iPad for fast charge. This is great as eliminates any confusion. Forget about long charging times due to using the incorrect port.

This means that you can charge two devices at the same time, with each device’s port receiving up to 2 amps. You could charge your phone and a tablet at the same time, or you could share the second port with a friend to charge both of your phones simultaneously. We ran our iPhone X down to dry and plugged in the phone and found it took two hours and 15 minutes to charge up our handset. That is quite good.

You have to bear in mind that recharging this 20,100mAh capacity battery could take about 24+ hours to fully recharge if using a computer 1 amp USB port or a phone charger. The good thing is that this Anker unit has a 2 amp input, so you can half the charging time to around 11-12 hours by simply using a 2 amp charger. You’ll get this type of 2 amp charger when you get a tablet/ iPad. Alternatively, you can buy one here. Saying this, the unit has such power storage that it is unlikely that you will use up all its capacity. You just simply top up the power that is left after your busy day which you can do with your standard mobile phone 1 amp charger. Do keep in mind the recharging ratio if you run down the battery completely.

A nice feature is that by tapping the power button on the side of the unit, it will show you the remaining power left in the unit using 4 blue LEDs. This makes it easy to see if you need to recharge the unit before your next trip.

Note here that the unit is provided without a lightning cable so you will need to use your own. It does come with a MicroUSB cable for recharging the unit that can also be used for charging most Android devices. Furthermore, the unit doesn’t provide an AC charger either. You’ll have to use the one provided with your phone or tablet. This is not great but the PowerCore 20100 slim packaging literally leaves no room for these cables. It is not ideal but we don’t think it is a deal breaker as the unit is so good and also smaller in size compared to other competitors.

**You’ll be asking yourself, What’s the difference between the PowerCore+ 20100 and the PowerCore 20100?**

The PowerCore+ 20100 (note the “plus”) incorporates a built-in USB-C port. The regular PowerCore 20100 (no “plus”) uses a standard Micro USB port for recharging. So if you have USB-C devices, you’ll definitely want to go for the “plus” model. If this is not the case with you, you can choose either unit as both models feature two standard USB charging ports.