Wednesday 24 September 2014

Poweradd Pilot C 10,000mAh Powerbank Review

Hi all,
Continuing on my new found hobby of tech reviewing I wanted to share with you my thoughts on some Poweradd products I've recently got my hands on.

Unboxing
The powerbank comes in a fairly well packed black box with a few product details on the front and back. On the font it lists
  • Quick Charge with no memory effect
  • USB charge
  • High capacity
  • easy operation
  • safety protection system

The last one - safety protection system - is really key for me seeing as im planing on plugging in my £500 smart phone and my tablets and camera into this thing so im putting a lot of trust in it and that makes me feel a bit more at ease!
Not wanting to go on too much about the packing, but it does feel like a really well made packet that the powerbank comes in that really just added to the feel of high quality, it didnt arrive in just a plastic bag with no instructions so i do feel safe trusting my valuables to it!

On the back of the packet it lists a few more details, it uses a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 10,000mAh (37Wh)!. The weight is listed as 8.68 ounces with a +/- 0.35 ounce variance. I was a bit disappointed not to see any promises of how many recharge cycles this thing would last for written onto the box.

Ok so lets open this thing up finally!!

inside the box is just the powerbank, a Microusb lead and a small set of instructions. Little disappointed that there isnt a little pouch or something to keep the thing in as you see with some of the Ravpower powerbanks. Also the Micro USB lead felt excessively long at about 1m I use these things in my pocket to charge my phone in my pocket so the extra cable felt a little excessive but on the plus point it does reach the outlet on the floor so not too worried about that.

The powerbank its self feels quite chunky (1.26 inches thick) but its sturdy. The weight is noticeable and isnt central in the small box, feeling like the majority of the battery is down the bottom end. It fits into your hand quite snugly. The body is made from a thick feeling strong plastic with a a textured body making it easy to hold (although giving my camera a nightmare to foucs on the body! ) I've tried to get my fingers into any gaps in the body to try and pry apart to do a bit more of a teardown and it feels like basically it wont come apart without destroying it so it does feel very well put together.
Moving round the powerbank there are 2 USB outlets on the top and a Micro USB inlet. The 2 USB outlets have 1 dot or 2 indicating the amount of juice they supply from the powerbank and also meaning that you can charge 2 devices at once!
USB1 is rated at 5V, 1A
USB2 is rated at 5V, 2.1A
the 2.1A slightly confused me as most devices are 500mA, 1A or 2A, not sure why the extra 100mA was felt needed and it made me feel a little nervous charging my S4 which is rated 5V, 2A (I wasnt worried it would explode but i just want sure about the long term effect on the battery.)

The input Micro USB is rated at 2A (yay) meaning you can charge this thing up pretty quick as 10,000mAh will take a while to charge on 500mA PC USB.

Moving round to the side there is a single button which can be used to show the amount of power in the device. There are 4 blue LEDs on the front to signify levels of charge. A little disappointed that there is no LED light option as you get on some of the powerbanks which can be handy when fumbling in the dark as I often find myself when camping!
So thats the product!

In summary:
Positive points
+Massive capacity
+2 USB ports with different rating
+can charge 2 devices at once
+2A input so quick charge
+Feels well put together
+uses micro USB (long live the standard cable!)
+LEDs to show battery capacity

Negative points
-feels a little chunky, im ok with the weight given the capacity but the thickness almost excluded is from jeans pocket storage
-no LED torch
-USB lead supplied is a little long
-weight is off center - a minor point really but makes it feel end heavy to hold.
-No supplied storage pouch! Feels like PowerAdd missed a trick with supplying a cheap little bag to make this feel like even more of a premium product.
-The USB cable supplied is charge only so cant be used for data, feels a little mean

Overall im fairly happy with this and it feel rugged enough for my camping trips away or to be slung in a backpack and not worry about it coming apart or breaking.

My Score out of 5:

Hope everyone found this useful. I'll upload a video review shortly when i get my camera working. Feel free to ask me any questions.

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