You can also charge the Anker Prime using both USB-C ports at the same time, for a combined recharging rate up to 170W. That means you can completely refill this whopping 27K mAh battery in under 40 minutes. I thankfully had an Anker 737 GaN Prime charger that was up to the task, and it's fun to see the percentage climb. That app is essential because there's a Find My feature built into the battery. It doesn't work like an AirTag over UWB, it's only Bluetooth, but it's useful if you misplace your battery in your office (or you have multiple batteries, like I do). The best power banks we have tried have all come from Anker, but that doesn't mean Anker is the only brand you should consider. All of the power banks on this list passed our testing, traveling with us on the road and powering our devices at home. Anker is the best, but these batteries from Baseus and Otterbox performed well.

Capacity is impressive, too, running our electric heater on its low power setting for 48 minutes, and making it through the entire Hobbit trilogy on our 43-inch TV, with enough juice left for a 62 minute encore of An Unexpected Journey. That’s nearly nine hours in total. Throw in the extremely competitive price tag, and the Ugreen is fantastic value. You need power for your phone: The 3,000mAh battery inside is plenty to keep your Apple Watch going, but that isn't enough power to get you even halfway charged on an iPhone 15, and even less on bigger phones. Everybody on our gift list who got a new iPhone is going to get an Anker Nano Power Bank (22.5W) this year. This cute little charger is perfectly sized to sit beneath your favorite smartphone, plugged into the USB-C port with a little plug that opens out or hides away for a sleek look. To test charging times and claims, we charged a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and an Apple iPhone 15 to determine how many charges each battery offers these devices. We chose a common smaller battery phone as well as our best phone overall for this purpose.The best power banks you can buy in 2023 1. EnergyCell Portable Charger 5000mAh: Best cheap power bank The EB55 has a maximum total output of 700W, bar the odd 1,400W surge, so we couldn’t test it with the heater we normally use to test big batteries like this. However, it ran a 42in LED TV, drawing 72W to 75W, for 5hrs 27mins, making it through the first two Hobbit movies in the process. If you want to run kettles or coffee machines then you’ll need something with a higher output ceiling. If not, this is a brilliant compact solar generator at a thoroughly reasonable price. You need a lot of power: Thankfully, the battery on the Tylt Bottle 2 isn't so big it adds too much weight, but that also means it isn't powerful enough for multiple charges. There are plenty of combination power bank and some other device, but the Tylt Bottle 2 actually makes sense because we're usually carrying an insulated water bottle anyway, so we might as well screw a battery onto the bottom. With a 5,700mAh capacity, the Tylt Bottle 2 is just enough to get us through a very busy day, or keep the phone powered while we play games at the cafe. The Anker Nano is only 5,000mAh, but that doesn't mean it can fully charge a 5,000mAh phone battery like you'll find in the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Power banks are about 60-70% efficient, depending on the phone's technology, so this power bank is good for charging an iPhone 15 to nearly full, but that big Ultra will only get about 65% charge.

Some solar power banks, chargers or generators will have a control to pause charging while the sun is covered by heavy cloud, or at those times the solar panels are covered by shade. With some devices or power banks, this can cause the power bank or charger to “steal” charge from the device it’s meant to be charging, which obviously isn’t a good thing. Many will also have some form of overheat protection, to ensure that huge amounts of hot sun don’t cause the circuitry or battery to overheat, damaging the charger or power bank – or you. You don't have a magnetic phone: You don't need an iPhone to enjoy the magnetic charging, but you'll need a case that lines up your phone with Apple's MagSafe wireless configuration, or else your phone won't charge properly. As for charging, you can use up to six 200W panels, and the one supplied with our review bundle averaged between 177W and 198W on a sunny March day. That’s enough to fully charge the Explorer 1500 Pro within seven to eight hours with a single panel. Each panel has four pull-out legs to hold it up at an angle, and folds down to a 540 x 615mm, 8kg bundle.Solar power banks – Combining an even smaller solar array with a USB power bank in one neat unit, keeping a solar power bank charging during the day will enable you to recharge your smartphone or tablet overnight. The use of USB-C for the single input/output port is a little weird given the target market, and you’ll need a fast USB-C charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable to make the most of the device. What’s more, the wired charging isn’t super-speedy; our Android test smartphone only recovered by 11% from a 15-minute charge. But if you’re an iPhone user looking for a light and convenient portable charger, the Anker 622 is almost perfect for the role. What You Get: Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank (250W), Anker 100W Charging Base for Anker Prime Power Bank, 2 ft / 0.6 m USB-C to USB-C charging cable, power cord for charging base, travel pouch, welcome guide, our worry-free 24-month warranty, and friendly customer service. Multi-Device Fast Charging: Powered by the latest PD 3.1 technology, the power bank comes with 2 USB-C ports and 1 USB-A port to deliver up to 250W of power. Boost your MacBook Pro 16" (M2) to 50% in just 28 minutes.

Step up from the budget power banks to the mighty Juice Powerbank Max and you get a much more capable mobile charger, with a 20,000mAh capacity and a 20W USB PD output over USB-C. We measured the USB-A output at nearly 15W in our tests, which recharged our smartphone by 18% in 15 minutes. With USB-C, that output rose to just over 19W, which was good for a 22% recharge in 15 minutes. That’s not bad at all for an affordable power bank, and we also found it usable for charging tablets and even a Chromebook laptop, albeit at a slower-than-usual speed. We wish there wasn't such an easy answer to this question, because competition is better for everybody, but Anker is making the best power banks right now by far. It offers the best power-to-weight ratio, the fastest charging, and the most useful features. You need fast power: This is a very slow charger, whether wired or wireless, so it's better for casual charging while you sip your water and read a book. There are plenty of other power bank makers around, and most of them have not caught up to the faster charging speeds available on the iPhone 15 family, let along even faster Android phones. Except for unique form factors or serious bargains, we stayed away from recommending power banks from reputable makers if they couldn't charge at 2023 speeds.

Don’t get stuck without a charger for your gadgets. We’ve picked out the best power banks to help you recharge while you’re on the go

Tylt also wisely left enough of a gap between the battery and the bottle that you can coil a small USB-C cord (included) into that space. That way, even if you're not charging wirelessly, you're not adding a lot of extra bulk to your bag. It's a smart setup. If you care more about convenience than speed, wireless charging is very much the way to go – and a growing number of power banks support it. Just place your smartphone on the integrated wireless pad, and you can recharge without connecting any cables. There will be a hit on charging speeds, so you’ll be limited to 7.5W or 10W, but that’s not a big issue if you don’t need to recharge in a flash. As a bonus, we’re now seeing Magsafe-friendly chargers that will clamp onto an iPhone or a ring inside an iPhone case, meaning you can recharge your iPhone even while you’re using it. How we test power banks If you have a newer Android phone, or the latest iPhone 15 models, you'll want a power bank with faster charging speeds to get your battery full faster. Charging speed is measured in wattage, and the iPhone 15 can charge just a bit faster than 15W, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra can charge up to 45W. The bottle is actually a nice, insulated affair, and it kept ice in cold water for 12 hours, which is all that we need. It has a good, strong strap to carry the bottle, though we would have liked a lid that was easier for sipping.