A portable power bank is definitely something that everybody needs at least one of. In fact, each bag you take out and about should have one. Not specifically because of load shedding, although having enough power to keep your Switch powered through a four-hour outage is really nice, but because we all carry multiple devices that all need power at one point or another throughout the day.
Keeping up with our search for the best power solutions on the market, today we look at the Redmi 10,000mAh 10W and the Redmi 20,000mAh, 18W Fast Charge power banks.
When I look at my criteria for the usefulness of a power bank, I consider the following: how long does it take to charge, how long does it take to charge my device and how many times can it charge my device.
Let’s dig right in.
Starting off with the 10,000mAh unit, I charged it with the cable that comes in the box, which is a very short USB-A to micro USB charging cable. Using the plug point on my desk, which is a 5V 2.1 amp output, the process took around 4, maybe 5, hours to get back to a full charge from having only one of its 4 charge level LEDs lit up.
I wouldn’t consider that too bad considering it will give me close to three full chargers on my Samsung Z Flip 4.
To get my phone to full it takes just over two hours, this is on par with my current wireless charger, but that’s because the phone tops out at 10W on its wireless charging coil. If I were to use the 25W wall charger without the wireless pad, I’m looking closer to an hour and twenty minutes to get a full charge on my phone.
Moving on to the 20,000mAh unit, I decided to plug it into my 25W wall charger to see if I could charge it at its max-rated input to get a faster charge. Considering it’s got double the capacity of the 10,000mAh unit I didn’t want to have to wait around 10 hours to get it fully charged, I don’t even spend that much time sleeping never mind waiting for power banks. While it was quicker than 10 hours, it still took around 7 to get to its full capacity, again with one of the 4 charge level LEDs lit up when I started.
I don’t mind this too much as a 20,000mAh power bank has a whole lot of juice in it to last me for a good couple of days, and it’s unlikely that I would ever get it down to completely empty before plugging it back in again.
This unit also has an 18W output compared to the 10W on the smaller 10,000mAh power bank. Most modern devices will love the extra 8W of power here and will charge up to full pretty quickly. My phone filled up in just under 2 hours on this power bank, and I can squeeze a massive 5 charges out of it and then some.
It is obviously double the size and quite hefty compared to the smaller power bank, but I’m all for the extra juice.
Now for the features. Both of these units feature two USB-A Output ports, one micro USB input port and one USB-C input port. What I can’t seem to wrap my head around is why the USB-C port doesn’t double up as an output port as well. Considering most devices are coming with USB-C cables, I would be forced to go and buy an older cable to use these power banks.
Most power banks have the same method of showing how much charge they have by using a series of lights, so I’m not disappointed that these two have the same method, I just wish someone would put an actual percentage display on the more common power banks.
Other than that, there’s nothing flashy about these units. Both feature a sleek and professional aesthetic so they won’t look out of place in a meeting room, and they will easily fit in your jean pocket when you head out for the day…or night.
Both of these power banks are also extremely well-priced for what they offer. Yes, you can probably get something a little cheaper at the local cellular shop down the road from you, but the Redmi brand is generally quite reliable and these power banks will last you a lot longer than the ones you can get for, probably, only a little less.
Overall, while these power banks aren’t very exciting, they do what it says on the box and they do it well. If you are looking for a good quality power bank without any of the frills, I’d take a look at the Redmi 10,000mAh and the 20,000mAh units, depending on how much charge you’d like to have in your backpack.