Rugged backup batteries can take a lickin' and keep on charging!
You'll want to bring your iPhone along for your more adventurous activities, but you'll also want to make sure it has enough juice for you to take pictures, check notes, and chill out with when things aren't so extreme. Take a gander at these extra-tough backup batteries that can handle a tumble and a splash without a problem.
1. Braven BRV-BANK
The Braven BRV-BANK is a neat 6,000 mAh splash-proof battery pack with Bluetooth capabilities. Paired up with an iOS app, you can keep tabs on battery life and remotely activate a siren mode that wards off bears. Yes. Bears. The app can also activate a beep to find the battery pack, or start an S.O.S. sequence. A flashlight module is included which you can pop into one of the two USB ports. On the whole, the BRV-BANK offers a unique assortment of features that you won't often find on a backup battery.
2. Mophie Juice Pack H2PRO
The Mophie Juice Pack H2PRO is a battery case that provides extensive ruggedization for your iPhone 6 while also providing a full second charge with a 2,750 mAh battery. With this bad boy, your iPhone can handle drops of up to 1.2 m, and survive water immersion of over a meter for up to half an hour. You have full sync passthrough over the USB port, and TouchID still works hunky-dory with the integrated screen protector. The H2PRO isn't available just yet, but it's shipping very soon. Nab it if you're not keen on hauling around a separate battery pack.
3. Outdoor Tech Kodiak Plus
The Kodiak Plus is an extra-large backup battery that's entirely waterproof. Two USB ports and 2.4 A output means you won't have any trouble giving a full charge to your iPad. You can dunk the Kodiak Plus up to three feet for half an hour, and the protective sleeve should protect it against just about any everyday impact. Not only does this have a sharp design, it's also available in a wide range of colors, depending on your taste.
4. Lifeproof Fre Power
Lifeproof is well known for making extra-tough waterproof iPhone cases, and they've adapted one of their products to include a 2,300 mAh backup battery to boot. That should provide you with a full second charge, on top of being waterproof submerged up to two meters for an hour, and withstand two meter drops. TouchID still works fine, and you can charge over the case's microUSB slot.
5. Goal Zero Venture 30
The Goal Zero Venture 30 is a fully waterproof, tough 7,800 mAh backup battery with a built-in LED flashlight and smart power management system. Just plug your iPhone into one end, and hold down the battery button to optimize output to get the fastest charge possible. Do it again for your iPad in the second port and it will benefit from a completely different charging profile. The one downside here is that the included cable is microUSB rather than a Lightning connector, but both full-sized USB ports can support your existing cords.
Reader comments
Best rugged back-up batteries for iPhone
I bought the Fre Power for my wife prior to a vacation trip. She takes LOTS of photos and kills her battery whenever she takes a day-trip with the kids, so I considered it insurance.
Short review: Lifeproof = underwater pictures of the kids playing in the pool = lots of fun. The case effectively doubles the run-time of the phone. Be careful of leaving it out in the sun because the thermal overrides of either the iPhone or the case will turn off the charging process. If the case/phone does get warm, you can safely dunk it in the water to cool it off. I recommend using an iPad (or other 2+ Amp) adapter to charge the case/phone. When I tried to use a standard iPhone 1A charger, it took HOURS and HOURS to charge. I used an old Palm Touchpad 2A charger and it worked like a champ.
There's also a Canadian company called Rhynopack (@Rhynopack http://rhynopack.com) that we love dearly.
This is really poorly done for an article on this site. You've hardly scratched the surface here, and provided very little results. 6 is all you could come up with? Why not actually acquiring these items and taking them for a spin before writing some half-ended list?
Limefuel Rugged is where I would start. Limefuel (Originally Limeade) started on Kickstarter, and went from there. A company who actually put in the time to design something original, before any of these other batteries existed.
As is usually the case, the simplest designs are the best ones, and Limefuel understands this.