iMore Verdict
Price: $36Bottom line: RavPower's Wireless Portable Charger really gives you the biggest bang for your buck. As far as portable battery chargers are concerned, it's standard, but it has a few additional features that make it well worth the money, especially if you use an iPhone X without a case (that pouch!).
Pros
- +
Lightweight
- +
Wireless
- +
Comes with a pouch
- +
Has a USB-A port for secondary charging
- +
Low cost
Cons
- -
Charges slow
- -
Rubber top collects dirt and dust easily
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UPDATE You can get the RAVPower Wireless Portable Charger for just $28 on Amazon when you use the promo code IMORE081 until September 15!.
When you're out all day and carrying everything with you in a bag or backpack, the last thing you want is more stuff. That's why RavPower's Wireless Portable Charger is the perfect charger for when I'm at Disneyland or on a long hike. It's a lightweight battery pack that I can charge my iPhone X without needing a cord.
So many features
RavPower Wireless Portable Charger: What I like
When it comes to portable batteries, most of them have standard features. There's a specific milliamp hour number, a certain wattage that either does or doesn't support a fast port, and a USB-A (or C) port with either 1.0 or 2.0 charging. Outside of the standards, the thing to consider is weight, ease of use, and features.
Here are the standards: RavPower's Wireless Portable Charger has a 10000mAh battery with 5W power and a USB-A 2.1 port. This means it's got a fairly big juice pack for the price and a faster port for cable charging, but it doesn't support Apple's 7.5W fast charging.
Now for the rest.
RavPower's Wireless Portable Charger is made of sturdy plastic with a rubber mat on top for grip. It's definitely lightweight, making it one of the lighter portable battery packs I've used.
It's one of the lighter portable battery packs I've used.
It's easy to use. There's a button you press to trigger the charge (charging automatically shuts off when your iPhone loses contact with the charging pad to save the battery pack's juice). There are four LED lights that represent how much juice is left in the battery. There's a small LED status light on top that blinks green when it's charging and flashes red when it detects something on the charging pad that isn't compatible. Simple!
It's also got a couple of really useful features that give it an edge over the competition in the same space. First, it has a USB-A port so you can charge a device with a cable, too. Not only that, but you can charge both a Qi-supported device and a wired device using USB-A at the same time. The USB-A charge is significantly faster, but neither slows down while both are being charged.
My favorite feature of RavPower's Wireless Portable Charger is the pouch that comes with it. The battery pack slips into the main pouch, but there's also an outer pocket that is just big enough to fit the iPhone X without a case (it's a little too narrow for the iPhone 8 and way too small for the iPhone 8 Plus). When the iPhone X is in the pouch, I can wirelessly charge it without having to set it on a flat surface. The little bundle of juice can toss around inside my bag and never disconnect from the pad. It's like this pouch was made specifically for the iPhone X.
It may sound silly, but the pouch is my favorite thing about RavPower's Wireless Portable Charger. A portable wireless charger is somewhat useless if you can't keep your phone snug against it while it charges. The pouch makes it so I don't have to stop at a table to charge up my iPhone X.
Slow poke
RavPower Wireless Portable Charger: What I don't like
The wireless charger is painfully slow. This isn't unique to RavPower. Most portable wireless charging banks are painfully slow. That doesn't change the fact that the wireless charger is really slow.
You only get about a 30% charge per hour using the wireless pad. It also only charges up an iPhone X a bit more than 1.5 times.
The extra USB-A port is another story. It charges significantly faster and delivers more juice to your devices.
You only get about a 30% charge per hour using the wireless pad.
This particular battery pack won't wirelessly charge an iPhone if it drops below 25%. You can use the USB-A port to cable-charge it until it goes above 25%, but wireless is off the table for this low of a battery.
The rubber pad on top, clearly meant to add grip to the battery pack, unfortunately collects a significant amount of dust. Even if it's been in its pouch most of the time, ever little speck will cling to it whenever possible.
The price is right
RavPower Wireless Portable Charger: Bottom line
RavPower's Wireless Portable Charger really gives you the biggest bang for your buck. As far as portable battery chargers are concerned, it's standard. But it has a few additional features that make it well worth the money, especially if you use an iPhone X without a case (that pouch!).
Though the wireless charging pad only gives you about 30% juice every hour, it's got a USB-A port that zaps your phone's battery much faster. You can even charge an iPad Pro and an iPhone X at the same time (I tried it).
At only $36, it's a really great buy.
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