This has been on my “to write” list for some time, as each time I see these in various discount shops.
The “Power Hit” and “Power Pod” that can be found in certain discount stores could look very attractive at £2 a unit – especially if you’re off travelling.
The Power Pod. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
There are two sorts – with different connectors for either Micro-B (for most Android devices) or Lightning (for Apple devices).
Available for Micro-B compliant devices or Apple Lightning devices
The back. Yours for a grand total of £2 with a bunch of multi-lingual warnings
But please – don’t buy them.
Why?
Firstly, they’re rated for 500mha. That on a good day will give you around a 10 to 20% top-up of your modern smartphone battery. They also output at 5v at 1A .. in other words, very much a trickle charge these days
Secondly and perhaps more importantly – These are NOT rechargeable. In effect, you are buying such an item, and throwing away a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery afterwards that can’t be reused
Wait? They’re actually rechargeable batteries inside them, but without the ability to recharge them?
This video spells it out.
As pointed out in the video, you can buy a larger capacity rechargeable USB power bank for the same price (£2).
£2 and upwards for a power bank you can.. shock and horror… RECHARGE
I’d recommend you spend a little more, so the battery doesn’t exhaust itself after a short while (such as this smaller one by Anker or the larger one with a few more charges).
Heck, buy the cheapie ones in Currys/PC World even.
Or even Blackstone if you’re stuck at an airport in the USA.
These days, unless you’re truly out in the middle of nowhere, power is easy to come across to charge your device.
The only case where you’d need one is maybe in an absolute emergency, where there’s no power around at all. Other than that, this is a pure waste at its worst… with something that if it was engineered slightly differently, is rechargeable.
But please – unless you’re savaging the Power Pods for parts, or in a real bind… skip these and stick to your rechargeable power banks.
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