Product review: Renergy®All in One 5200mAH Portable External Battery Charger

This power bank can be used an AC wall charger as well as an external battery. It can charge mobile devices while external battery is being charged itself. On a standard power strip this charger takes up 3 slots unless you plug it in one of the end outlets. The battery has retractable prongs and the package includes a travel pouch.

The fact that it takes a lot of slots on a power strip is a problem for me as I am always short of space on my power strips and end outlets are in high demand as I have a lot of devices competing for those slots.

Dimensions:
Weight: 6.25 oz
Size: 3 3/8"L x 2 5/8"W x 7/8"

To see how well different chargers and external batteries charge my mobile devices I use a Nexus phone and an iPad Mini to test each of them. I do my tests with the devices charged to the same level, running the same applications and using the same cables to keep everything the same. This allows me to compare them to each other in a fair way. I use the current monitor to see what current is delivered to each device which tells me how well each battery/charger is working. I ran these test with this wall charger plugged in as well as disconnected from AC. In these tests Renergy did very well for iPad Mini on 2.1A port, but not as well as other wall chargers for my Android phone. I am including the numbers below for those are interested in the nitty gritty details.

Nexus phone:
------------------
Port 1A (plugged into AC)__________ 0.75A /4.99V (below average)
Port 1A (disconnected from AC)_____ 0.75A /5.01V (below average)
Port 2.1A (plugged into AC)________ 0.80A /4.99V (below average)
Port 2.1A (disconnected from AC)___ 0.77A /4.98V (below average)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this phone is 1.00A/5V)

iPad Mini Tablet:
------------------
Port 1A (plugged into AC)__________ 0.93A /5.01V (average for 1A port)
Port 1A (disconnected from AC)_____ 0.93A /4.99V (average for 1A port)
Port 2.1A (plugged into AC)________ 1.61A /4.99V (excellent)
Port 2.1A (disconnected from AC)___ 1.48A /5.01V (excellent)
(for comparison the best charging monitor result for this tablet is 1.70A/5V)

So, what's the bottom line? I own both Android and Apple devices so I prefer smart chargers that have a chip that changes the charging protocol based on the device the charger is charging. This adaptable logic allows smart chargers to charge each device equally well on each port. However, for folks who only need to charge Apple devices this charger did quite well.



Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆