Belkin 10k Metal Portable Charger Review

Would you want to use this power bank every day?

The Belkin portable charger is a simple yet effective power bank that gets the job done. There aren’t a ton of fancy features to get in the way or complicate things, so this should be a pretty straightforward review. First and foremost, the material does feel solid enough to sustain some daily wear and tear. I wouldn’t want to continuously drop it down the stairs, but I think that if I fumbled around with it a few times it could take a couple hits. I do not doubt the durability of this power bank. The main reason I feel this way is because of the full metal exterior.

Pros

The company claims that this charger can charge your phone 3 times over depending on the model, and I have found this pretty accurate. I also find the double USB ports to be extremely helpful for charging more than one phone at a time. Additionally, I think that this could be beneficial if one of the USB outlets stopped working for whatever reason. One of my favorite features of this portable power bank is how quickly it can charge my phone. I actually think that it might be able to charge faster than the traditional wall outlet at times.

Cons

With that being said, there is a significant tradeoff with this quick charge design. I have noticed that even though it can charge my devices rather quickly, it is horribly slow at recharging. Often times when it is fully dead, I will place it on the charger as I go to sleep only to wake up and find that it is slightly more than half charged. Another thing that is often bothersome is the inability to charge the power bank and other devices at the same time. I find that this is a very flawed design, because I know that many other power banks have this feature. I think that this is something that should be fundamental in the design of pretty much any power bank and must have been overlooked in the design process. Another thing that often bothers me about this power bank is the requirement to press the side power level button before charging the phone. It is almost as if you need to turn it on before charging your device. This is not a huge issue, but often times will take me several seconds to realize why my phone isn’t charging before I press the button to ‘wake it up’.

Value?

Overall, I think that this is a great example of simplistic design elements that allow for maximum usability. On Amazon, the price is floating right around $19.00 for the single USB model and $32.45 for the double USB model. Belkin also makes a larger power bank that is 15,000mAh for $49.00 that is the same thing just slightly larger. This power bank was actually given to me as a gift, so the price was less of a concern, but I am not confident that I would be willing to pay $35.00 for this specific model. It is definitely sufficient for charging up your devices when you need it, but I am unsure whether I would deem this Belkin charger that best power bank on the market right now.