By the way! I also did a discharge test of my 3-year-old iHome 10,000mah battery bank, and the usable capacity has dropped to 3,700mah. If your power bank is a few years old, you may want to consider upgrading.
I really appreciate your video!! Have you tested the pass through capability? I've seen claims that the Nitecore NB gen 2 10k and 20k batteries can simultaneously charge their own battery and output a current to charge other devices at the same time. My own test, starting with a dead battery to do pass through charging basically failed. The current was so low that my phone estimated over 11 hrs to fully charge and it eventually shut off because the battery it was using was greater than the amount of the charge. I got the same results with both the 10k and 20k batteries. For reference, I'm using an Anker 65W charger with simultaneous output of 40W for the 20k battery and 20W for the 10k battery. All cables are rated 60W. I'm curious to see if: 1. There's a battery charge threshold that must be met before they can effectively charge anything else. 2. If my Anker charger is defective by comparing it to your own results. 3. If the Nitecore NB gen 2 batteries do not have pass through charging capability as some have claimed.
I agree with you on the price. When one hikes, they need. Everyone is different as well . I also will be purchasing the 20000amp from anker. The reviews speak volume. Thanks for your time in all the videos ✌🏽✌🏽
Don't mind me, also just trying to aid the algorithm so more people see/buy this awesome power bank, that way I don't have to worry about my favorite power bank being discontinued, and so more people see this awesome channel.
@@wtevrpunk funny you ask, I'm actually in a hotel room using it right now. Been hiking the JMT for the past two weeks and am currently on a zero day waiting for a resupply. As always, it's been really good during this trip. I charge it during the day with a lixada 10 watt solar panel that lives ontop of my pack while hiking. At night I have enough energy to charge my phone, Garmin watch, inreach, headlamp, and earbuds. I listen to a lot of adiobooks and podcast so I'm probably a little more heavy on electricity consumption while on the trail than others. Very few power banks come close to the weight of this one for the same capacity, plus the charge and discharge efficiency of this bank seems to b higher then my anker banks.
@@wtevrpunk in the context of ultralight backpacking, yes. But Anker makes some very nice units that would work just as good for cheaper. They are heavier but not by much, and many of ankers power banks have features that make them better suited for everyday carry as well when in civilization. I put more of a premium on the importance of weight then most when backpacking, so the cost and absence of nice features (like knowing battery percentage exactly or 35 watt fast charging) are acceptable to me.
Some of the best backpacking videos out there. I feel like I can trust your advice so much because you come at everything with facts and explain things so clearly! Thank you for all these awesome videos!
I needed an ultra-light battery for my Steamdeck to adhere to the back of the handheld with Deckmate. The Steamdeck is 669 grams, already notably heavier than Nintendo Switch OLED at 422 grams. A 200+ gram battery makes it close to 900 grams. That's a no go. I searched for the lightest 10,000 mAh battery and found this. 150 grams + 669 = 819 grams plus a few for deckmate attachment. That's heavy, but the lightest possible.
My Garmin watch often stops charging I sometimes have to have something else sharing at the same time just to keep it alive. This is with my Anker battery bank. Like that this has a low amp draw feature.
Nice, but Nitecore is a little to proud of this power bank. Just bought a Ravpower 20k for $40. On the other hand hard to say no to advanced materials.
Thanks for this great review. I have one of the Klein Tools ET920 - would you tell me how to set it up for the discharge test? I am an electronic nincompoop.
Thanks! There's really not much to change on the ET920. I just started with a fully charged battery bank connected to the input of the ET920 and a mostly dead iPad on the output. Then let it run until the battery bank dies. The only issue is that the ET920 will power off when the battery dies, so I left a camera recording and had to review the footage to see how many mah had been drawn just before powering off. Hope that helps!
Looking to purchase a battery bank. I was wondering if in any tests or experiences what the difference in getting 2 10,000mah banks or 1 20,000mah bank. Looking at it from a purely charging capacity stand point. Not sharing or redundancy stand point. Thanks
I haven't done any testing on that specifically. Theoretically, the capacity should be the same. Typically two 10,000mah battery banks would weigh more than a single 20,000mah, but that is not always the case. The only other consideration I can think of is having to be mindful of swapping to the second battery bank once the first is exhausted.
Just came upon your channel and really cool to see things tested very thoroughly. Just a tiny nitpick on the listed capacity vs usable energy, I try to look for watt hours because it's a more exact way of measuring capacity. The Nitecore said on the side 10Ah at 3,85v (38,5wh) and 6,4mAh at 5v. And if you calcute 6,4 x 5 you get 32wh, which is about 84% of 38,5wh. Which means the rated and available capacity difference isn't quite as big as it seems. Super duper nitcpicky, (and I do hope I have understood these thing corrreclty :D) but just wanted share my thoughts!
Best review of this power bank I have seen so far. All substance, and no 'unboxing' crap that means absolutely nothing in terms of what this product does. I want to know the facts, measurements, size, weight, thickness, capacity, etc. This video clearly explains it all. Thank you!
Love this battery pack. using it for night laspe videos. Ran it all night with my GoPro Hero 9 and still had 70% battery left. It has gotten wet and kept on going.
Thanks for the info on the low power mode. There is a lot of wrong information out there about it. I have the Gen2. I can confirm it charges with >=18W with an appropriate charger (a 65W Anker, in my case). I only saw it deliver up to 14W to my phone, but that's probably due to imperfect compatibility. (Stupid proprietary protocols!)
Thanks for the review. I will keep this in mind for my next power bank purchase. Now off to weigh my current power banks. to see how much (oz) I am needlessly caring around! - J B E N H I K E S
Mine stopped working after barely any use. When I plugged it in it went over 100C so I unplugged it before a fire started. So disappointed with this product.
Do you have any info on the passthrough charging of this device? I've read that with a 18W wall charger, the passthrough is very slow but with a 30W wall charger, passthrough charging works well. Looking to see what the lightest 1 port wall charger I can get away with is.
While there are losses between the power conversion, what battery bank manufacturers should have done from the start was give their ratings in watts. Watts are volts * amps. 10,000 mAh * 3.7V = 37Wh 37Wh / 5V = 7400 mAh. So if they are showing 6400 mAh, then the voltage regulator circuit has a 13.5% loss (1000 mAh / 7400 mAh), which is not out of the norm.
Dude, I dig your data and honest testing. I have an ancient Anker that has done me well, but an upgrade has been on my wish list for a while now. For backpacking and other outdoor adventures we need all the moisture & temp resistance we can get. I know this video is fairly new, but I'm curious what your current tester reads for 20 to 30 degree nights? I usually take good care of my gear if I know its gonna get cold, but even the best of us forget sometimes... Like every good gear junky, I'm on Nitecore's email list. They have a discount code right now for this. At that price & Christmas money, I couldn't pass it up... Hike on.
Well as is the case with all batteries they are going to have a lower power capacity at lower temperatures but anything under freezing is going to cause some losses, that is purely the nature of the beast (lower temperatures mean slower chemical reactions which means less power can be output)
I know that there is a difference between, the mah. output that the company is saying that the powerbank have, and what is correct. but that basically means that my pretty cheap 6700mah. powerbank is better than the worlds lightest powerbank. at 6400mah. My powerbank can charge my Samsung galaxy s7 twice, same as for the Nitecore nb10000, and the weight is the same. I'll stick with my 29$ powerbank thank you very much. And I'm a hardcore backpacker. :P
I just tested my old NB10000 at a 5V (actual 5.1 output), 1A output and got 6609mAh and 33708mWh. Better than spec (6400mAh) after moderate usage for 1.5 years!
From my experience, the battery banks charging through USB-"C" port doesn't work well with solar panel charging ... That's why I'm still using my old Anker 1000mah, but hope that there is a good solution!
My Samsung buds cant keep my anker battery banks on. I just ordered this....love that low current feature. i wouldn't have been aware if I hadn't watched this. Thank you!
Thanks for a great review! Do you have a 18v wall plug charger that you can recommend?? Trying to find one that is equally lightweight as the power bank! thx
I love the true capacity disclosure but there are two things I don’t like. 1. USB-C everything. 2. The charge indicator. That button looks cheap and flimsy, and difficult to interpret. Otherwise, compared to my Insignia 8,000mAh @ 176g, I like the idea of lighter and larger capacity.
What a great review. Covers a lot of stuff including stuff not in the instructions, I bought this for my edc emergency pack and for camping and I am glad that I did.
I just bought a Romoss Ares 10 (10000mAh). It has a battery percentage display. I've found the LED dots on other battery banks to be annoyingly inaccurate. It's specified at 195g, but on my scale it comes in at 216g. Not the lightest, but it was way way cheaper than the Nitecore
My issue is recharge time per specs it takes 3 hours to recharge. Where Anker has a 19,200 bank which weighs 685 grams/24.16 ounces and charges via 60 amp cube in 1 hr 47 minutes. So its a game of time vs ounces as nitecore is 5.29 ounces. So 2 would be 1/2 the weight of anker but near equal charge capacity
I have this unit and the Anker you are talking about. It weighs about 12 oz , the Nitecore is about 5.3, so less than half but half the power. I use the Nitecore for long distance backpacking and the Anker for everything else. Both are great just one weighs more.
New subscriber here, nice job explaining features and specs. Thanks for all the testing you do and the data you share with us. Please review the 20000mAh. Will you recommend it over the 10000mAh? I'm going to be using it for a 7 day hunting trip. Thanks again
I have both the 10k, 20k and the 5k version. I bring each one depending on length of trip and guesstimate of usage ie music, movie?, Garmin in reach, night hiking?, gut hooks gps usage? I typically take 10k for no more than 3.5 day of non charging, 20k for 5-7 days, and 5x for 1-2 night with limited charging requirement. hope this helps. JFYI I have completed the PCT< AZT, Tahoe rim trial, 3 sections of AT with typically using only 10k battery. Most thru hikers only take 10k unless filming blogging, . Take care, hunters have help me on the AZT. I am paying forward. LOL
10,000mAh is not very big, for a modern phone that is maybe two full recharges. Hell I picked up a 26,800mAh a couple years back for 45$ and most of the weight is purely the lithium pack inside of it and has lasted me for a while through multiple 12+ hour power outages and just traveling around. (sadly I need to replace it soon as it's starting to fail and you can now see the pack bloating) If it tells you how old it is it only has a Type C input and no output. Unfortunately I don't have anything that can weigh it as I don't have a small scale but it's not very heavy all things considered it's energy density (and that is where all the weight SHOULD come from and not the case around it) .. Nothing against Nitecore, I use their battery charger for my 18650's.
I was considering this, glad to see your review. I'll be interested in your follow up. I had a RavPower 20,000 that would fully charge my phone 6 times. After a year with a lot of use it is good for 4 charges. Hopefully this one will have the same or better percent reduction.
This is my go-to backpacking power bank. I get about 2.6 charges on my iPhone 13 with this unit. I paid 70.00 dollars for mine. If not for being a long-distance backpacker I would never pay so much for this product. I also have an Anker 20 and use that for general travel. The LED lights are not great. I just know I can charge my phone about 2.6 times. Don't get to caught up with the LED issue, it works and works well.
@@felicegreece I just used it last week and it seemed good as new. I charged my iPhone twice and it still had some power left. It’s more expensive than other 10,000 power banks but it’s certainly the lightest. Take care
@@mtadams2009 thanks. Yes I know but with powerbanks the most important thing is how quickly they lose their. Capacity!! I d really prefer a more expensive that lasts with its capacity as new for a couple of years and after many cycles of charging and discharging.I guess you ve only had it for a year? Have you used it a lot or for a few days, during these months?
@@felicegreece I mostly during the backpacking season. Late spring until middle or late November. I use is once and while in the winter just it keep it charging and discharging. I have never met anyone who does not really like this power bank. I can get through a week using my phone sparingly and for navigation in airplane mode. Take care
