How I found the best battery pack after years of charging frustration

spotlights unexpected items that make our daily lives just a little bit better.

ABC has stood for a lot of things. In the 1970s, it was synonymous with 1-2-3. After the callous 1980s, thanks to Glengarry Glen Ross, it stood for “Always Be Closing.” Now, in the 2010s, we absolutely need to amend the acronym to the ultimate rule of our tech-heavy lives: Always Be Charging. 

As a guy who carries a MacBook, an iPad Pro, an old but still good iPhone, two kinds of Bose noise-canceling headphones, a Kindle, and a Muse almost everywhere, I take the ABC commandment very seriously. Ideally, nothing in my backpack should ever drop below 50 percent charge, and friends don’t let friends’ phones die either. (This is an easy way to be of service, but it also reflects a certain kind of OCD: Just the sight of a screenshot on Twitter where someone has let their iPhone drain below 10 percent is enough to make me anxious.)

What that means, basically, is that I’ve bought or sampled almost every kind of battery pack and charging cable setup over the last few years. I’ve been searching for something lightweight but powerful that lasts all day and is easy to recharge itself; something that doesn’t require a kluge of cables clogging up my bag, but can still handle lightning devices (iPhones and iPads), newfangled USB-C (for the MacBook), and regular old micro USB (for everything else). 

Oh, and perhaps the most essential feature of all: Something that starts charging the moment you plug in. Connecting a cable on the go is fiddly enough, power brick manufacturers. Why do so many of you make us press a button as well? When would we ever plug in and not want something charged?

It’s astonishing how many big names failed these Goldilocks tests of being just right. RavPower, Anker, and Mophie are the 800-pound gorillas of the charging world, and I’ve had to return more of their bricks than I care to remember, often because they were literally the weight of a brick. (But hey, at least they had flashlights! Because it’s not like we’re all carrying around devices with flashlights in our pockets, right?)

When I finally found my perfect charging brick with all three cables built in, it was from a no-name seller on Amazon. Or rather, the name keeps changing: When I bought the brick, it was white and sold by a company called Heloideo. Friends who were sold on the device after trying it ended up with a black version from a company called Woban. But hey, that’s 21st century retail for you: the same Chinese-manufactured product sold under endless marketing skins. 

Whatever you call it, my friends and I agree: This design just works, in almost any situation you can imagine. It’s about the size and heft of an iPhone Plus, so it fits neatly into your pocket, or your hand underneath your phone when plugged in. Its three short cables sit flush inside the device when not needed, start powering immediately, and keep a solid connection even when jangling around inside the bag. 

The Heloideo/Woban thing can hold 10,000 mAh (milliamp hours) of power — not the largest rating, but not the smallest either, and a good trade-off for the size and weight. Basically, I can charge my iPhone from dead to 100 percent about 3 or 4 times; most days, it’s not even half empty when I get home. (The power level is displayed simply via four lights; no point in wasting energy by providing a digital percentage screen, like some other bricks do.) 

You charge the brick up either via micro USB, or better yet, via its built-in, tucked-away prongs that plug firmly into an actual electric outlet. What a concept!

The one caveat with this device is the USB-C cable, if you’re using it with a laptop like I am. It doesn’t provide enough power to increase the battery percentage on a laptop if you’re trying to use it at the same time. What it will do is prevent you from losing charge, allowing you to keep working until you happen to find an outlet. It’s good in a pinch.

USB-C requires a lot of power, and the only way to properly charge a USB-C laptop is to use a device with USB-C inputs on both ends. USB-C to regular USB cables are always going to have the effect I described. So if I know I’m going to be using my laptop a lot on any given day, I’ll throw another USB-C brick into my bag. Lately I’ve liked the new RavPower ACE 6700mAh: small, built-in prongs, good for one laptop recharge. 

That isn’t as powerful as my main brick, but it is a sign that the big kahunas in this marketplace are starting to understand exactly what it is we need out of their charging products. Quantity of power doesn’t matter as much as portability and convenience. When you become a devotee of ABC, guys, every ounce counts.