Have you ever been looking for somewhere to charge your smart devices when you’re nowhere near a power outlet? It’s fast becoming a regular occurrence with today’s power hungry devices.
Battery anxiety is fairly common when you’re out and about for long periods of time alongside draining its battery by doing activities on them, like navigation, video or audio playback. This is when a power bank can be your ideal gadget to have with you.
There are a number of power banks in the market now. One of my first was from Anker, purchased many years ago, yet it still manages to get me out of situations when I need to juice up my iPhone where there is no power supply in sight. Anker continues to dominate this area, plus they never stop enhancing existing lines or evolving their suite of power banks with new models.
The PowerCore Speed 20000 PD is one such power bank that comes new from Anker as part of their high capacity line, and considering the huge battery capacity of this model, it certainly lives up to its category.
Packing a huge 20100mAh, the PowerCore Speed 20000 PD provides a large enough battery capacity to charge the latest iPhones 6x over or an iPad Pro 11” 2x over. That is great considering all that power is crammed into a power bank the size of 6.6 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches. Its size and weight of 360g/12.7oz isn’t something you would want t going out in a jacket pocket, but it still won’t weigh your bag down too much.
To fill the PowerCore Speed 20000 PD you use the supplied USB-C to USB-C cable. It’s Quick Charge compatible, so using a powerful 30W Quick Charge wall adapter you will be able to fill its battery capacity relatively quickly, in four hours in fact.
Its chocolate bar shaped exterior is sleek looking with a smooth texture to its outer casing. It’s build quality mirrors the solid build you come to expect from Anker. From its packaging to its supplied cables and protective bag, everything feels good and firm to the touch. This is going to last a long time. If it doesn’t you have an 18-month warranty to see you through.
A decent power bank shouldn’t leave you wondering as to how much charge is remaining inside. Anker usually adopts a series of lights or a dial of lights on their power banks, and the PowerCore Speed continues to adopt this trend with its line of four LED lights when fully charged, which deplete as the battery drains away. Pressing a button alongside the edge of it whilst nothing is connected to it will also display the power bank’s battery status.
The PowerCore Speed has just two ports on the business end of the power bank. There is a single USB-A 3.0 output port that can deliver 18W using Anker’s high-speed PowerIQ 2.0 charging technology. This means it can identify the connected device and efficiently supply the fastest possible charging power, up to 18W.
Next to it is a USB-C port with up to 22.5W Power Delivery. This port can be used for both power output and input, however, this port is how it is recharged. Time to recharge this power bank will vary depending on the wall adapter that’s charging it.
USB-C Quick Charge adapters will fill the PowerCore Speed in just four hours, whilst non-power delivery chargers will take 20 hours. So if you wish to keep the PowerCore II topped-up make sure you use a Quick Charging wall adapter, such as the Anker PowerPort II that we also reviewed here.
As a high capacity power bank the PowerCore Speed 20000 PD ticks all the boxes. You can buy it currently for $54.98 from Amazon. Its size isn’t too unwieldy, considering the amount of power it has and how many complete charges it can provide to a number of the latest smartphones. The best thing about its 22.5W power delivery technology is that it can not only charge some power-hungry iPads it can even charge USB-C powered MacBooks too.
So if you are looking for a high capacity power bank that not only looks good, but it also services most of your gadgets, check out the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD power bank.
