We’ve reviewed a number of portable battery banks on CarPlayLife but none have come as thin as the Crave PLUS 10,000mAh portable battery bank that features Quick Charge 3.0 capabilities and USB-C input and output.
This thinness of the Crave PLUS comes from the same battery cell technology that you’ll find in most smartphones. It measures 6.2inches long x 3.1inches wide and 0.4inches tall. That’s a size that is comparable to an iPhone 11 Pro Max, which measures the same but measures slightly wider, at 3.2inches. It weighs 8.5ounces, compared to 7.97ouches of the iPhone 11 Pro Max, so all-in-all it’s pretty much like carrying an extra iPhone 11 Pro Max around with you, which isn’t too bad if you regularly carry a battery pack in your bag or a deep coat or jean pocket.
Its outer material feels premium and it has a textured dual-tone dark and silver aluminium finish to it. On its left side there is a power button and four white LED lights that, once pressed, let you know how much charge remains in the battery bank as well as its charging status.
On the bottom side of the battery bank, you find the business-end that features three input and output ports. The first is a Micro-USB input port. This is used along with its 30cm-long bundled Micro-USB to USB-A cable to charge the battery pack. Measuring 30cms long, the cable has an ample length to connect to nearby devices whilst sitting on a desktop surface, but it may be a little on the short-side for wall chargers whilst it’s being charged. It’s likely you might have a longer cable, but be sure its a decent one, as I found some cables I tried failed to charge my iPhone 11 Pro and iPad Pro whilst the PLUS was also being recharged.
The second port is a USB-C input and output port. Having both dual input and output from this port means that you have the ability to not only charge devices, such as an iPad Pro, with Power Delivery of up to 18Watts, you can also connect this battery to a USB-C quick charger, and charge the PLUS pack up much faster than using the Micro-USB input port. Being able to charge up to 18Watts, you won’t be able to use the PLUS with heavier power demanding devices, such as a MacBook for example.
Finally, there is the third Quick Charge 3.0 USB-A port. This port allows you to charge pretty much anything that uses this cable type from its USB-A port, but with the added ability of Quick Charge 3.0, you can be sure that, if your device supports it, it will charge it fast and efficiently when connected to this port.
Across all three ports, you have the ability to charge numerous devices by using either its bundled micro-USB cable or any cable you already own for your other devices, such as an Apple Lightning cable or the USB-C cable that came with your MacBook or iPad Pro. You can charge the Crave PLUS whilst it simultaneously charging two other devices, which is an added bonus that some other power banks will not support.
The Crave PLUS portable charger retails for or from Amazon here – https://amzn.to/3kK5GhS, which is definitely not the cheapest 10000mAh battery out there, but with the Crave PLUS, you are paying for really good battery components inside and it has solid build quality, from an American owned company with good aftersale support and an 18-month warranty. Sure you can find cheaper batteries elsewhere online, but these usually come with the thicker, rounder battery cells, and as a result, they are much thicker than what you get here with the Crave PLUS battery pack. Thanks to its smartphone-like lightness and thin form-factor, it’s a perfect travel companion, that you can easily stow away in a pocket, backpack or carry-on luggage and its dual charging ability makes sure that not only your smartphone can be charged, but your travel companion or children’s devices can be charged too.
