Best Power Banks for Emergencies
Running out of battery power on your phone isn’t fun. But it becomes a much more dire situation in an emergency. The best way to have dependable power for your phone, regardless of your situation, is to pick up a proven phone power bank with quality and capacity to handle anything. There are many brands and models of portable chargers to pick from, and they don’t all perform the same.
This is where we come in. We’ve researched the best power banks for phone charging emergencies, tested them, and now the results are in: the overall best, a budget option, and an upgrade pick. If you need a power bank that you can rely on in tough times, one of our suggestions will power through.
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Best Power Bank
INIU Portable Charger
Reliable, Versatile, and a Good Value
A modern high-capacity portable phone charger with enough power and versatility for any situation.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
The INIU portable charger hits that sweet spot of capacity, quality, and price. You won’t break your budget picking this one up for any of your kit, and it’ll reliably charge a wide range of devices with its multiple USB ports.
Specifications
- Capacity: 20,000 mAh
- Ports: 2x USB-A, USB-C, flashlight
- Recharge Time: < 6 hours (18W)
- Size: 5.3″ L x 2.8″ W x 1″ H
- Weight: 12.8 ounces
With great quality paired with good value, it’s easy to see why the INIU Portable Charger tops the rest.
Everyday Power Bank
Anker 622 MagGo
Lightweight, Convenient, and Trusted
While specific to Apple users, this convenient snap-and-go wireless charger packs a pocket-sized punch of versatility.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
Anker is at the top of the game when it comes to phone charging equipment and has built a reputation over the past decade for making higher-quality but budget-friendly gear. I was personally excited to try this MagSafe option from them, and it did not disappoint. The magnetic attachment strongly holds on to your phone, so you don’t need to worry about it popping off by mistake.
Specifications
- Capacity: 5,000 mAh
- Ports: 12W charge (USB), 7.5W MagSafe
- Recharge Time: < 2 hours (12W)
- Size: 4.1″ L x 2.6″ W x 0.5″ H
- Weight: 5 ounces
The kickstand is a much nicer feature than I originally expected. It comes in use more often than you think and makes it worth keeping paired to your phone even when you don’t necessarily need the charging. In our practical test, it recharged an iPhone 15 Pro 0.8 times (from zero to 80%).
If you are looking for an everyday carry iPhone power bank, the Anker 622 MagGo Portable Charger is the best option.
Fast Charge Power Bank
UGREEN 145W
Fast, High-Capacity, and Versatile
A blazingly fast power bank that recharges both itself and devices in a flash with quality you can trust.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
UGREEN sits on top as far as quality goes with phone-sized power banks. This 145W model has amazingly fast charging times and can charge itself quickly as well. It offers plenty of capacity, charging an iPhone 15 Pro benchmark 5.5 times. It can also rapidly charge a laptop to full charge in about 30 minutes, making it versatile for a wide range of tech, including drones!
Specifications
- Capacity: 25,000 mAh
- Ports: 100W charge (USB-C1), 45W (USB-C2), 18W USB-A
- Recharge Time: < 2 hours (65W)
- Size: 6.3″ L x 3.2″ W x 1″ H
- Weight: 17.7 ounces
With unmatched battery quality and performance, the UGREEN 145W Power Bank is the best choice for those serious about powering their phones and gear quickly.
Comparison Table
| Power Bank | Recommendation | Price* | Capacity | Recharge Time | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INUI Portable Charger | Best Overall | $30 | 20,000 mAh | <6 hrs @ 18W | 12.8 oz |
| Anker 622 MagGo | Best Mag-Safe for EDC | $34 | 5,000 mAh | <2 hrs @ 12W | 5.0 oz |
| UGREEN 145W | Best for Fast Charging | $66 | 25,000 mAh | <2 hrs @ 65W | 17.7 oz |
The Power Banks We Compared
Our research narrowed the field down to a few brands and types of portable charging devices that we compared: Anker, Belkin, UGREEN, INIU, Einova, Satechi, Apple, PowerAdd, and many Chinese-made odd-named brands.
You can see our full list of review criteria below in the What to Look For section, with an explanation for each.
We considered a wide range of power banks with various sizes, and there are a lot of options out there. We stuck with pocket-sized portable banks and smaller ones since we’ll evaluate larger battery devices as power stations. You’ll often see power stations and power banks used interchangeably, but we were focused on finding the best solution for small-device charging- like phones. Our cutoff was the same as the TSA and FAA regulations: 100Wh power banks (or approximately 2 grams of lithium).
We’re always looking for new and better gear, so if you have a power bank that you love and use often, let us know in the comments. We review most of our tested gear annually so we can try to get it in the next roundup and see if it will beat out our top picks.
What to Look For
The best phone power banks have a few features to look for:
- Value
- Capacity
- Quality
- Size & Weight
- Versatility
When you get the right blend of these, you can find the perfect charging bank to keep your phone powered up. Below, we break down what each of these features means for the battery packs that truly set themselves apart.
Value: Cost vs. Benefit
The amount of money you spend on something like a power bank shouldn’t blow out your entire budget. There is a wide range of prices in our picks, so there is no need to spend beyond your means.
You never want to spend too much money on one resource, especially when it comes to tech. It’s better to diversify your spending to make sure you are covered for a wide range of scenarios.
Capacity
The manufacturers of rechargeable batteries like to list battery cell capacity using the rated mAh (milliamp-hours), but that isn’t necessarily a realistic display of performance. Watt-hours are a superior capacity measurement because they consider voltage, but even then, impedance isn’t considered.
That’s why the number of recharges of a standard device is given- so even if you don’t have that device, you can understand the realistic capacity it will provide. Our tests all charged the benchmark iPhone 15 Pro between 0.6 and 5.5 times.
Quality
Numbers don’t tell the entire story when it comes to power banks. There are plenty of brands out there touting high battery cell capacities, but they come in cheap housings and lose a huge amount of efficiency in energy transfer.
Sticking with trusted brands is usually the best way to avoid poor performance (and even catastrophic device failure).
Size & Weight
As phone chargers, portable power banks should be lightweight and portable. Beyond an approximate phone shape, we would consider the battery device as a ‘power station’, which is usually meant to recharge or supply power to larger and wider ranges of devices.
We didn’t consider many over one pound in weight and stuck to comparing banks less than 1″ thick. If you are using it for everyday carry, you’ll want it as light as possible with the best capacity you can get.
Versatility
Besides charging a variety of devices with varying amperage and speeds, some power banks offer even more versatility. Some charge multiple devices at once with multiple charging ports (some of different USB types).
Others have incorporated solar panels and flashlights to help in even more situations, but we did find that the solar panels were extremely inefficient. With the tiny solar area, power loss in charging, and power loss in energy transfer, this feature was virtually useless in the ones we tried. We have tested solar charges before that worked, but the technology just doesn’t perform at this small size.
Why Power Banks are Important for Emergencies
Having a phone charging cable on hand is still a good idea, but it used to be our only resort. Even then, when your phone died, you had to hunt down an outlet to recharge. In emergency situations like large-scale power outages or when your car battery dies, even the cable wouldn’t be able to help you out.
Now, thanks to battery technology, we have portable power banks that can go everywhere with us. Even TSA will let any power bank through that is less than 27,000 mAh in cell capacity. This isn’t just a game changer for the airport outlet competition; it is a game changer for survival kits, too.
Besides your phone, these power banks can power a wide range of survival equipment, making them ideal to include in your kits. We’ve used them to power:
- Rechargeable flashlights
- Other rechargeable batteries
- Survival headlamps
- Emergency radios
- Laptops
- Headphones
- LED signal flares
- Arc lighters
- Drones
If it can be charged with a USB cable, there is a power bank that can help out. They are the most convenient way to transport power with even more versatility than a conventional battery.
All of that said, don’t cause an emergency with your power bank. Get quality gear and take care of it to avoid spontaneous combustion and fires:
Who Needs a Power Bank?
Almost everyone can use a power bank. That’s one reason they make such popular gifts- anyone with a phone, or any USB-powered device, can benefit from having one standing by at the ready. They are especially popular for travelers who don’t necessarily know where they’ll get their next phone charge.
While power banks aren’t essential for survival kits, they make sense to consider for quite a few:
Having extra never hurt- you can always use more power.
How We Review Products: We research thoroughly before selecting the best products to review. We have vast prepping and survival experience and bring in outside experts when needed. Hours on end are spent testing gear in stressful conditions and using specialized testing gear to verify claims. We assign performance criteria and impartially rate each tested item. Learn more about how we test.
Sources & References
All of our experience and the testing we do to determine the best power bank are useless without listing our research sources and references. We leaned on these for the book knowledge that we paired with our hands-on testing and practical survival experience:
Elmadhi, M., et al. (2012). Application Solar Energy for Charging Battery Mobile Phone. Jurnal Rekayasa Mesin. Volume 3. Issue 3. (Source)
Hui, S., et al. (2005). A new generation of universal contactless Battery Charging platform for portable Consumer Electronic equipment. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. Volume 20. Issue 3. Pages 620 – 627. (Source)
Manchester, S., et al. (2013). Off-grid mobile phone charging: An experimental study. Energy for Sustainable Development. Volume 17. Issue 6. Page 564 – 571. (Source)
Conclusion
Getting stranded with a dead phone is rough any day, but even more so in an emergency. Having extended power ready to go with a rechargeable power bank that will keep up in any situation is the way to go, so you should have at least one at the ready.
Here are a few other gear reviews and guides our subscribers have found helpful:
- Best Rechargeable Batteries for Disasters and Emergencies
- Best Survival Watch | Reviews & Buying Guide
- Everyday Carry List | 25 EDC Essentials
See more of our expert-written guides, resources, and reviews in your search results – add TruePrepper as a preferred source.
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