If you’re trying to understand watt hours, voltage and power management, then shopping for portable chargers can become a little bit daunting. The Anker Nano is only 5,000mAh, but that doesn't mean it can fully charge a 5,000mAh phone battery like you'll find in the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Power banks are about 60-70% efficient, depending on the phone's technology, so this power bank is good for charging an iPhone 15 to nearly full, but that big Ultra will only get about 65% charge. In fact, our testing confirms what battery makers usually claim. A battery maker will claim between 60% and 70% efficiency, so that 10,000mAh battery will only give your phone around 6,000mAh of extra battery charge, at the least. In practice we find around 65% efficiency, though occasionally we can do even better. The use of USB-C for the single input/output port is a little weird given the target market, and you’ll need a fast USB-C charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable to make the most of the device. What’s more, the wired charging isn’t super-speedy; our Android test smartphone only recovered by 11% from a 15-minute charge. But if you’re an iPhone user looking for a light and convenient portable charger, the Anker 622 is almost perfect for the role.

With a power bank, though, you can always get a recharge – even when you’re far from home. In fact, with bigger power banks, you can get away for a weekend or go camping and still keep your phone juiced up. And it’s not only smartphones that can benefit. Tablets, digital cameras and Bluetooth speakers can often do with a top-up, and a decent power bank is a must-have accessory if you love playing on a Nintendo Switch. Tylt also wisely left enough of a gap between the battery and the bottle that you can coil a small USB-C cord (included) into that space. That way, even if you're not charging wirelessly, you're not adding a lot of extra bulk to your bag. It's a smart setup.Think about how you’ll be carrying it around and what you need it for – a power bank for your bag can be quite different than one for travelling or camping.

On test, we found that this was able to restore 50% of our MacBook Air’s battery in 43 minutes with the supplied USB-C cable, and while it wasn’t quite able to get the battery to fully charge, it finished up at 98%, so it has a high enough capacity (enough for almost six recharges of an iPhone 14) to keep your laptop and phone going during your travels. We wish there wasn't such an easy answer to this question, because competition is better for everybody, but Anker is making the best power banks right now by far. It offers the best power-to-weight ratio, the fastest charging, and the most useful features. That app is essential because there's a Find My feature built into the battery. It doesn't work like an AirTag over UWB, it's only Bluetooth, but it's useful if you misplace your battery in your office (or you have multiple batteries, like I do). You're trying to keep it simple: The Baseus Airpow doesn't have any built in wires or wireless charging, so you'll need to carry extras when it's time to power up.

How we tested

While you’ll probably have most of the cords that you’d need, we’d expect a power bank to at least come with a recharge cable and maybe some extra useful wires. It’s also a nice extra when it comes with a decent carrying pouch to keep the battery and cables together. What is the largest power bank allowed on a plane? You have a watch that isn't from Apple: The Otterbox 2-in-1 Power Bank only attaches magnetically to the Apple Watch. Other smartwatches, like the Pixel Watch, won't work with this one, not at all. There are plenty of combination power bank and some other device, but the Tylt Bottle 2 actually makes sense because we're usually carrying an insulated water bottle anyway, so we might as well screw a battery onto the bottom. With a 5,700mAh capacity, the Tylt Bottle 2 is just enough to get us through a very busy day, or keep the phone powered while we play games at the cafe.