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After reviewing dozens of spec sheets, running discharge tests, and using five lightweight power supplies for over a month, we think the Anker Astro E1 6700 is the best portable battery for most campers and hikers, especially weekend warriors.
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It has enough power to charge your phone one and a half to two times and weighs only 4.3 oz. It’s also the smallest battery we’ve tested. Anker markets it as “candy-sized,” which isn’t too far off.
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However, for some campers and backpackers, the Astro won’t be enough. Those who take longer trips or take multiple devices should check out the Anker PowerCore II 10000.
It weighs just a few ounces more and has enough juice to fully charge a phone 2.5-3.5 times, or a larger device like an iPad mini about one and a half times.
We only tested five batteries, but our month of testing gave us insight into dozens of other options and who they’re right for. Along with our reviews, we discuss who should get a battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge and important considerations when buying.
Most of the campers and backpackers we know are weekend warriors, and the Astro won our top pick with them in mind.
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With a capacity of 6700 mAh (4,121 mAh based on our discharge test) and only one output port, the Astro is pretty much the lowest battery pack when it comes to power.
At 4.3 ounces, it is one of the smallest and lightest batteries for its capacity. It holds enough juice to charge a smartphone about 1.5-2 times – the perfect amount for 2-4 days of limited phone use.
Simply put, for most weekend racers the Astro is an affordable battery that gives you everything you need to charge your devices and nothing more.
Its maximum charging speed of 1A leaves something to be desired. This isn’t much of a problem unless you need to charge it constantly during your trip, like hiking. Otherwise, you can charge it when you get home.
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While the Astro is our top pick, it’s not perfect for every camper and backpacker. We’ll spend the rest of this article discussing the pros, especially the larger capacity generators.
If you’re looking for the opposite – a lower-capacity battery – check out the Anker PowerCore+ Mini 3350. It’s a 3oz “lipstick-sized” pack that can give your smartphone about half to a full charge.
When deciding which batteries to test, I spent some time reading relevant threads on hiking forums and subreddits.
From this I learned that the PowerCore II 10000 and the first generation PowerCore 10000 are the two most popular batteries among ultralight backpackers.
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It turns out that the popularity is justified. If you need more power, this is the package we recommend.
On a recent weekend climbing and camping trip to Sand Rock, Alabama, five friends and I used this generator only to charge our phones and Bluetooth speakers. It had more than enough power to handle all the different devices.
In fact, the PowerCore II has the highest capacity of any battery we tested in our discharge test.
Using the PowerCore II 10000 to charge a Kindle while camping. This battery pack has enough juice that we want to take it on a weekend road trip with friends.
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Anker lists the pack as 6.9 ounces, but when we measured it ourselves, it came in at 6.7 oz. Its light weight and high performance make it the best choice in terms of power per ounce (mAh/oz).
The main drawback is the lone output port. You won’t be able to charge two devices at the same time with this pack. In testing, we rarely found ourselves needing two output ports, but we know that might be important to some of you.
As the older generation batteries keep dying, we tested the 10000 mAh model of the new PowerCore II generation. The 10000 mAh model from the previous PowerCore generation, the Anker PowerCore 10000, is worth a good look while it’s still around. It’s a little cheaper and lighter.
(and output ports) should look at packs in the higher-capacity PowerCore and PowerCore II lines, such as the PowerCore 13000 and PowerCore 20100. We haven’t tested them, but they’re well-reviewed on the web.
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The Bolt weighs 5.57 oz and has a capacity of 6,000 mAh (4,063 mAh based on our discharge test).
The Anker Astro E1 weighs 4.3 oz and has a capacity of 6,700 mAh (4,121 mAh according to our discharge test). It’s also not as bulky and sells for a little less at launch.
(Not to mention that the Bolt has faster charging input speeds and can charge three devices at once.)
If you brought your own cables and lights, at least (assuming you buy the shortest possible cables and the lightest flashlight or headlamp possible) that’s 1.5-2 ounces of extra weight.
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That would make your charging “system” with Astro a bit more difficult. You would also spend more overall.
However, the Bolt isn’t perfect, and we don’t really think it’s better than the Astro for most backpackers. While a built-in light is nice, it cannot replace a good flashlight or headlamp. It’s too dim, too limited in functionality for most purposes – like a flashlight on your phone.
While it can charge three devices at once, assuming you’re charging a device like a smartphone, it doesn’t have enough capacity to provide more than a partial charge for each.
For backpackers who just need to charge their phone and prefer to pack a good headlamp or flashlight, the Bolt excels.
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I’ll conclude by saying that by the end of the month of using these five batteries in everyday life, the Bolt became the one I used almost exclusively. It sounds minor, but not having to carry extra cables made a big difference. If you want a single battery that you can use on the track
When deciding which batteries to test, we reviewed tons of spec sheets and product pages, paying particular attention to price, weight, and rated capacity.
The S2 stood out as a potentially affordable option with a claimed 10,000 mAh capacity and a competitive 7.13oz weight.
Like many products from these obscure online-only brands, the price of the S2 fluctuates constantly. As long as it doesn’t creep too high, the S2 is worth a look.
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S2 has some false positive reviews which are never reassuring. While I’ve used it for over a month with no problems, some reviewers (hopefully some reliable ones?) have reported that the packaging has died after a few weeks or months. Be sure to update this review if ours dies too soon.
Although it doesn’t look like it in the photos, the S2 actually has the second smallest battery (in cubic inches) we tested, after the Astra. It’s surprisingly thin, barely half an inch tall.
In our discharge tests, we recorded an average capacity of 6,352 mAh. It was second only to the PowerCore II’s 6,518 mAh and about 1,500 mAh more than the RAVPover 10000.
Unlike the PowerCore II, the S2 has dual output ports so you can charge two devices at once. For a change of pace, there are plenty of color options too.
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Based on the price we paid and the results of our tests, we think the S2 is a good choice – but only for those on a budget.
What we don’t like, it’s quite the heaviest (9.14 oz) and bulkiest option on the list. There’s never a good title in the world of camping and backpacking gear.
The RAVPover averaged 4,878 mAh. That’s more in line with the Astro E1 6700 and Bolt 6000’s capacity than the other 10,000 mAh capacity batteries listed.
The RAVPover has two output ports, but so does the Puridea S2. In other words, we see no good reason to choose this package over another option.
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The ideal quick charge battery has a quick charge input and output, but if we had to choose we’d go with a quick charge only battery
We’d rather reduce the time we spend waiting in town for our battery to charge than the time it takes to charge our devices while hiking.
Don’t forget to install any related plugins. The wall charger and charging cable must also be compatible with fast charging to benefit from the input end.
And on the production end, your devices must also be compatible with fast charging, otherwise they will charge at normal speeds. This is another reason why we would prefer only KC input to only KC output.
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Hikers need to charge their batteries while in town. A fast charging setup could shorten each stop in the city by several hours.
Weekend warriors, on the other hand, do not
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