Apollo Max Power Bank review: The fastest power bank for the Note 10+ (and pretty much everything else)

When the Note 10+ was first announced back in August, its claims of 45W charging made me sit up and cheer, especially because on launch day, all we thought you needed to use it was Power Delivery, an open and widely supported standard. Alas, Samsung had to be Samsung and utilized a substandard of USB Power Delivery charging called PPS, which kicked users back down to lower speeds when using most wall chargers and all power banks.

That changes with the Apollo Max, which wraps up its Indiegogo campaign this weekend. This 10,000mAh power bank not only supports Power Delivery speeds up to 60W for output — and a staggering 100W input for recharging itself — but it also supports PPS to charge the Note 10+ at its full 45 watt speed. I've been testing the Apollo Max for the last month, and it's held up really well.

Apollo Max Power Bank Super fast

Source: Ara Wagoner / Android Central

The Apollo Max's charging speeds are ridiculous at face value, but they do hold up. It charged my Note 10+ at 45W, bringing it back from the dead in less than an hour. I never ran the bank completely dead — I tend to only need 3-5,000mAh to keep my phone alive for the rest of the evening at the Magic Kingdom — but it recharged quickly on the 45W and 60W wall chargers I keep around the house.

Outside the 45W charging on the Note 10+, this is a great power bank for laptop users who don't want to lug around some hulking beast like the Sherpa 100 PD but still want a power bank they can count on in a pinch. The Apollo Max supports 60W PD output, not top speed for a MacBook but enough to keep it from dying while you race to finish your Final Cut editing.

Perhaps the best part of this power bank, though, is the fact that you can recharge it in 20 minutes when used with a 100W Power Delivery charger. Elecjet uses a dual battery configuration and graphene cooling layer to keep the bank from overheating at those speeds.

Apollo Max Power Bank The price of being first

This is indeed the first power bank to charge the Note 10+ at top speed, but that quicker charging tech takes space, which makes the Apollo Max a thicker and stouter portable battery than most new 10,000mAh models that launched in 2019. If you didn't look at the numbers on the back, you'd probably guess it's double the capacity when you pick up this hefty specimen, but it's still easy enough to slip in a purse or backpack.

And even if it fits in your pants pocket, I wouldn't slip it in there unless you really trust your belt.

Speaking of heavy, that 100W charger that the Apollo Max review unit came with is also a chonker, but 100W chargers can only shrink so small at the moment, so there's not too much Elecjet can do there. I've done most of my recharging of the Apollo Max with a 45W charger instead for this reason, and 45W still recharges the bank quickly enough.

Apollo Max Power Bank

This is an Indiegogo campaign that is projected to ship in February — and yes, there's always a fair chance of delays for a crowdfunded product like this, but it's Elecjet's fourth campaign so I'm not overly worried there. The Apollo Max is a lightning-fast charger and being the first PPS power bank means it will only become more useful in the coming year as more devices start implementing it.

4 out of 5

If you're looking for a power bank that can recharge your phone or laptop in a hurry and will recharge itself in even more of a hurry, the Apollo Max could be a great fit for you. I know it's going to serve me well in my gear bag on those dawn-to-close days at Walt Disney World.