Aukey sent me their humungous 30,000mAh portable charger to take a look at. I've been using it for a week or so as my primary way to keep the phones I'm using charged up, and can say wholeheartedly that this thing is just what the doctor ordered if you're a power user or on the go a lot. Or both.
Before we get into anything else, you have to know it's big. Not big like regular big, but big like GREAT BIG. And heavy. It's a hair under 6-inches long, 3.5 inches wide and just over an inch thick. On the scales, it comes it at 20.6 ounces with a full charge. It takes about 13 hours to charge it using the Nexus 6P charger. So basically, this isn't just a "regular" external battery pack. It's a beast designed for people who want or need a beast of a portable power station.
The operation is pretty simple. You charge it through a USB Type-C port or a Micro-USB port, or both. As mentioned, I used my Nexus 6P charger to bring it back to full power two of the three times I had to recharge, but I did try the turbo charge method using both inputs. That takes about 5 hours from darn-near-dead to full. I didn't notice any excessive heat, but it does get warm while charging. When it's fully charged the green LED stops blinking. Other than having two charging inputs that can be used at the same time, there's nothing crazy or exciting here. Plug it in, charge it up, and you have a box of juice you can use to recharge your phone. Or tablet. Or MacBook. It's a great big box of juice that will charge your things plenty of times and has everything needed to do it quickly.
This portable charger is big and heavy. But it holds so much juice we can't complain about it.
The outputs set it apart from many other portable power sources and external batteries. The AUKEY PB-Y3 30000mAh Power Bank (that's it's full name in scientific notation and stuff) has two USB outputs, a Micro-USB input, and a USB Type-C port. The Micro-USB input is only there to charge it. That's easy — plug it into a charger you would use for a phone or anything that has a Micro-USB plug and charge away. Unplug it later after it's finished. The other ports are more interesting.
The USB C port is a full USB Type-C interface that acts as both an input to charge the battery inside the charger and as a port to plug your phone or tablet in. It is a USB-C rapid charger and can top the Nexus 6P from a red icon low-charge state to about 70% in about 15 or 20 minutes. It will charge it to full in 90 minutes. It will charge a Pixel C from dead to full in about 2.5 hours. I don't have a MacBook here to test it with.
You can charge just about anything, and probably do it more than once.
The two USB outputs are color-coded. There's an orange port that uses Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 feature, and a green port that uses standard USB power delivery. The QC 3.0 port will charge my HTC 10 from dead to 50% in about 15 minutes. It slows down after that and takes between 90 minutes and two hours to charge it to full capacity. This is exactly how Quick Charge is supposed to work. The green port will charge a phone (I used my BlackBerry Priv on that port to test it) in about 2.5 hours, but there's no initial boost from any faster-charging tech. Both USB -A ports support Aukey's AIPower tech, which monitors battery feedback to charge things safer and faster.
There's also an LED flashlight built in, which you turn on and off by holding the power button.
| Category | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 30,000mAh |
| Micro-USB input | 5V 2.4A |
| USB-C input/output | 5V 3A |
| Quick Charge 3.0 USB output | 3.6V-6.5V/3A, 6.5V-9V/2A, 9V-12V/1.5A |
| Aukey AIPower USB output | 5V 2.4A |
| Nominal dimensions | 5.9'' × 3.3'' × 1.1'' |
| Nominal weight | 20.4 oz |
The real story is the capacity. You can charge a phone like the Galaxy S7 edge from dead to full five times. You can charge a Pixel C from dead to full two times. In both cases, you have enough left-over power to charge something with a smaller battery once or twice. On one charge of the Aukey portable charger, I was able to charge a Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, HTC 10, Galaxy S7 edge, a set of MotoRokr Bluetooth headphones and 5 batteries for my Sony camera. And I was able to charge the Nexus 6P and HTC 10 at the same time and use their fast-charging tech. There's 30,000mAh in there to do whatever you need to do with it. That's a lot of juice.
This Aukey portable charger is perfect for a trip or in your gear bag.
I wouldn't recommend this for someone who needs an external battery for Pokemon Go or Ingress. It's too bulky and heavy to carry around in your pocket, and there are plenty of other solutions that can work and aren't quite as cumbersome. But if you plan on going camping or on a road trip, or have a job that requires a gear bag filled with things that need to be charged, this is probably the best gadget you'll find to keep your phone topped up. I'd buy one with my own money, and am not afraid to recommend you do the same.
