Tag: anker

10 editor-tested travel gifts for frequent fliers in 2023 | TechCrunch

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been traveling a lot this year. In fact, I’ve been back to my 2019 levels of travel, which has been a breath of fresh air after being pandemic-grounded for a couple of years.

I like to return to this list every time TechCrunch does a gift guide. It’s a good opportunity for me to assess whether I’m packing as efficiently as I could be. I would like to think I’ve got this thing down to a science, but the beauty of being a hardware editor is that there’s always new stuff to try out.

If you’ve got a frequent flier in your life, here’s a list of travel gifts running the gamut from less than $20 to more than $1,000. There’s something on here for every kind of tech-obsessed travel.

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

Tom Bihn Synik 30 Backpack

Price: $330 at Tom Bihn

Image Credits: Tom Bihn

If you’ve seen me in the past several years, odds are my Timbuk2 backpack was close by. I still love the thing (the ability to expand its internal volume is indispensable), but this seemed like a good time to shake things up and try something new.

Tom Bihn is one of those companies I’ve heard about over the years, but whose products I’d never actually tried. The 51-year-old firm seems to have cultivated a similarly devoted following as fellow Seattle brand Filson (if you ever see Devin Coldewey in person, ask him his thoughts on waxed canvas). Neither are exactly a household name outside the PNW, but those who know them seem to love them.

When I told CEO Cindy Guan that I was working on a travel roundup, she recommended the Synik 30, and I think that’s the right call for my needs. For starters, it can fit laptops up to 16 inches — ideal for the 15-inch MacBook Air that’s been my travel companion for the past couple of years.

Beyond that, it’s just an all-around well-considered and good-looking product (digging the deep Wilderness Ballistic green color) with ample space, a ton of pockets and removable/customizable elements. It’s not cheap, though. The company offers some more affordable options, but the Synik is plenty durable and suitable for both travel and daily commutes, so you’ll get plenty of mileage out of the bag. It’s easily one of the best backpacks I’ve ever tested.

Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe

Price: $150 at Anker

Image Credits: Anker

Anker products are generally a safe bet. They’re high quality, without the same premium tax as a company like Mophie. The brand has also been innovating form factors quite a bit. This 3-in-1 charger is wildly compact and well suited for suitcases. It ships as a cube that folds out to charge a MagSafe compatible iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all at the same time.

The system supports 15 watt fast charging, while the MagSafe pad features an adjustable angle, so it can double duty in standby mode. No need to rely on the hotel alarm clock with this sitting next to your bedside.

At $150, it’s a good deal more than just buying a USB cable and wall adapter, but you’re effectively getting three chargers in one portable form factor that will free up a lot of travel space.

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch

Price: $1,299 at Amazon

Image Credits: Brian Heater

The M1 and M2 chips have been such massive gamechangers for travel. When I’m feeling particularly nostalgic for my older struggles, I’ll recall my days liveblogging for Engadget, when I had to bring along a massive power bank to make sure my laptop would survive the whole thing.

These days, however, I fly cross country without regard for charging up my Air. Let’s be honest, the outlets below the seats on Delta are a real crapshoot anyway. This is the laptop we always wanted the Air to be, but constraints on processing power and battery life always fell short.

As gifts go, it’s an expensive one. But more so than any other item on this list, this is an investment. If you’re not able to sleep on planes, at least you can finally get some real work done.

Ozlo Sleepbuds

Price: $229 at Indiegogo

Image Credits: Brian Heater

I’m going to do a thing I don’t usually do and recommend a product I’ve not had the chance to try yet. I’ve got some faith in the team behind the Ozlo Sleepbuds, given their pedigrees that played a critical role in the creation of Bose’s version. The company is also determined to fix some of the original ‘buds biggest issues, including their inability to stream music.

I always felt like Bose’s two swings at the product fell just short of greatness. That’s a bummer, as I’m a historically terrible sleeper and I really wanted to like the things. Attempting to sleep in regular earbuds and over-ear headphones is a bit of a nightmare scenario, so I’m really pulling for the product to be as good as it sounds.

We’ll keep you updated on the inevitable review. Meantime, you can preorder a pair over on Indiegogo for $229 — that’s $20 less than the Bose Sleepbuds II. How much are you willing to pay for a better night’s sleep?

Nintendo Switch Lite

Price: $199 at Amazon

Image Credits: Brian Heater

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild probably saved me from losing my mind during the early months of the pandemic. Tears of the Kingdom had a similar effect on me earlier this year. The Switch Lite is a great little portable system that’s ideal for long plane rides and during downtime at the hotel.

The biggest differences between the Lite and normal Switch are size, weight and a lack of TV connectivity. Because of the latter, the Joycons aren’t removable. If you anticipate the console spending a lot of time on the road, those sacrifices are more than worth it — not to mention the lower price point.

The Switch is getting a bit long in the tooth, six years after its release, but Nintendo has built a fantastic library of games in that time — not to mention access to older content through Switch Online. My biggest complaint remains the battery life, so definitely remember to pack that USB-C cable and turn on Airplane mode when able.

Apple AirTags 4-Pack

Price: $99 at Amazon

Image Credits: Apple

My advice? Buy the four-pack. I regret not doing that initially. I’ve since added AirTags to my keychain, wallet and luggage tag. As an almost comically absent-minded person with a lot of anxiety (great combination!), these things are worth the price for the peace of mind alone. Heck, I used the alert sound to find my keys inside my messy apartment about an hour ago.

If you’re an Android user, there are also some great alternatives out there from Tile, Chipolo and Samsung. They’re all great, relatively low-cost gifts that nearly anyone can find a use for — frequent travelers, in particular.

Amazon Kindle Scribe

Price: $340 at Amazon

Image Credits: Brian Heater

The original Kindle DX was a bit of a dud. I suspect tying a product’s successes to people’s desire to read newspapers in their original format via slow-loading e ink didn’t capture the public’s imagination as Amazon had hoped. Since then, there’s been very little in the way of deviation from the standard six-inch screen.

The 10.2-inch display was reason enough to make me check out the Scribe. I really like the larger format, and the big Kindle has been a constant fixture in my backpack ever since. The whole experience has opened up quite a bit with the arrival of Send-to-Kindle, a browser-based feature that let’s you drag and drop content that will be sent to your device the next time you fire it up.

Of course, the real selling point — as the name implies — is the ability to scrawl notes on the device. It’s the first Kindle to sport that functionality. I’ve been reminded the hard way that my typing is much smoother than my script, but the on-device handwriting detection is mercifully forgiving.

A year of Clear

Price: $189

Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Turns out air travel can actually be pretty nice — if you’re willing to pay. If you find yourself in several airports a year, this is one upgrade that can definitely justify the cost. A Clear pass will help you avoid the often hellish security lines at airports. It even gives you a leg up on folks with TSA Pre-Check.

It’s a great gift idea because it’s the kind of thing a lot of people would never think to buy for themselves. Once you’ve got it, however, it’s hard to know how you lived that long without it.

Beshon Flat Plug Power Strip

Price: $18 at Amazon

Image Credits: Beshon

Several years ago, I started packing a miniature power strip, and it’s been a game changer. While it’s true that more and more hotels are including in-room ports, you never know what you’re going to find until you open that door. Save yourself the grief of swapping plugs all night with one of these.

There are a ton of options out there — mostly at pretty good prices. I like this one, because it’s nice and compact, while packing in three outlets, a pair of USB-C ports and one USB-A, because you never know. It’s also a bonus for international travel, because you only need a single adapter.

Belkin iPhone Camera Mount

Price: $30 at Amazon

Apple Belkin Continuity Camera macOS. Image Credits: Brian Heater

My newest addition to the list has been another gamechanger for me. While it’s true that Apple improved its laptop cameras a couple of years back, the video quality still leaves much to be desired. If you have a Mac and an iPhone, the Continuity Camera feature breaks the game wide open.

I’ve been using the iPhone 15 Pro Max for work calls on the road, and nothing short of hooking up a DSLR to your computer comes close. This MagSafe accessory is a cheap addition to the arsenal that you can keep in your backpack and forget until you need it.

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Brian Heater

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November 3, 2023
Best portable chargers in 2022 | CNN Underscored
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CNN
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Even when working from home, a power supply can be hard to come by, what with your computer, monitor, WiFi hub and other gadgets and gizmos and their wall chargers hogging those sparse outlets. And when you’re on the go, a solid power source is especially a necessity. The solution: a portable charger to keep your phone, tablet and more juiced to the max.

So to help identify the best options for avoiding that dreaded “low battery” notification, we spent several weeks testing portable chargers — draining devices, charging them up and calculating capacities. Ultimately, we found three winners that each stole the show in their own way.

Best portable charger overall

Where the Anker PowerCore 13000 shone most was in charging capacity. It boasts 13,000mAh, which is enough to fully charge an iPhone 11 two and a half times. Plus, it has two fast-charging USB Type-A ports so you can juice a pair of devices simultaneously.

The most portable

The ultraportable Belkin Power Pocket 5K is almost the exact same size as an iPhone SE, but weighs even less. And, proving the old adage “big things come in small packages” correct, it packs enough power to fully charge an iPhone 11 from its singular USB Type-A port.

Best portable charger for iPhone

The Belkin Boost Power Pocket 5K goes hand-in-hand with iPhones thanks to the inclusion of a Lightning port along with the USB Type A port. That means you can use the same cord to charge your phone and refill the battery.

Benjamin Levin/CNN

Simply put, the Anker PowerCore 13000 packs a ton of value.

You can charge a lot with this thing — and quickly. The PowerCore 13000 has enough capacity to bring an iPhone 11 to full charge two and a half times, or two Samsung Galaxy S20s from empty to more than 90%. And you won’t be sitting by idly for too long, either, as the PowerCore 13000 takes just 41 minutes to charge an iPhone 11 to 50%, tied for fastest charging in our testing.

While the PowerCore 13000 doesn’t fully live up to its promise of 13,000mAh (we found it delivers 7918mAh), it hit a respectable 61% of what’s advertised — a percentage that put it about average among all the batteries we tested. In other words: None of the portable chargers we tested fully lived up to their claims, and the PowerCore 13000 still has more charging capacity than most others we tested. (You can read more about how we measured mAhs by scrolling down.) Plus, it’s just a few more bucks than the Belkin Pocket Power 5K for more than double the mAhs.

The side of the battery houses three ports: dual USB Type-A ports (which are fast-charging) and a micro-USB port to charge the battery itself — allowing you to run several USB-C cables to different devices all at once. When we charged an iPhone 11 and a Nintendo Switch simultaneously, the battery barely heated up. Four LED lights alert you to the charger’s remaining battery life, with a button on the edge to turn the lights on.

The charger’s matte plastic design feels nice to the touch and resists smudging surprisingly well. It’s about the size of a full wallet, so it’s easy to carry around. And it’s durable: The charger survived our drop tests, which included a 3-foot drop onto grass and a 1.5-foot drop onto carpet, with neither external nor internal damage. (You can read more about our durability testing below.)

Overall, not only does the Anker PowerCore 13000 pack major mAhs, but it’s got two ports for your USB cables and is fairly small and durable.

Benjamin Levin/CNN

When we first encountered the Belkin Power Pocket 5K, it was hard to believe its size: just 5 inches long, 2.5 inches wide and a half-inch thick. There are few places this battery won’t fit, yet many devices it’ll charge.

It was the smallest and the lightest charger we tested; you might even mistake it for the phone in your pocket. This portable charger is really the definition of a personal power bank, easily whipped out of a pocket and held alongside your mobile device.

The charging capacity of the Power Pocket 5k is modest, but it did come closest to living up to its claimed output out of all the models we tested. While its maximum capacity is stated to be 5,000mAh, we measured it at about 3,655mAh. That’s 73% of the expected value, which is 12% better than average in our testing. While its capacity isn’t huge, it’s more than enough to bring an iPhone 11 or Samsung Galaxy S10 battery back to full life. The only significant downside we could find was the charging speed: It takes a little more than 51 minutes to charge an iPhone 11 to 50%.

The Anker PowerCore 13000 features four battery-indicating LEDs on its side alongside a button to turn them on. Around the corner are the ports: a single USB-C input along with a micro-USB port to charge the battery with the included charging cable. Like the PowerCore 13000, the Pocket Power 5K received no superficial or internal damage during our drop testing. And you can rest assured that even if you do break it, it comes with a two-year warranty along with a generous $2,500 connected equipment warranty (which covers unlikely electrical damage to tech that was properly plugged into the Pocket Power 5K).

The wee-as-can-be Belkin Pocket Power 5K is impressive for its size. Although the capacity isn’t huge, it’s more than enough to fulfill the needs of most personal devices and small enough to keep in your pocket everywhere you go — and a bit lighter on the wallet for those on a budget.

Benjamin Levin/CNN

The Belkin Boost Charge Power Pocket 5K offers a bit less capacity than the Belkin Power Pocket 5K, but it’s a match made in heaven for iPhones — and it charges faster, too.

Along one side of the Belkin Boost Charge resides a USB Type-A port and a Lightning port (MFi-approved) to charge the battery. This is the big deal here — that’s the very same kind of port that your iPhone and iPad has. In other words, as long as you have a Lightning cable to charge your iPhone (we’re going to assume you do), you have a cable to recharge your battery, too. Consolidating cables is a big win in our book. This charger also pairs better alongside a smartphone because it’s lighter than the Anker 13000 and sports more of a rectangular shape, so it fits a bit more snug in the hand.

The Boost Power Pocket 5K has more than enough juice to fully charge an iPhone 11. It also took a little more than 45 minutes to charge an iPhone 11 to 50%, which is faster than the Belkin Pocket Power 5K by six minutes. The capacity of the BOOST Power Pocket 5K is advertised as 5,000mAh and, during our testing, we measured about 3,415mAh. That’s nearly 70% of the advertised value, making it one of the top three batteries we tested in terms of living up to its promise (the average was about 61%).

All in all, the Belkin Boost Charge Power Pocket 5K is a terrific personal charger for your iPhone. With both MFi certification and cable consolidation thanks to the Lightning port, it should really stand out to iPhone users.

We ran each and every portable charger through a series of tests. We charged each battery to full, ran it dry juicing up one or several devices, calculated its capacity and compared charging speeds. At the same time, we took a look at properties like weight, size, build quality and visual design. Whether it was a chunky battery that could charge all our tech, or a slim, sleek battery with enough to fill an iPhone, we put these things through the ringer.

Read on to see the breakdowns of all our testing categories.
Battery Size: We noted how many milliamp Hours (mAh) each battery promised.

Meets Estimation: This is where we measured how much each battery could actually provide in mAhs. To do so, we charged a variety of devices with each battery, recording how much battery life (aka what percentage) each device gained. When a device was at about 95%, but the battery was not empty, we immediately swapped it for a different device. Once a battery was empty, we calculated how many mAhs it provided in total across all the devices it charged and then divided the promised total by the recorded value. This allowed us to figure out what percentage of its promised total each battery provided. We used a 0.3M Nomad Universal Cable, plugged into a battery’s USB-A port (fast charging if available), to charge each device. The device pool we chose from for charging was: iPhone 11, iPhone 8, Fire HD 10 tablet, Nintendo Switch and Bose QuietComfort 35 II.
Design and materials: We researched what materials each battery was made of, as well as how many color options are available. We also felt out the quality of each battery’s build. Visually, we checked out how each device looked alongside a variety of tech, noting if it appeared too big or small beside it, as well as if you could hold a battery and a phone in the same hand or pocket. The device pool we chose from for this was: iPhone 11, Fire HD 10 tablet and Nintendo Switch.

Size and weight: We checked each battery’s dimensions, volume and weight. In our scoring, we favored smaller, lighter devices.
Dust resistance: We checked whether the product is rated to resist dust, and to what extent it does so. This test was incorporated into our drop test below. After dropping a device onto grass, we checked how much dust and dirt it picked up. We also look into whether these particles could be dislodged from the ports via shaking the device or using compressed air.

Drop Test: We performed two drop tests: 3 feet onto grass and 1.5 feet onto carpet. The former was to simulate a likely drop scenario outdoors, and the latter indoors. After each test, we examined the battery for superficial damage and checked whether it still functioned.
Number of ports: We counted the number of ports on each device that could output power. We noted each port type, which could be one of the following: USB Type-A, USB Type-C, micro USB or Lightning. We also noted how many, if any, USB Type-A ports supported fast charging.

Wireless charging: We noted whether a device supported wireless charging.

Speed of charge: We charged an iPhone 11 from about 5% until it received 50% battery, recording how long the process took.
Warranty: We researched the duration of each device’s warranty.
The Otterbox Otterspot is unlike any portable charger we’ve seen before. The system works as follows: A disk-shaped charging pad can charge mobile devices wirelessly, as well as the included disk-shaped battery via charging pins. The battery, which can be stacked up to three on the pad, can charge devices wirelessly or with a cable and then be recharged upon the pad. Wirelessly, it only delivered 2,519mAh to an iPhone 11. With a wired connection, it provided 3,134mAh. This is significantly less than, say, the 3,655mAh from the Belkin Pocket Power 5K with the same 5,000mAh promise. Overall, the Otterbox Otterspot is an awesome concept that may need some work on the capacity end.

TheAnker PowerCore III Sense 10K is a beautiful charger. It comes in multiple vibrant colors and features a woven yarn surface on top and matte plastic below. Unfortunately, it only provided 4,189mAh of its expected 10,000mAh capacity. This is 42% of the expected value, compared with the 61% the Anker PowerCore 13,000 was able to achieve. Despite its aesthetic beauty and quality build, this battery dropped the ball on capacity.

The Anker PowerCore II 20000 is the same price as the Anker PowerCore III Sense 10K, but provides 12,300mAh of its promised 20,000mAh. This is a more respectable 61.5% of what’s expected. The battery is pretty hefty and large, but it feels very durable and has a unique texture that eliminates most smudging. Compared to its 20,000mAh counterpart, the Elecjet PowerPie Power Bank, it weighs way less and provides more mAhs.

The Aukey 8,000mAh Power Bank was a favorite among those we tested. It’s quite slim, and a little lighter than the Anker PowerCore 13000. Out of the 8,000mAh expectation, it delivered 5509mAhs, which is almost 70%. That’s impressive, made better by three functional output ports and wireless charging (a feature that didn’t end up working on our unit). But despite this battery’s promising properties, it fell short of the PowerCore 13000’s capacity at a higher price, and it didn’t charge an iPhone 11 nearly as fast.

The Elecjet PowerPie Power Bank lists the same 20,000mAh capacity as the Anker PowerCore II 20000, except it reached just 11,969mAh, or about 60% of what we expected. It also weighs more and has a less sleek design, which didn’t help it score-wise. Overall, it’s got a lot of juice to provide, but it didn’t find a place among the winners.
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December 22, 2022