Expert's Rating
Our Verdict
The PNY PowerPacks are lightweight battery life savers that you can carry around without noticing until your smartphone suddenly fades. The DCM2200 and DCL2200 include built-in connectors so you don’t need to carry round cables, just the battery pack. The DCM2200 is for non-Apple smartphones as it has a Micro USB connector. iPhone users will choose the Lightning-equipped DCL2200. The PowerPack T2600 offers a little more charge but does require the right cable for your phone.
PNY has a full range of ultra-portable PowerPacks for just about any mobile device out there. Each is slightly larger and heavier than a cigarette lighter but at 60g will hardly be noticed in a briefcase, handbag or even a jacket pocket.
The PowerPack DCL2200 and DCM2200 are handy battery packs for smartphone users. Both have a charge capacity of 2,200mAh (milliamp hours) that should give most smartphones a full recharge, saving you from that dreaded battery life warning that can ruin your day.
Most handy for iPhone users is the £26.99 Direct Connect Lightning 2200 (PowerPack DCL2200) that connects directly with the iPhone with its built-in Lightning connector. This saves you the bother of carrying a Lightning cable around with you. As Apple charges £25 for such cables this battery pack looks even better value for money.
Its 2,200mAh Li-ion battery should give you at least a full charge for a depleted iPhone 6 (which has a 1,810mAh battery) and more for an iPhone 5s (which has a 1,560mAh battery). The iPhone 6 Plus packs a 2,915mAh battery so you’ll likely get around a 70 percent charge from the DCL2200.
Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone users will appreciate the £17.99 PowerPack DCM2200 rechargeable battery that can extend the life of a smartphone by up to one full charge, depending on the phone’s internal battery capacity.
For convenient and easy charging the PowerPack DCM2200 has a built-in Micro-USB connecter that plugs in and fits flush against the bottom of a smartphone that uses a Micro USB charger.
Each unit’s LED indicator uses four lights to display the Power Pack’s battery level status. And both come with a Micro-USB cable to charge the Power Pack.
PNY also sells the affordable PowerPack T2600/T5200/T7800/T10400 with a Universal USB output for the widest range of devices. All you need to do is plug a Micro USB (Android etc) or Lightning (for iPhones and iPads) cable into the battery pack.
The highly affordable, entry-level 2,600mAh PowerPack T2600 (£11.99) packs a charge that should double the battery life of most smartphones. The £19.99 T5200 (5,200mAh) should give two full charges to a smartphone, and the larger units (£29.99 T7800 and £39.99 T10400) will take a tablet to a full charge or multiple for smartphones.
These also have easy-to-read LED battery level indicators so you can tell how much battery charge the pack has remaining.
Author: Simon Jary, Contributing writer
Simon was Editor of Macworld from the dark days of 1995 to the triumphant return of Steve Jobs and the launch of the iPhone. His desk is a test bench for tech accessories, from USB-C and Thunderbolt docks to chargers, batteries, Powerline adaptors and Fitbits.