Anker PowerCore 20000 power bank review

Price When Reviewed

$49.99

High in capacity and super-fast, for extended stays away from mains power the Anker PowerCore 20000 power bank is an essential gadget for keeping your phones, tablets and other mobile devices powered up. Also see: Best power banks 2018

As we enter the festival- and holiday season, a power bank such as this really comes into its own. It can keep the kids’ tablets topped up during long journeys or flights (you can take anything up to 27,000mAh on a plane), and keep your phone going through several days pitched up in a tent.

They come in all shapes and sizes but, in general, the higher-capacity the better, since you’ll get more charges for your phone or tablet before they need refilling. This Anker PowerCore 20000 has a 20,000mAh capacity, and with an industry-standard 60- to 70 percent efficiency you should get five full charges for a Samsung Galaxy S7 or seven charges for an iPhone 6s. See all power bank reviews

The problem with high-capacity power banks is they tend to be big and heavy, and can be rather expensive. Anker has changed all this with its PowerCore 20000, which is said to be 30 percent  smaller and 27 percent lighter than comparable power banks. It’s the smallest power bank of this capacity we’ve ever seen, and although you probably wouldn’t choose to carry this 369g slab in a pocket you could if you so wished.

If it’s still too big for you, this PowerCore 20000 is big brother to the awesome Anker PowerCore 10000 we reviewed earlier this week.

Rounded corners and a tough plastic shell make the Anker PowerCore feel sufficiently rugged for throwing into a bag and taking on the road, and its minimalistic black casing helps it to slip away without drawing too much unwanted attention. Anker also supplies a mesh carry case, which lets you keep together both power bank and cable, ready for when you need them. Also see: Best MiFi 2016.

The PowerCore 20000 is also affordable for a power bank of this capacity, available to buy from Amazon UK for £27.99 (or $49.99 from Amazon.com). We think that represents excellent value, especially when you take into account that Anker is one of the best-known names in charging tech. Also see: How to improve smartphone battery life.

We wouldn’t expect to find an LCD screen at this price, but the four LEDs Anker uses to show how much power remains in the bank become less useful (with bigger jumps between each) the higher in capacity you go. A single button on the PowerCore’s side lets you see how much power is left using these LEDs, but it’s not needed for charging, which begins automatically when you plug in a USB device.

That low price is even more appealing given the fact the Anker PowerCore 20000 supports the latest standard in fast-charging tech: Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. One of its two USB outputs supports this new standard, which can charge compatible devices (for example the HTC 10, Xiaomi Mi 5 and LG G5) up to four times faster than a standard phone charger. It’s backward-compatible with older Quick Charge protocols, and even if your device isn’t compatible it offers fast charging. Also see: What is Quick Charge 3.0? Best QC3 accessories

The second USB output is rated at just 1A (or 5W), but has IQ tech that cleverly recognises your device type and delivers the optimum charge. Also see: How to charge your phone’s battery faster.

Fortunately, given its huge capacity, re-fuelling the PowerCore is a speedy affair with a 2A (10W) Micro-USB input. It’s a shame that the power bank doesn’t support passthrough charging, which enables you to power up both the power bank and any connected devices from a single mains outlet, but Anker says this feature has been disabled to avoid any negative impact it may have on the battery.

Read next: Best desktop chargers 2016.

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