Back in January I was sent a couple of emergency phone chargers to review from PowerPackXL.co.uk. I received a PowerPackXL Mini and a PowerPackXL Medium to road test.
I found the company on twitter and when I saw that one of the products they sold was an emergency phone charger that will fit in a purse I just HAD to get in touch with them to see if they’d send me one for review. I was delighted that they said yes but even better than that was that they also sent me a larger sized PowerPackXL medium to review plus they kindly offered to give away one of each of those chargers as giveaway prizes! How fantastic is that! (You can see more about the giveaway at the end of this review post.)
Up until I received this emergency charger there has been numerous occasions when my phone battery has died when I am away from the house but since I got this charger this hasn’t happened once because the minute I see the battery running out I get the charger out of my purse, connect it up and watch the battery charge start increasing straight away.
You can see in my photo collage above just how easy it is to use the mini charger. It comes in a cardboard presentation box with a short cable that has micro USB and USB tips. This cable is what you need to charge the portable power bank up with. You plug the micro usb tip into the portable charger and then you plug the other end ,which is the USB tip , into the computer USB port or into a USB mains charger (these normally come with your smartphone). You then charge the portable charger up until all 4 green LED lights are lit up. Each light represents 25% charge of the battery so when all 4 lights are on – the battery is fully charged, When the occasion arises that you need to charge your micro USB powered phone/device or your iPhone 5 – all you have to do is connect one of the integrated tips to your phone/ device and then press the tiny button on the end of the charger so that your charge will then begin!
What a relief it is to know that I can now charge my phone when I am away from home. There is nothing like the worry of thinking your phone battery will die while you are out on your travels. It doesn’t bear thinking about really….what would you do if something ever happened and in an emergency you really needed to use your mobile but had no battery charge left?! At least when you carry an emergency charger with you that is no longer an issue.
As a mum it has given me real peace of mind to know that at any given time I can just get the PowerPackXL Mini out of my purse and get extra battery time on my phone. Thank you so much PowerPackXL for making that possible!
As an example, one time I used this was when I was out having tea in a cafe with my daughter. My battery had gone down to 15% so I decided to plug in my portable mini charger. At 5.28pm I had 15% battery , by 5.43pm I had 28% battery and by 5.50pm I had got 34% battery. So in 22 mins the battery had increased by 19%. I was perfectly happy with this and had we been eating for longer I would have let it charge up more but instead I unplugged it when we left the cafe. When the portable charger is fully charged up it can charge a smartphone with a flat battery from 0% to between 35% to 50% charge. The portable power pack has a battery capacity of 1020mAh.
You can buy the Mini Power Bank here www.powerpackxl.co.uk/new-pp-mini.html. It is currently on offer for £13.95 but it is normally £24.95. Don’t forget you can also enter my giveaway to be in with a chance of winning one!
In the photo above you can see the PowerPackXL medium that I was also sent. This hasn’t been used quite as often as the smaller charger only because I haven’t been on any long journeys or trips where I would have benefited from a portable charger that can charge a phone 3 or 4 times from flat. However that is set to change as I have a trip to Disneyland Paris coming up later in the year so this will be charged up fully for when I am away. However the reason I am most wanting to use the Medium power bank on my travels is to power my daughter’s Innotab Max and my digital camera when we are on the journey to France. Both of these devices have a micro usb charging port so the charger can be used to charge the battery on either of them. How fantastic! My daughter loves her Innotab Max and she can play games , watch movies and listen to music on it….so with the help of the Medium sized power bank the charge should last for most, if not all of the journey.
The charger is easy to operate. You just charge it up from your computer or mains, store it until needed and then when you need to charge something you put the USB end of the cable into the ‘out’ port on the power bank, attach the correct tip to the other end of the cable, plug it into your device, swipe over the front of the power bank to turn it on and then it will start charging your phone.
The Medium PowerPackXL is currently on offer for £15.95 instead of the usual £44.95. This is a real bargain and I don’t see how you can go wrong buying this at that price! Plus it (and all the other PowerPackXL chargers) comes with a 12 month replacement warranty so you can rest assured that in the unlikely event that your unit fails they will replace it for you. You can’t say fairer than that!
You can buy the Medium size emergency charger here www.powerpackxl.co.uk/powerpackxlblack.html or enter my giveaway to be in with a chance of winning one.
The two chargers I was sent for review are not the only portable chargers that they sell. You will also find in their shop that they sell the PowerPackXL Max Power Pack and the PowerPackXL – XXL!
The Max Power Bank can charge your phone 10 -15 times from flat because it is a massive 10,000Mah and it can currently be bought for £26.95 instead of £59.95. It is finished in an attractive brushed aluminium and it will be suitable as a heavy duty portable charger to use on mobile phones, tablets and other devices. It comes with all the usual tips and a USB charging cable. You can buy it here – www.powerpackxl.co.uk/Max.html
The PowerPackXL -XXL sounds amazing! It is is so powerful it can actually jump start your car! It is made for extra-heavy users and the 18,000Mah capacity charger comes in a leatherette zipped carry case which includes charging pins to charge all makes and models of phone and laptop plus there are 12V car jump-starting clamps (up to a 3.0L petrol or diesel car or van). What a gift this would make for the person who has everything. Bet they don’t have one of these….yet! This is currently available to buy for £49.95 instead of the usual price of £89.95. You can buy it here – www.powerpackxl.co.uk/XXL.html
If you would like to keep up to date with all the latest news from PowerPackXL please follow then on twitter and Like them on Facebook.
It has been a pleasure to review the 2 emergency phone chargers but what is even more exciting it the fact I have a PowerPackXL Mini and a PowerPackXL Medium to give away. There will be 2 lucky winners…the first winner drawn in the competition will win the Medium phone charger and the second winner drawn will win the Mini charger.
The chargers can be posted out worldwide so wherever you live you can enter this competition! 🙂
The prizes will be sent out by PowerPackXL Ltd and I’m afraid I accept no responsibility for delivery of the prizes. I will however make sure that PowerPackXL get your email address so that they can get your postal contact details from you to arrange delivery.
The competition ends on the 18th April 2015 at 11.59pm and the competition is powered by Gleam. Gleam is a wonderful competition app that allows you to enter my competition in many different ways….you can follow us on twitter, view a video, RT a tweet, comment on this blog etc etc.
What are you waiting for…….enter now! 🙂
(Please note that all prices of chargers are correct at time of publication – 18/03/150
Win 1 of 2 PowerPack XL Emergency Phone Chargers!
I’d use this charger when I am on days out with the kids – I often forget to charge my phone before we go out!
I would use it when my battery is low or has no power and also when I know I will away from home or the office and can’t charge it for awhile.
These are lifesavers!
I’d use it if I was out and out of juice.
These would be great my phone is always dying when i am out, I would use it when i am out at my friends would be so helpful as these are easy to carry around and i always forget my charger. i could put one in my purse then i wouldn’t need to worry about forgetting my charger.
If i won would use this when im out and about and dont have my charger and a plug with me, This would be very handy 🙂
I,d use it for festivals or camping x
Great could really do with one
I would take this everywhere with me, particularly when I am out with my little Grandson.
I would probably keep it in the car for days out
I would use the PowerPack XL to charge my phone and also my camera when it goes dead.This would be so beneficial to me when I am away from home and my devices go dead and need to be recharged.
I would use this when travelling or during brownouts.
Cool. The new Tech blows me away.
very useful gadget indeed
when i’m out for the day with the kids
for my kindle. always running out of power when engrossed in a good book
We camp, fish and hike so I would take it to all of the above – would be amazing to have. thanks for the chance 🙂
when i go to download festival!
When I’m out and about.
Those long days in college …
I always seem to run out of charge when i use the satnav on my phone so this would be very handy for those occasions.
while at work
I want to win.The battery of my phone is to small.Thanks for the change.
Whenever I needed to, wouldn’t matter anymore, with this nifty little gadget.
i’ll use it when i’am at work or when i’am travelling.. 🙂
Whenever I forget to charge my phone overnight
I’d use it when we are travelling on holiday in the UK – I could take as many photos as I wanted as we travelled along.
I would use it on a long journey in the car
I would use it on holiday.
I could use this while I travel every weekend to see my family or when I’m out all day long and forget to charge my phone
these are so handy, my other half has one, he cant live without it!
Id use it when I ran out of battery when im not home so I don’t have to brig my charger with me.
When glamping this summer and whenever i need to, really
Perfect for festivals
When I’m out and about and on holiday
When I’m out and about.
Count me in
use it when im camping
When I’m on the train 🙂
All the time! Am always running out of charge. 🙁
Whenever travelling as I don’t drive and buses so rarely have sockets to charge!
Hope to win! It will be a very big help! 😀
This would be soooo useful!
When I’m at work,working out doors,when I’m on evening out!
All the comps I do I can really do with this
I would use it on a day out, I often forget to fully charge my phone so this would be ideal
I would it when I was out for the day 🙂
i would use this on my weekend in london !! brilliant gadget
During festivals in the summer
Use it when on holiday
would take it with me on my travels
very useful gadget
great idea- useful at work
Very useful if I’m out and suddenly out!
I would use it when I’m tracking my walks through the forest! Always run out of battery so never know how many calories I’ve actually burnt!
When we are on one of our camping holidays x
when my phone runs out at work
I’d love to win one – ideal for camping and day trips – without my phone I am lost
We had a lovely day out last summer at the Harry Potter studios but my phone ran out of battery half way around so I was unable to take pictures. This would come in really handy on days such as this.
Id use it on day trips and holidays
When out on family days
This is an amazingly useful piece of equipment! I would use this on holiday and when we go for days out, as having a teenage daughter, having more pieces of technology than I care to mention, they are always running out of power and she is then left moaning! This would save a lot of teenage tantrums!
Great! There’s always gonna be those unexpected times when the phones out of battery by accident and you HAVE to use it. So handy 🙂
I would take it to work with me because the amount of times my phone dies because I am having to work longer than I meant to.
These would be amazing for extended days out and travelling 🙂
i would use it on nights out or camping weekends and festivals
when I am away from home and my devices go dead and need to be recharged.
I would use it for day trips out with the family as my phone always runs out of battery because I take so many photos.
I would take it on my holidays to Essex in June & Devon in September it would be perfect for when we were off exploring the local attractions so we can get plenty of photos and music for our picnics!
Hate it when my phone dies