Best Battery Packs for Pokemon Go

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The Best Battery Packs for Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go has led to a surge in demand for battery packs. You can only play Pokemon Go for as long as your phone has battery life. Even if you fully charge your phone before going out on an adventure, it’s probably not going to last more than 1 or 2 hours with the display constantly on.

That’s why many serious Pokemon Go players have bought battery packs. It could be the difference between finally capturing that gym or watching your phone die right before the gym’s prestige meter drops to 0.

A good battery pack lets you recharge your phone on-the-go. A good battery pack is portable and small enough to comfortably fit into your pocket, a backpack, or a purse. And of course, a good Pokemon Go battery pack lasts longer than your opponents’ battery pack.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the most popular Pokemon Go battery packs available today.

Anker PowerCore 10000

This 10,000 mAh battery pack packs a serious punch with 10,000 mAh of total capacity. Considering large smartphones have batteries between 2500 and 3500 mAh in size, it will be able to recharge even large phones (like the iPhone 6 Plus or Galaxy Note) from 0 to 100 at least once or twice (remember, you never get full 100% efficiency from your battery packs – it’s closer to 80% efficiency).

There’s a reason the Anker PowerCore is the leading battery pack in the United States right now: it’s small enough to be portable, but still large enough to pack a serious battery life punch.

If you want to splurge and pay a little more money for a lot more battery life, then Anker also offers a 20,000 mAh version. It’s one of the smaller 20,000 mAh battery packs available and is capable of charging your phone 5 to 6 times over.

One of my personal favorite things about the Anker PowerCore lineup is the QuickCharge 3.0 technology. If you have a smartphone that supports this technology (like the Galaxy S lineup), then you can charge a smartphone from 0 to 100 in as little as an hour. It’s crazy fast.

Other perks of this Pokemon Go battery pack include an 18 month warranty, an included micro-USB cable, and a handy travel pouch.

EasyAcc Monster 26,000 mAh Power Bank

If 10,000 mAh is too puny for you, then consider switching to the EasyAcc Monster 26,000 mAh option. This beast doesn’t even call itself a battery pack: it calls itself a “Power Bank”.

Despite the large size and charging capacity, the EasyAcc probably isn’t as big as you think. It’s still easy enough to carry around (although it’s not quite pocket-sized unless you have really big pockets).

Nevertheless, Pokemon Go players with the EasyAcc Monster will beat players with the PowerCore 10,000 every day of the weak. It’s a battle of attrition out there, and you can’t afford to have less power. In an arms race for the most battery life, the EasyAcc Monster 26,000 is an atomic bomb.

Hyperbole aside, this charger will allow you to recharge an average smartphone 7 or 8 times (remember the 80% efficiency rule). The important restriction here is that it doesn’t have Quick Charge functionality, so your charging times will be longer than the QuickCharge 3.0-supported devices listed here.

Fortunately, you have two micro-USB inputs, allowing you to charge two devices at once without impacting charging speeds. So if you and your team are taking down a local gym, this might be the battery pack for you.

Lepow Detachable Cell Phone Case and Battery

Lepow is known for its detachable cell phone cases with battery packs. True to the company’s form, the Lepow Detachable Cell Phone Case and Battery is a 2-in-1 device that acts as a phone case and as a 3,000 mAh extended battery. It comes with a stylish PIXELS design that makes it easy to affix onto the back of your phone for use in the real world.

This battery pack will significantly increase the thickness of your phone (on most phones, it will double the thickness). However, you also get a battery life that’s twice as long as normal. You can leave the charger plugged in constantly or just use it in emergency situations – like making a last ditch attempt to get an enemy team to 0 prestige.

The case itself is also useful for Pokemon Go players out and about in the real world. It’s a soft rubber material with a brick design that makes it easier to grip. The sleek design comes with some flashy colors – and you can even use it to show off your team (both electric blue and sunshine yellow are available, although there’s no color for Team Valor).

This is the smallest battery pack on our ranking of the best Pokemon Go battery packs, but it’s also the most portable. You don’t have to carry around anything extra – it just attaches onto the back of your smartphone with ease.

CHOETECH 10400 mAh Portable Charger

The CHOETECH 10400 mAh portable battery charger comes with desirable features like QuickCharge 3.0 and a 5V/3A output port you can use to charge slower devices. There’s also an attached Lightning port.

If you want fast charging over everything else, then the CHOETECH 10,400 mAh Portable Charger may be your best option. You can expect charging speeds up to 75% faster than an ordinary charger (on devices that support QuickCharge). Its 10,400 mAh capacity puts it at the lower end of the battery pack range, but it still has enough juice to charge an average smartphone 2 or 3 times.

Aukey 16,000 mAh Power Bank

The Aukey 16,000 mAh Power Bank has a high capacity, a sleek black design, and an included micro-USB cable. The only real downside is that it doesn’t support QuickCharge 3.0. However, it does support Qualcomm QuickCharge 2.0 – which is good enough for most users.

Like other Pokemon Go battery packs listed here, you can find status indicator lights along the side of the battery pack indicating how much charge is left in the power bank.

Tenergy ARC200 Universal Mobile Power Pack

The Tenergy ARC5200 Universal Mobile Power Pack has the lowest capacity out of all the non-case battery packs listed here, but it makes up for that low capacity with a cheaper price, a sexy design, and dual charging capabilities. The 5200 mAh battery is still enough to charge most phones 1.5 times. Plus, it comes with two built-in charging cables, including one for your Apple devices and another for Android devices (Lightning and micro-USB heads are available on the cables).

The ability to charge two devices simultaneously makes the Tenergy ARC5200 a desirable choice for Pokemon Go players who work in teams – or anyone who is a serious enough Pokemon Go player to have two devices and two accounts.

RAVPower Luster 3,000 mAh Mini Portable Charger

Do you like the idea of having more battery life, but don’t like the size of the above battery packs? The RAVPower Luster 3,000 mAh Mini Portable Charger is an excellent choice. This charger is literally the size of a lipstick container. It can fit inside a purse or pocket and be discretely attached to any phone when you need an extra boost.

It doesn’t have fancy features like QuickCharge. There are no included cables. And it’s only enough to charge your smartphone from 0 to 100 once (if you’re lucky). However, it makes up for these shortcomings with a cheap price point.

Top 3 Things to Look for in a Pokemon Go Battery Pack

In declining order of importance, here are the things you should look for when shopping for a Pokemon Go battery pack:

1) Battery Size

Consider the size of the battery in your smartphone. Then, look at the size of the battery in the chargers listed above. Most smartphones sold in the last 3 years have a battery size between 1500mAh and 3500mAh.

The battery packs listed above will run at between 60% to 80% efficiency. If you buy a 10,000mAh battery pack, then that means you should expect to get 6,000mAh to 8,000mAh from the pack when it’s fully charged. By that math, that’s enough to charge a 2,000mAh smartphone 3 or 4 times from 0 to 100 – which is a big boost when playing Pokemon Go whether you’re taking over a gym or just exploring.

Some popular smartphone battery sizes include:

  • Galaxy S6: 2500mAh
  • Galaxy S7: 3000mAh
  • iPhone 6: 1810mAh
  • iPhone 6 Plus: 2915mAh
  • iPhone 6S: 1715mAh
  • Nexus 6: 3220mAh

Take a quick Google search for your phone’s battery life before you buy a portable charger for Pokemon Go. Then, consider how many times you’d like to charge your phone on the go. Finally, pick a charger that lets you do that.

2) Portability

Pokemon Go requires you to explore the world. If you could just sit at home with your phone plugged into an outlet, then you wouldn’t be reading an article about Pokemon Go portable batteries.

Portability is key when shopping for battery packs. The bigger batteries offer more juice, but can’t fit into your pocket. The smaller batteries can fit into your pocket, but don’t have enough juice.

Fortunately, battery technology gets better and better every day, which means that we’re increasingly seeing portable batteries with 10,000mAh or higher than are only slightly larger than a credit card (although considerably thicker).

Anyways, if you’re just throwing your phone into a backpack to charge, then portability isn’t a major concern. If you want to walk around with at least one hand free, however, then you may want to consider an ultra-portable case battery charger.

3) Price

If price is a non-issue, you can get a massive battery pack with a sleek design and excellent portability.

Most of us, however, didn’t just win the lottery. Price is an important concern. Battery pack prices have come down a lot over the years, and you can get portable chargers for under $20 today.

In general, here’s how much you should expect to pay for Pokemon Go chargers:

  • $: $10 to $25
  • $$: $25 to $65
  • $$$: $65 to $125
  • $$$$: $125 and up

By following the tips listed above, you can become the Pokemon Go player that outlasts everyone else at gyms in your city. Invest in a Pokemon go battery pack today and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a Pokemon master.

 

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