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Iceworks 7000 The Iceworks 7000 is a very similar setup to the Flux Charger below, with a lower price (£19.95 at Amazon) and easier availability, but just the one built-in cable. The version we’re testing is a USB-C model, with that being very much the standard for Android phones today, but it does rule out iPhone users and those running older Android phones with a Micro-USB connection. The Iceworks is a fast charger for your phone or tablet, with both input and output rated at 15W. The output is of the USB-C variety too, so you can use your standard phone charger to juice it up in around four hours, and it’ll recharge while charging your connected phone. Perhaps more interestingly, the USB-C input is also an output, so you can actually charge two connected devices at once if required.

The design is good, but while it’s just 9mm thick it still feels rather large for a 7000mAh power bank (of which you’ll see around 4,550mAh). It’s taller and wider than our connected Galaxy S8 at 156x78mm, which makes it feel less comfortable when stashed in a pocket. But assuming you’ll be throwing this charger in a bag it won’t weigh you down at 159g, and we like not having to carry separate cables.

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You don’t really need it, but the mesh carry case supplied in the box is a nice touch. 8. Anker PowerCore Lite 10000 Yet another 10,000mAh variation on the Anker PowerCore series is this Lite model. This one is a similar shape to the Slim, but with a textured top surface that aids grip in the hand and more rounded edges. Four LEDs are tucked away on the side and easy to miss. It’s exactly the same price, at £25.99/$33.99 from Amazon, and has the same usable capacity of around 6,500mAh.

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That’s enough for two- to three charges of your phone, depending on the model. Where this model differs is with its two inputs: one Micro-USB and the other USB-C (you can’t use both at once, and it still doesn’t support passthrough charging), making it easier to charge up the bank with whatever cable you have to hand (a Micro-USB is supplied in the box along with a cloth carry case). Both are rated at 10W, which is pretty fast. This is not a PowerIQ 2.0 model like the Slim, which means it isn’t able to match the output speed from a single chipset.

This power bank’s full-size USB output maxes out at 12W, which is still very fast, but it’s not Quick Charge fast. 9. Aukey 20,000mAh USB-C Power Bank Aukey’s 20,000mAh power bank is appealing for three reasons: its price, at £39.99/$39.99 from Amazon, its large capacity, and its number and variety of ports. You get three full-size USB outputs, as well as a single USB-C. You can also use this USB-C port to recharge the power bank, which is the fastest method, or you can use a Lightning or Micro-USB input (the latter oddly hidden around the corner from the other ports), so it will work with whatever cable you happen to have to hand. For what it’s worth a USB-C cable is supplied in the box. This isn’t going to be the fastest power bank for charging multiple devices, however. While the USB-C can output up to 3A (15W), the remaining three outputs must share the same amount between all three.

So if you plug in three devices they are each going to charge at a slow 5W. Still, all those ports could prove very convenient if you have multiple devices. And if you are charging more than one device then you’re going to need lots of juice. With a rated capacity of 20,000mAh you can expect around 13,000mAh to be available to your devices.

That might charge an iPhone seven times, or a typical Android phone four times. Once depleted the large battery will take 10 hours to recharge, though you can continue charging attached devices in the meantime. The trade-off for all this power is size, and this Aukey charger is huge.

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