The Best Portable Chargers and Power Banks for 2019

Watching your phone or tablet steadily run out of juice when you're nowhere near a power outlet is stressful. Fortunately, there's no shortage of third-party backup batteries, and they come in every size, capacity, and price range to keep your device going when your battery icon starts to dip in the red. And it doesn't end there. Some power banks are equipped with features like fast charging, wireless charging, built-in cables, AC adapters, LED flashlights—even the ability to jump-start your car.Mobile Power Bank low price

With so many options to choose from, how do you know which power bank is right for you? Read on for the most important points to consider.

Size and Capacity
Generally speaking, the bigger the battery, the higher the capacity and quantity of ports you get. Power banks that fit comfortably in your pocket are typically good for a full phone charge or two, while anything designed to keep you going all day is going to require a bag or a purse.On the pocket-friendly front, most smaller batteries that maximize portability have a capacity of 3,500mAh and under, which gives you just enough charge to top up most phones once.

Once you get above 3,500mAh, battery size increases to the point where it's less likely to fit into your skinny jeans, but can still be stowed in a jacket pocket. There are even batteries that let you power laptops, and have enough juice to charge the average phone 10 times. Of course, they're some of the biggest and heaviest of the bunch, and definitely need to be carried in a bag.
Input and Output Ports
The type of port (or ports) a battery has determines not only whether it is compatible with the devices you want to charge, but also charging speed. At a minimum, most battery packs will have a standard micro USB port for input and a USB-A port for output. But with more phones, tablets, and laptops adopting the USB-C standard, you'll often find a USB-C port in addition to USB-A.

USB-C generally allows you to charge faster, consolidates input/output to one port, and can be found in many new phones. Now, you do have to be careful, because while some power banks have USB-C input, they don't have USB-C output.Lightning is a proprietary Apple technology, so companies need to pay Apple when they use it; that makes it a bit less common to find.