The best power bank in 2018: top portable chargers to power your devices

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If you're looking for the best power bank to keep your devices charged while you're out and about, we can help. We've pulled together this list of the best portable chargers right now, so you can be sure your phone, tablet or laptop will never run out of juice at that crucial moment ever again.

After all, how many times have you been to a conference or a far-flung client meeting, and found you couldn't take notes, tweet or shoot pictures, because your phone, tablet or laptop had run out of juice? Even the best laptop for graphic design can't save you if you can't find a plug.

The good news is there are a number of great, affordable portable chargers on the market to keep your devices topped up. Scroll down to discover the best power banks available at the moment. 

Which is the best brand for power banks?

The best power bank brand, in our opinion and the first on our list, is the Anker PowerCore 20100 power bank. With its huge capacity, fast charging and excellent value, it's basically a no-brainer, unless you're looking for something specific from a power bank.

How do you choose a power bank?

The best power bank for you is going to depend on a number of factors. If you expect to be away from a power point for long periods of time, you'll be looking for a lot of battery capacity, so you can keep charging and recharging devices: this is measured in milliamp hours (mAh). If you're likely to want to charge more than one device at a time, then the number of charging points the power bank has will also be important.

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If you don't want to lug around a lot of heavy gear, then the size and weight of the power bank are worth checking out too; although you're obviously going to have to strike a balance between lightness and power, as the two are normally in opposition. And finally, you'll of course need to check whether the power bank is actually compatible with your specific devices.

We've set out all these stats to make it easy for you. And beyond that, we’ve categorised each the best power banks on this list according to their particular USP: for example, best budget power bank, best power bank for Apple devices, and so on. So read on to discover how you need never be out of power again, and all for a relatively small outlay.

This fantastic device quite simply ticks all our most important boxes when it comes to choosing the best power bank. Long and slim, the Anker PowerCore 20100 power bank comes with two 2.4 Amp ports so you can charge two devices at once. It has a huge (20,100mAh) capacity, which means you can charge everything a few times during one trip; the iPhone 8, iPhone 7 and iPhone 6 around six times, the Samsung Galaxy S9, S8, S7, S6 four times. But perhaps most importantly, it’s very fast when you’re charging devices that use PowerIQ or VoltageBoost. (If you have a device that uses Qualcomm QuickCharge, there’s a separate version here). And all of this comes at a very reasonable price. As long as your device is compatible, and lightness/portability is not your main concern (it weighs about the same as a can of soup), buying this portable charger is a no-brainer.

With an astounding six ports, the MAXOAK 50,000mAh Power Bank is one of te best portable chargers if you're on a trip with a bunch of colleagues who all need their phones and tablets charging at once (or you just have a lot of devices you need to charge yourself). And with a whopping 50,000mAh battery capacity, you’re certainly going to have enough power to do so, even multiple times. Sadly, you can’t use it to charge your MacBook, but there are plenty of laptops that are compatible from Fujitsu, Sony, Acer, Asus, IBM, Dell, HP, NEC, Samsung and Lenovo.

The RAVPower Luster portable charger may be super-cheap, but it still offers a perfectly decent capacity of 6,700mAh, which is certainly enough to power up your smartphone from zero to 100 per cent at least once, and probably twice. This power bank is fairly light (about the same weight as your average mobile phone), will fit in most pockets nicely, and is compatible with a wide range of devices. In short, it’s a great choice for an evening or a weekend away in which you don’t expect to be using your devices mega-intensively. Also, if you find it difficult to find a small black device amongst all your other small, black devices, then this colourful portable charger has the benefit of being easy to spot. 

RAVPower doesn’t just do cheap and cheerful power banks (see number three on our list). This higher-end device of theirs – the RAVPower Universal Power Bank Travel Charger – is the ideal choice if you have a bit more cash to splash, and love the idea of being able to charge your MacBook or Surface Pro as well as your smartphone. In fact, with both a Type-C (5V/3A) port and iSmart USB (5V/2.4A) port, you’ll be able to charge both at the same time, as there’s plenty of battery capacity (20,100mAh). Alternatively, if you just want to charge one device you can do so over and over again: an iPhone 7 around five times, a Galaxy S7 four times, or the 12-in MacBook once, for example. 

If you mainly want a power bank to keep your iPhone and/or iPad juiced up, then the Mophie Powerstation Plus XL is the best device on the market for you. That’s mainly because it includes an dual-purpose charging cable with a Lightning adapter that charges your Apple devices. Handily, the adapter can easily be removed if you want to switch it to micro USB, to charge an Android phone, for example. The generous 12,000mAh battery capacity gives you more than four additional charges on your smartphone, or one extra charge for your tablet, while a second USB port lets you charge two devices at the same time. Yes, this is one of the more expensive options on our list. But if you often find your Apple devices dying when you’re away from home, and you’re impatient to get them topped up again quickly, the speed and flexibility this power bank offers may be well worth it.

The Anker PowerCore II device doesn’t offer the biggest battery capacity on our list, and there’s only one port, so its usefulness is somewhat limited. But if you’re looking for a small and light device that can nonetheless charge your smartphone a couple of times during your trip away, this could be your perfect sweet spot between size and ability. Smaller than a deck of cards, this power bank is easy to carry around with you, but still packs a lot of punch, offering for example three iPhone 7 charges, 1.2 iPad Mini charges or 2.2 Galaxy S7 charges. It tops them up pretty speedily too.

The AUKEY Power Bank 20,000mAh is an impressive bit of kit. With dual USB ports so you can charge two devices at the same time, the battery capacity is high, and it's cleverly tuned to support healthy battery life into the bargain. But the thing that most jumps out at us is the 24-month warranty, which is much more generous than any other device on this list. If you’re the kind of early adopter who upgrades their devices regularly, that sort of thing might be wholly irrelevant to you. But if you're planning to use your power bank throughout the next two years, it may well be an important factor in your buying decision.

If money's no object, we recommend the Omni 20 USB-C Portable Power Bank

If money is no object, then the Omni 20 USB-C Portable Power Bank is quite simply the Rolls Royce of power bank solutions. This high-powered device with four ports is both a laptop charger and a USB hub, so you can potentially charge two laptops and two smart devices simultaneously. There are two USB ports and two USC ports, the latter offering an individual max output of 60W and a total output of 100W. Plugged in by itself, the pack fully charges in just under three hours. Or you can even recharge the Omni 20 while your devices are still charging, which saves messing about with cables when you get to your hotel room. Granted, it’s much more expensive than the other power banks on our list, but you need to use your devices a lot when you're away, it could pay for itself in terms of the extra work you get completed. 

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