Mini-review: EasyAcc PowerBank 10000C

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Another month, another power bank review, this time from another 'new' name (to me), EasyAcc. The form factor, performance and price (under £20) all seem to hit the power bank sweet spot - you've seen this sort of thing before, but this is solid, tested and has that handy orange flash on the end (for finding it in your dark rucksack?!) 

EasyAcc PowerBank 10000C

Rather than arriving with a bag of 'heads' for various devices, the assumption here is that you have your own original USB leads (e.g. for Apple products, which tend to not like third party cables). You do get a couple of short microUSB leads in the box, and for most Symbian (this being AAS) and Windows Phones (this being AAWP as well) this will be fine, for both recharging the PowerBank 10000C and doubling up to charge two phones at once.

In theory, one of the two outputs supplies up to 2.1A, but even with an original Apple lead my iPad mini didn't seem to want to take a normal speed charge. But then this site isn't about Apple kit - every Symbian and Windows Phone device tested, plus a number of Android-powered bits of kit, including tablets, all charged just fine.

EasyAcc PowerBank 10000C

The critical figure for chargers like this is how much of the claimed capacity actually ends up in the destination devices. I'm used to seeing anything between 60% and 70% of the claimed capacity being usable in power banks generally, and here I was able to extract around 6400mAh, i.e. after transfer. The difference between this and 10,000 is lost, obviously, in heat in the accessory, phone battery and circuits, and in the cable.

64% efficiency is pretty average, I mention it just to bang home the caveat, for the umpteenth time, that if you actually want 'x'mAh, then you should look for a power bank of capacity 'x*1.5', etc.

The EasyAcc hardware is solid and well made, with no creaks, in tough polycarbonate, with the orange colour showing round in a stripe around the sides. A somewhat recessed button in the main face activates the usual 4 LED charge indication system.

Emergency chargers like this are becoming something of a commodity, but they do vary in terms of build and performance. I tested another recently (for which the manufacturer asked me not to publish the damning review) which came out at an efficiency (based on claimed capacity) of around 40% and which failed to recharge properly several times. In contrast, the EasyAcc PowerBank 10000C has been very well behaved and reliable. How fast it charges depends on the ability of your mains charger, of course, but physics tells us that a 1A charger will take up to ten hours to fill the power bank completely. So restocking something like this is usually an overnight job, perhaps ready for the next trip.

At £19 (on Amazon UK) and on other Amazon sites around the world, I'd rate the EasyAcc product as good value for money. There are no frills in the design, packaging or concept - and I'm taken by its simplicity. Does this replace the 15,600mAh Omaker powerhouse in my gadget bag? Nope, but it's a damn fine stand-in, I think, if needed!

Source / Credit: Amazon UK