11/9/2015 - AMAZON BEST PORTABLE CHARGER - LIST UPDATES, ADDITIONS AND REVISIONS.

As the 2015 holiday season approaches, we decided to update our amazon best portable charger selection lists. After all the power bank market is very dynamic with new or updated models showing up almost daily. Our lists also grew bigger and now contain 15 best sellers for both compact and high capacity portable charger lists.

In addition to the best selling amazon portable charger list update with new best sellers, we also decided to create a list that our editors found worth sharing with our readers. They all are some great finds that in our opinion are some of the best portable chargers listed on amazon's website.

Lastly, because of growing interest we included two more listing from new technology categories. They are: solar power chargers and accessories and Qualcom Quick Charging power banks and accessories

TOP PORTABLE CHARGER REVIEW FEATURE POSTS' QUICK LINKS

What is it and why do I need a portable charger / power bank

Our phones become evermore powerful and essential in our lives. They are now not only our communication devices but they become our mini offices and personal assistants that we take with us everywhere. Their screens grew bigger and number of applications available for them is growing every day. As a result we relay on them to be charged and ready for use at all times. Manufacturer's "stand-by time" per battery charge lost its meaning because we hardly ever have our phones in the stand-by mode. It is not uncommon to charge our phone a few times a day and as long as we have a power outlet handy we learned to accept this as a part of our daily routine. But many times we find ourselves in a situation when we don't have access to a power outlet or we can't afford to be "tied-down" with our cell phone charger cable. But there is a solution that can solve those problems and it is called a battery portable charger or a power bank. Power bank is a device designed and build with one goal: keep our phones charged and ready even if we don't have access to a power outlet. Portable chargers not only provide an emergency energy source for our phones, tablets or any other device that can be plugged into a USB power source but can also relatively quickly charge our phone's battery. In simple terms a power bank is a portable charger that doesn't need an outlet to charge our phone. In most cases a power bank is small enough to fit in our pocket or a purse and we can take them with us anywhere we go.

What to look for when searching for the best portable charger for your phone or your tablet

We based our Top 10 power bank selection on multiple factors and device technical characteristics in addition to the Amazon Bestseller status. In our decision making process we looked at a product's user reviews and ratings, Amazon bestseller status and also weighted in our staff's expert opinion. Many of our choices match consumers' preferences that made a particular power bank an Amazon Bestseller and they all deserve the title of the best portable charger, but we also included a few portable chargers that are not best sellers on Amazon and yet we found their quality and value compelling enough to include them in our list. In our search for the best portable charger the evaluation process was primarily based on the following characteristics of selected power bank:

Total Capacity - expressed in milliamp hours or mAh

Amperage Rating - expressed in amps or A

Portability

Durability

Design And Extra Features

Portable charger's total battery capacity

Battery capacity indicates how much electricity it can store. When you consider buying an external battery charger you need to consider your needs. When you plan to use it only for emergency charges for your phone the range of 3000mAh - 5000mAh should be enough to provide you with 1-2 full charges for your phone, depending on your phone battery capacity. However if you plan to use it for more than one phone or maybe a tablet you might consider a portable charger/power bank with capacity of 10000mAh and over. Just keep in mind that the higher the capacity the bigger the overall battery charger size. All of our picks feature at least 3000mAh for the compact models and 10000mAh and over for more bulkier multi-phone or tablet models. The highest capacity among our portable chargers belongs to Anker® Astro E7 Ultra-High Capacity Compact Portable Battery Charger, its whopping 25600mAh (11/9/2015: Now upgraded to 26800mAh) should be enough for multiple charges for your phone and tablet.

Portable charger's USB charging port amperage rating

Portable charger amperage rating tells us how fast the electricity is going through a USB port and into our phone's internal battery. Which by the way is true as much for external battery chargers as it is for wall chargers. When picking the best portable charger make sure that the USB port amperage rating is 1A or greater. If you ever tried to charge your tablet or even a phone from your laptop's USB port, chances are that you could see on your phone or tablet that the external power source was connected but the battery was either charging very slowly or not at all. The reason for this behavior is that standard laptop's USB ports are only 0.5A and charging any device from such a port takes a long time in the best case scenario. All power banks in our review are at least 1A rated and many feature ports rated at 2A or higher.

Portable charger's/power bank's portability

When choosing a power bank for our phone we should ask ourselves a few questions concerned with intended use. For example: How are you going to carry your power bank? Are going to carry it in your purse or a pocket and is your phone the only device that you plan to charge with your portable charger? If so you should pick a smallest compact model. You should know that there are some power banks that are not much bigger then a lipstick. All portable chargers included in our review, even the smallest models, should provide you with at least one full charge for your phone.

Portable charger's battery durability

Portable charger's extras

Waterproof/Shockproof design (SadoTech 10400mAh Portable Charger)

Flash Light (SadoTech 10400mAh Portable Charger; Acuvar Power Bank Portable Backup Battery Charger; KMAX-806 External Travel Battery Pack)

Multiple USB Ports (All High Capacity Models except KMAX-806 External Travel Battery Pack)

Solar Panel Recharge (LevinTM Solstar Solar Panel Charger) Late addition 01/09/2015

Best portable charger - Top 15 compact portable chargers from Amazon's bestseller list

All our selected power banks feature modern Lithium-Ion technology (they are not susceptible to Memory Effect that was common with older battery types) and they can last at least 500 full charge cycles (one charge cycle = 0% to 100% OR 2x[50% to 100%]), so even with a daily use they should last for not less than 2 years.In some cases you might consider some extra features that will meet your particular needs. Among our selected portable chargers there are some models that feature:We also collected a few wall/car charger and other accessory item recommendations for you. After all our power bank is useless unless it is charged.

The following list contains Amazon's best selling compact portable chargers. We collected not only those that take the top spots in cell phone accessories but also some that are preferred by users of other battery powered gadgets like cameras, portable speakers etc. The main criteria for our selection was the physical size of the charger, we made sure that any of the chargers featured on the list is small enough to fit in your pocket or a purse. The ultra-portable models in general come with a capacity of 3,000-5,000mAh, that is still enough to provide at least one full charge for almost any smartphone on the market. There are a few however that despite their relatively small size can provide more than 10,000mAh, enough to recharge even a tablet and a phone from a single unit.

Best portable charger - Top 15 high capacity portable chargers from Amazon's bestseller list

For multi-device charging needs we created the following Amazon's best selling high capacity portable charger list. While they are a bit bulkier than the compact models, they provide at lease 10,000mAh capacities that can provide either multiple charges for your phone or tablet or keep multiple devices charged and ready for use.

Best portable charger - Editor's choice for Amazon best portable charger

The following list includes top portable chargers that while did not make the Amazon's best seller list, are worth mentioning either because of their quality or unique features that our editors deemed useful to our readers. There are also those that had not have a chance yet to make to the best seller list because they are new releases and did not have the time to build a reputation among the general public.

Best cellphone portable charger - Solar Chargers, Solar Power Banks and Accessories

With recent advances in solar power technology we are finally at a point that a relatively small solar panels can provide enought power to either charge our cellphones or save it for latter in a power bank. During our research and testin for our Top 10 Portable Cellphone Charger Review, our editors found quite a few products in the solar power category that would not qualify as Best Sellers, at least not yet. They are however a good, clean alternative as a portable power source. In some situations they might be the only way to keep our phones charged and operational. For those reasons we create a dedicated section with products that use solar technology at the power source.

Qualcomm’s Quick Charge Charging - Cell Phone Portable Charger Review

Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology can significantly reduce the charging time for phones build with Snapdragon processor (more info on Quick Charge 2.0 and Quick Charge 3.0). However to take advantage of that technology you need charging devices to be able to comunicate with your smartphone and adjust the charging parameters. We created a list of poratble chargers, wall chargers and car chargers that support Quick Charge technology.

Wall Chargers, Car Chargers and Charging Accessories - Cell Phone Portable Charger Review

As we worked on our Amazon's best selling portable charger list we came across some noteworthy products related to the topic and we decided that they might be of an interest to our readers. We compiled a list of wall chargers, car chargers and other cell phone accessories for our readers. Please use the link to view our list of top quality chargers and accessories. If you have any suggestions for our list addition, questions or requests, please leave us a comment at the end of the post.