Chris InglisHaving recently utilised the Belkin BoostCharge Magnetic Wireless Power Bank 5K, I was interested to see what else was on the market that had higher battery capacity. I had tried 10K variants in the past, so my next step was to take a look at the Belkin BoostCharge Power Bank 20K and put it through its paces. It is a heavy unit but is sturdy and rugged, taking a knock or two when I bumped it off the edge of the couch. It comes with a very short USB-A to USB-C cable, so it would have been better to have a longer cable shipped with it, but overall, it enabled me to power multiple devices at once.
The BoostCharge Power Bank 20K provides your USB devices with up to 20,000mAh of power, or in real terms up to a theoretical max of 78 hours of extra battery life for compatible iPhones and other USB devices. There is a visible 4-dot battery indicator on the side of the unit, and this did take a long time to charge fully. I started charging it using a USB-A to USB-C cable and after 8 hours at work it was only half full. Switching to a powered USB-C cable charged it the rest of the way in a couple more hours.
Once fully charged, I did some tests involving playing games on a plugged in iPhone 12 Pro as well as quite a unique test of powering a heated vest. In terms of providing enough power to charge my iPhone, it obviously depends on if you’re actively playing games or watching videos while charging it. On average I could charge my iPhone twice overnight before needing to put the BoostCharge Power Bank back onto charge itself.
This device weighs 400g so it’s quite a decent weight to be holding whilst also using the iPhone. I had to do this because the cable provided with the unit is only 15cm long which is way too small. When charging the unit, I had to use a different USB-C cable to be able to reach the power socket without leaving it lying on the floor. When multiple devices are connected to it, it can be quite a mess with cables lying everywhere which is where the shorter cables come in handy, but I just tucked these away while charging overnight.
In terms of gaming, this will vary depending on the power and complexity of the games you’re playing. I’ve been playing games such as World of Tank Blitz, Terra Nil and Starborne Frontiers the past few days which aren’t that resource intensive but still enough to put a decent drain on the iPhone unpowered. Playing games like these, while plugged into the power bank, meant after an hour of playing my phone power was net neutral, so there are benefits to utilising the power bank.
The other test I did was to use the device fully charged to power a new heated vest that my brother-in-law Justin recently purchased. It is a vest that has 6 cells throughout the vest and when plugged into USB power, has two power presets to actively heat up the vest and one to keep it at a warm temperature. He had been using a different brand of 10K power bank previously which got him a few hours of power, but we wanted to see how a 20K power bank would go. At full heating capacity to the vest, the power bank went flat after around 5.5 hours of full output. This isn’t an ordinary day-to-day technology test, but it was interesting to see how it went and 5.5 hours is pretty good for that vest.
The BoostCharge Power Bank 20K has two additional USB-A ports so you can have three devices charging off it at once. Power output of each port is limited to 15W, so it’s not the best output from a power bank, but I am always charging my iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time during each evening, so it was very useful for me. The third slot allowed me to charge my EPOS H3Pro headset, so that was a bonus.
Overall, the Belkin BoostCharge Power Bank 20K is a great choice for people who need a portable power source with long-lasting battery life. The device weighs 400g, so it’s noticeable while carrying it but it is sleek, rugged and can take a knock or too in a handbag or satchel. It is an excellent option for people like me who have multiple devices that they need to charge.
This review utilised a unit provided by Closer Communications and the Belkin BoostCharge Power Bank 20K is available from JB Hi-Fi and Big W.
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