One of the best things about the iPad is its battery life. Even the most frugal of notebooks doesn’t match up to the 10 to 11-hour lifespan of a iPad battery charge. Apple has decided that this battery life target should remain consistent across models, only the actual size and capacity of the battery changes. That’s why we have the waif-like iPad Air 2. New components have become so power efficient that you don’t need a huge battery to hit the 10-hour mark. It’s also the reason the iPad 3 was such a porker.
Now, ten hours is a great battery life for a tablet and for most people that’s enough, but what if you are going to be out of reach of a wall socket for more than 10 hours? There are lots of situations where this might happen. It could be a long flight or bus trip. Maybe you are at a conference and people are hogging all the sockets. Whatever the reason, a portable power bank provides a highly affordable way to keep your iPad (and other devices!) juiced when you can’t make it to the wall.
They are surprisingly cheap, they are light, and they don’t take up much space. So chuck one or two (or three!) in your bag and be assured that you’ll be watching videos or browsing the web for many, many hours.
Unfortunately, being such a low-priced product, the market is flooded with junk. So I’ve taken a few of the most popular power bank models to see what they offer and what the general consensus is concerning their quality. My top picks are listed first and the rest follow in no particular order.