We are all dependent upon a myriad of devices, chief among them the cell phone. For general convenience and preparedness many among us carry around power banks to recharge our devices as needed. What makes a good power bank?

These devices are pretty simply but here’s what I look for:

• Will not light your house on fire (check the 1-star reviews)
• Light weight OR large capacity (you need both)
• USB-C port (I think this port will be around for awhile)

Things I don’t care about:

• Magnetic charging
• Built in cables

Nice extras:

• The powerbank is a flashlight (I love flashlights)
• User replaceable batteries
• Can be used to power large appliances and laptops

Best Lightweight Power Bank:

The Flex5 from Ledlenser.

I love 21700 batteries. They hold 5000mAh, and are commonly used to power heavy duty, extremely bright flashlights. We’re talking insane run times and lumens on these lights. For example, the Nitecore e4k, can put out 4,400 lumens or run on moonlight mode for 55 days. That’s 1320ish hours or 165 days at 8 hours per session. For this reason, I prefer chargers that have user replaceable batteries and accept the 21700 size battery.

While I’m not a fan of Ledlenser’s extremely pricy flashlights, their chargers are gold standard. The Flex5 holds 1 battery and will not only charge your devices, but will also charge 21700 batteries or power a headlamp. This charger will easily fit in a small bag or front pocket and you will get slightly more than 1 charge out of it, for most phones. If used to power a small headlamp you will potentially quadruple it’s run time.

In summer, if you live in a hot climate, pocket space comes at a premium and is likely to be minimal as we wear more form fitting clothing and less clothing overall. This is especially true of women who may not have pockets to carry around a lot of kit. Having a lightweight charger with adequate power to get you through a long day or emergency is a good idea. 5000mAh is the smallest I would go.

What’s nice about this charger is that the batteries are replaceable, so if they ever give up the ghost or if you are interested in expanding, you can always buy more of these batteries. When you drain your charger simply pop out the battery and put in a new cell while the expended battery goes on the wall charger. To get into this system correctly, purchase a few extra 21700 batteries, 21700 flashlights, and a 21700 wall charger.

Favorite Medium-Sized Charger

The Flex10 from Ledlenser holds 2 21700 batteries for 10,000mAh of reserve power. It’s a little bulky but if you have a coat or larger bag, you’ll get over 2 charges from this rig. You can also carry 2 spare batteries in a small plastic case which would give you enough power to recharge around 5 devices, and that is pretty impressive.

Favorite Enhanced Medium-Sized Power Bank

The Nitecore SCL10 is a power bank, and LED panel. It can put out 800 lumens of soft diffused light, perfect for photo and video uses, but it’s also great for emergency lighting and small jobs around the house.

It can put out light for 70+ hours at the lowest brightness level and is perfect for reading during a power outage and slipping into cramped spaces where you need some extra lumens. Many flashlights for every day carry lean towards providing more throw than flood. The hotspot can be useful for seeing far away but can be overwhelmingly bright close up. The SCL10 makes a great backup light because it gives you pure flood. This means when looking around for a lost object, working in a tight space, or trying to read a book, you have soft diffused illumination.

This little light can also change temperature, and is adjustable from a cool toned prison interrogation light to warm, romantic candlelight.

Not to be overlooked, it can be mounted on a tripod, like a gorillapod so that you can hang it or clamp it on to almost any surface, railing, or overhang.

Finally, it has a small display on the back to tell you how much charge it has left, what percentage of power output it is set to, and the color temp of your current output.

The battery is 10,000mAh, and is not user replaceable. However the charger maintains a slim and sturdy design and is about the size of a small cellphone.

Favorite Large Power Bank

The Iniu power bank 2 pack comes with 2 20,000mAh power banks for about $60 (Amazon). With 40,000mAh total you’d probably get 8-10 charges for phones or 3 or 4 tablet recharges. There are no fancy features. This is a weird off brand charger that looks like many other generic chargers on Amazon. I’ve had mine for about a year and a half and it works great. I gave one of the two to my parents who use it while off-grid. They were able to keep it topped up by charging it from their car’s USB port and used it to keep two phones charged for over a month. I use this charger a lot and it usually lasts a week of top ups before I need to recharge it. For storms or trips, this is my go to battery.

Favorite Extra Large Capacity Battery:

The Ecoflow Delta, this bad Larry has 1260Wa and a max output of 1800 watts. I have used this to power an espresso machine, a deep freezer, and a refrigerator. It can power laptops, gaming pcs, and even small welders. I don’t know how many cellphone charges you can get out of it, but it’s a lot. You can recharge it with a wall outlet, generator, or solar panel.

Infinite Recharge Hack

The Wen DF452iX is a dual fuel generator that runs on gasoline or propane. It has a carbon monoxide monitor, lots of outlets, is super quiet, and can be daisy chained to another generator to give you 9000 watts peak (on gasoline).

Propane is top tier, I think of it as “God’s battery”. It burns clean, never goes bad, doesn’t produce noxious fumes or carbon monoxide, and doesn’t gum up the internals with fuel additives. While it does put out slightly less power, it is easier on the engine as well.

Every propane cylinder is like money in the bank, and even if you don’t have room for a huge underground tank, they sell 100lb cylinders that can be stored upright and used to refill smaller 20lb cylinders for mobile use. Propane is also great for patio heaters, gas grills, and torches used for weed control and wood working.

Gasoline will last 6 months to 1 year if you add a stabilizer. Puts out noxious, cancerous, and deadly fumes, shortens the life of the engine due to all of the ethanol mixed into it and the extra detergents, combustion boosters, and other additives they adulterate the gasoline with to get your engine to burn it.

I could write a whole article on generator maintenance but for now, if you don’t have one of these guys they’re great, especially for power outages.

When it comes to brands, lots of people recommend Honda, and they have a bullet proof reputation, but a price tag to match.

The Wen brand came up because they’re one of the only dual fuel generators in this price range. The reviews were great, and with proper maintenance this generator should last quite a long time. I think I should get 15 years out of it. I think with a Honda generator you get what you pay for. For $3000, you can get a gas only 3200 watt inverter generator with a 3 year warranty. It is, I’m sure, a great generator that will last many years, maybe 20 or so with good maintenance.

I think the Wen hits a sweet spot of being highly affordable, well built, versatile and in my opinion you’re probably getting a little more than you pay for. $800 for an extra 1000 watts of peak power, dual fuel, and a lot of the same features. Will it last as long as a Honda? I have no idea, but for about 1/4th of the price, if it lasts 7-8 years I think you came out ahead.