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The Perfect Portable Charger for All Your Apple Gadgets Is Here
This is the first power bank that actually does what I want
I love power banks.
I used to carry around a 26,800 mAh Anker power bank all the time, back when we went outside for extended periods of time. It weighed 20 ounces—more than a pound—but it was worth it.
The most annoying part of carrying around a power bank, though, is also needing to carry a bag with its associated cords. You probably already get the gist that I have more gadgets than common sense, so I’d need to carry around a USB-to-Lightning cable for my phone, USB-to-Apple Watch charger, USB-to-micro-USB, and USB-to-USB-C cables all the time just to use the already bulky charging brick.
But I recently preordered and received a gadget that fixes those issues.
The $100 Satechi Quatro wireless charging bank is a 10,000 mAh power bank that has a built-in Apple Watch charger and wireless charging pad, as well as USB-C and USB-A ports. It can charge my phone, watch, and iPad all at the same time, and I only need to carry one USB-C cable for the iPad. I can also use that USB-C cable to recharge the power bank. I have the iPhone 12, and it works well even though it’s not MagSafe, and if you have wireless earbuds like AirPods, they can charge wirelessly too, though not at the same time as the phone.
I’ve used the power bank only a few times and can’t speak to details like how rapidly the wireless charging works or how many days of charging I can get for all my devices. (My gut feeling and some back-of-the-napkin math says one night of charging and a little more the next day.) But I can say that the device works as advertised, and I’m excited to use it on a trip. It’s a little clunky to use as a daily charger, but I have used it around my apartment to charge my phone if the battery is low while I’m watching TV or something like that.
I am obviously not traveling often due to the global pandemic, but this was more of an aspirational purchase. An investment into a future where I can take a trip without packing a mask.
