The World According to Mitch

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article about how I love my ChargeTech Portable Power Outlet (See article).  I guess someone at the company found the article online and they reached out to me, asking for my address.  “We appreciate you as a long-time customer and we want to send you something.” Hey, I am always happy to get new toys!

The box arrived yesterday, and it truly was a very nice little goody box.  A couple of the items were things I have had before (two of them were left behind or lost when I moved from Canada to California), but there was one new item that got me excited… the Chargetech 20K USB-C Wireless Battery Pack.

While it is easy to see this device as a baby brother to the Portable Power Outlet, there are several differences that make this a completely different animal. On the one hand, it is smaller and more convenient (it would fit into a back pocket); on the other hand, it is USB only, and does not have the three-prong plug that the PPO has.  As a bonus, it also has the offer to wirelessly charge any device that supports NFC charging (iPhone 8 and later, Samsung S10 and later).

The Powerpack feels pretty heavy in the hand, especially when compared to some competitive devices.  While it does weigh in at 416g (1lb), that is not really heavy… especially when we take into account the Lithium Polymer battery with a 20,000 mAh capacity.  The dimensions are 6.4” x 3” x 1”, which makes it the same length and width as my iPhone X, only about three times thicker.

The Powerpack does come with a USB-C cable to charge the device, although you will need to plug that into something… either a computer or a wall outlet will do.  If you are lucky enough to have the ChargeTech Universal Phone Charger Squid 4 (one of the devices they sent me that was lost in the move) then that will easily stand in to charge the Powerpack.  Otherwise any device that charges a standard USB device will work.  You can actually charge from one of two inputs – the USB-C, and the USB-A (Micro connector).

There are three ways to charge from this device…

• USB-A;
• USB-C; and
• Wirelessly

While the device is a simple one, it is also very powerful… since I sat down to start writing, my iPhone X has gone from 47% to 72% charge (wirelessly).  That is quick enough for me… I’ve only been writing for twenty minutes (there were interruptions).

The best benefit of the Powerpack over the PPO?  The price tag.  For the lesser PPO (27k mAh) sells for $199 (although is on sale for $159).  The more powerful Wireless Battery Pack (27k mAh) sells for $39.99, with the lighter 10K selling for $29.99.  In other words… if you do not need the 3-prong outlet, you can save a lot of money with this device.

I expect I will be getting a lot of use out of this little device… it means I can save my PPO to charge my laptop and this will take care of my phones and tablets.

Thanks again, ChargeTech!