Like many of us, I’m deep, DEEP into the Apple ecosystem. In a standard day I run across more than a dozen different lightning cables that are around my house, car, office and in my EDC. Everything i use and carry on a daily basis charges with a lightning cable… except for my external power bank. I’ve had to cart around a micro USB cable simply for the 8ish times a year i need to charge it. I’ve been looking for an external battery that changes with a lightning cable for years. To be honest, i figured if it hadn’t happened in the first 5 years of lightning’s existence it wasn’t going to happen.
Enter Belkin on a white horse to save me from my own personal OCD hell - http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F7U046/
As expected, its ridiculously expensive for the size you get. $60 can get you an Anker that has 26,800k of juice vs 10,000k for this Belkin battery but I’m willing to pay a premium to ditch Micro USB.
Anyone else been looking for one of these or am I going to be the only person on earth picking this up?
1 Like
I purchased the Anker PowerCore Fusion 5000 earlier this year. It’s basically a two-port charger that contains an internal battery. While it can be charged over micro USB (e.g. when in the car), this isn’t typically necessary as it charges when it’s plugged into a wall socket.
The capacity is pretty limited (5000mAh), but I’ve found it more than adequate for most of the travel that I do. And since I’m using it as a wall charger when travelling, I never have to remember to plug it in.
https://d2211byn0pk9fi.cloudfront.net/spree/products/30715/product/A1621011_TD02_V1.jpg?1494384551
Photo Credit: Anker
2 Likes
I haven’t purchased it, but this Aukey 20000mAh Portable Battery has good reviews, it has both lightning and micro usb inputs. I actually discovered this when reading an article about the Belkin unit, it was mentioned in the comments. The reviews go back over 2 years, so I guess a 5 year wait wasn’t necessary!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0176HQ1O8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A142BGUZC6UH73&psc=1
That Anker unit looks pretty sweet also. It’s one quarter of the capacity, but one less item to carry. Here is the Amazon link for future reference (not an affiliate link).
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Portable-Charger-Foldable/dp/B01K702S66/ref=sr_1_3?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1531164543&sr=1-3&keywords=anker+powercore+fusion
2 Likes
I never knew that existed!
It’s not MFi though… hmmmmmmm 
I picked up this on a cyber Monday deal last year. It’s a real powerhouse of a charger and keeps my devices humming while I travel quite nicely. It’s smaller than it looks on Amazon, so if you’re in the market for something sleek, this is great.
Portable Charger Anker PowerCore 20100mAh - Ultra High Capacity Power Bank with 4.8A Output, External Battery Pack for iPhone, iPad & Samsung Galaxy & More (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X5RV14Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_PRFrBbABM4533
