Your phone doesn’t have to die: A TLYT Energi Battery Pack buyer’s guide
“What did we ever do before we had these around?” my wife asked.
Well, a while ago we used to be Samsung people. My wife and I were huge fans of the Samsung Galaxy series of phones and took full advantage of the replaceable batteries. We had spare batteries with external chargers, and it was great. You never really had to charge your phone: You could just grab the fully-charged battery and swap it with the spent one. You were never tied to the outlet on the wall. I think my wife got in a bad habit of not charging her phone, because when we eventually got tired of Samsung phones, we switched to phones without replaceable batteries and my wife often had a dead device.
I’ve gotten free battery pack swag and even gotten cheap battery packs for Christmas. What I’ve found with cheaper battery packs is they often have low battery capacity and low amp output. That means they won’t provide much of a charge for your phone, nor will they charge it very quickly.
The good people at TYLT recently sent me a whole lineup of their Energi Battery Packs. My goal is to help you find out which one might suit you the best. And if you’re in the market, I suggest you buy one. Battery packs are awesome: they’re convenient, and you can charge your phone anywhere.
Battery Pack 101
Ask yourself how long you will be away from an outlet. Also consider how large the battery in your phone is. Most phones these days have batteries well over 2000mAh, so the TYLT Energi 2K battery packs will not be able to provide a full charge for most current phones. That said, the 2K battery packs will likely keep your phone from dying for a considerable amount of time. So if you’re looking for a battery pack that won’t break the bank but could help your phone make it to the end of the day, the 2K series might be a great fit.
One other spec you need to be aware of with battery packs is Amp output and, more specifically, how many Amps a single charging port can provide. As you can see in the screenshot above, different Amp outputs result in different charge rates. You can think of Amps as the flow rate of charge from your battery pack to your phone. A 1 Amp output probably isn’t as much as your standard wall charger, so it likely won’t be charging your phone as quickly as when you’re plugged into the wall, but it is higher than many cheap external battery packs out there. The higher the number, the faster your phone can charge. Don’t worry if the number is higher than what’s on your phone’s wall charger; the phone will pull the Amps it needs.
2K Series
The TYLT Energi 2K Battery Pack chargers come in black with three different color strips in the middle: blue, gray, and red. They’re pretty small at 11mm x 58mm x 95mm and could easily fit in a pocket, even with a phone. They come with a micro-USB cable to charge the battery pack itself and one universal USB port so you can charge any type of device.
To show how much charge the battery pack has, there’s a button with an LED light that will show up on the button press. Different colors mean different levels of charge. You also use the button to tell the pack to start charging your device.
The 2K series only allows 1 Amp output, and so it will only charge one device at a time. As you could probably guess, the 2K series chargers are the cheapest in TYLT’s lineup, priced at $39.99.
I also want to bring up two specific TLYT products in this section. First, the Energi Smart Travel Charger, which is also a 2K charger. Dima reviewed this item a few months ago, and I think it’s absolutely brilliant. It’s an AC wall adapter that’s also a battery pack, letting you charge your phone and a battery pack at the same time. No need to carry and extra wall adapter. You could charge any other battery pack and a phone at the same time, but you’ll need to carry your phone’s wall adapter and two micro-USB cables to get that job done. The smart travel charger just makes charging and using a battery pack much more convenient.
I will point out again that the Smart Travel Charger is just a 2K series charger, so it does not charge your device very quickly if it’s plugged into the wall or if you’re using it as a battery pack. But if you typically charge your phone overnight, you’ll wake up with a charged phone and a charged battery pack and be ready for a full day’s worth of use.
The Energi Smart Travel Charger is slightly bigger than the standard 2K series chargers, so it may not fit in your pocket as well as its siblings. It also has one USB port, so it will only charge one device at a time, and it costs the same $39.99. If I were picking between the standard and the Smart Travel 2K chargers, I would go with this one.
It’s also worth noting that, unlike most of the battery packs I’ll bring up in this post, the Energi Smart Travel Charger does not come with a micro-USB cable.
The second product I want to bring up is the TYLT Syncable-Duo. This is a 2-in-1 micro-USB cable with an Apple Lightning adapter that is Apple MFI-certified. So if you’re one of the many people out there that has devices from multiple platforms, this is another handy buy that can decrease the clutter. It also comes in the same brilliant TYLT colors as the Smart Travel charger.
I want to emphasize that this the Syncable-Duo is a data cable and will connect your devices to your computer in addition to charging them. The Syncable-Duo cables come in three lengths that range between one and three feet and cost between $24.99 and $29.99, depending on the length you choose. That price is high for a data cable, but TYLT offers quality products that look great and come with a 1-year warranty. The cheap cables that you’re buying off eBay don’t.
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3K Series
Think of the 2K series but a little bigger. TYLT’s 3K series have a 3000mAh battery pack in a 14.3mm x 65mm x 103mm shell, so it should provide at least one full charge to the average phone. Additionally, the 3K series packs can now charge two devices simultaneously with 1 Amp output to each device.
With the 3K series you have two options: the standard 3K at $59.99 with a built in micro-USB cable, or the 3K+ with a built-in Lightning cable for $10 more. In addition to these built-in cables, you have a standard USB port for charing a second device. The TYLT 3K series won’t charge your devices very quickly, but they can easily fit in the pocket and go with you anywhere. These packs come in three center strip color options: red, blue, and gray.
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5K Series
Think of the 3K series, but a little taller and with one other difference that makes this series charger my personal favorite.
The 5K series has a 5,200mAh capacity and the ability to charge two devices at once. Plus, the USB port on the battery pack has a 2 Amp output that will charge your device faster than the 1 Amp output and its built-in micro-USB port. I’m not sure if it’s twice as fast, but it’s significant. The 2 Amp output is also suitable for charging devices with large batteries, such as tablets.
The 5K Battery Pack will set you back $79.99, or you can pay $10 more for the 5K+ series that can charge up to three devices with a total of a 3 Amp output. That means that you won’t get a 2 Amp output when charging three devices at once.
It has built-in micro-USB and Lightning cables as well as a USB port, so it’s kind of the Swiss Army Knife of battery packs: it can do it all. Again, the 5K series is probably my favorite all-around Energi Battery Pack because to its size, the battery capacity, and the 2 Amp output.
10K Series
The TYLT Energi 10K Battery Pack is quite a bit bump up in all specs, including size. It will no longer fit in a pants pocket; the 10K is more likely something you’ll carry in a day bag, carry on luggage, or leave in the car. It has a 10,400mAh capacity that can offer multiple charges to phones and possibly even your tablet.
Additionally, the Energi 10K has three USB ports — two with 1 Amp outputs and one with a 2 Amp output — and is capable of producing 4.2 amps for simultaneous charging. That means you can have three devices charging at the same time and they will all be getting their maximum charging rate. So if you’re someone who carries a lot of devices or you want to be the coolest kid in your study group, this Energi 10K pack might be the device for you.
Unlike the other TYLT chargers that use a single-colored LED light to display the amount of charge left on the battery pack, the 10K battery has a series of LED lights to indicate its charge level. The Energi 10K pack costs $99.99 and comes with a gray or blue strip in the middle.
What kind of user are you?
Now before we talk about you, I have one more thing to say. I’m sure you can find cheaper battery packs out there. However, when you’re buying a TYLT battery pack, you know you’re getting a quality product. Not only do these packs come with a one year warranty, they’re all tested and certified to several battery standards. So no, they’re not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. You can occasionally find these packs cheaper on Amazon than you can on the TYLT website, and you should also watch TYLT’s social media for promo codes.
So now you need to think about your needs. How many devices do you carry? How long are you away from a power oulet? How big are your pockets? Will your friends want to bum a charge off of you? Do you like your friends? How fast do you want your phone to charge? Will you be charging tablets? What’s your budget? If you ask yourself these questions, you should be able to read about these different battery packs and be able to pick the right one for you.
Please let us know if you have any questions about any of these products. I’ve been using them in my home for several weeks and have had zero complaints. The definitely have gotten the “What did we do before we had these?” stamp of approval.
Are you planning on getting a battery pack? What are your needs? If you have any of these pack let us know what you’re using and your thoughts on them. Please let us know your thoughts and questions by commenting below.
source: androidandme
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