Battery & Power Browsing blog archives page by category 'Battery & Power'

2 weeks ago, I was helping Li Xiang to look for eneloop rechargeable batteries for her office but to my surprise, I could not find any at all at all major electronics stores in Funan and VivoCity. I was wondering did they leave the Singapore market or their batteries sell so well that all the stores are out of stock (I was hoping the later). Many of my friends and I love eneloop batteries!

But luckily, it was just temporarily out of stock (I hope) and when I went back to Funan’s Challenger last week, there was plenty of stocks!

Bought the Anker Astro E4 13000mAh External Battery from Amazon at a promotion price of US$36.99 (S$46) excluding shipping. The usual price is US$43.99 (S$54.56).

The Anker Astro E4 is my third Anker Product and I must say, I am really love this up and coming brand. It seems very popular in the US. The Anker Astro E4 tops the Gizmodo’s Five Best External Battery Packs.

IonBank is the name of the range of portable battery packs from Moshi. Right now, there are 3 products in the category, the IonBank 10k, IonBank 5k with Lightning Connector and IonBank 5k with Micro USB Connector.

The IonBank 5k has a battery capacity of 5,000mAh and has two integrated cables, one of them is either the Lightning or Micro USB cable and the other is a normal USB cable to charge the battery pack. It also has a spare USB port to charge another USB device.

The Anker 5-Port Wall Charger is retailing for US$19.99 (S$24.72) on Amazon. My friend, Benjamin, ordered for us and I shared the shipping with him, after everything I paid S$33.

This Anker 5-Port Wall Charger weighs 166g and measures 98mm (Length) x 60mm (Height) x 27mm (Thickness).

Got the Anker Uspeed USB 3.0 9-Port Hub + 5V 2.1A Charging Port with 12V 5A Power Adapter from Amazon for US$59.99 (S$75) excluding shipping.

Ignore the long product name, it is basically a 9-port USB 3.0 powered hub with an additional USB charging port. Technically you can use all the 9 ports for charging as well but they might not be enough current because each of the 9 port can output a maximum of 900mA. From the USB 3.0 specifications, 900mA is the maximum amount of current that can be output from a USB 3.0 port.

In my blog post about Panasonic Mobile Booster QE-QL101 last year, I did mention about the large capacity portable battery from Panasonic which has a capacity of 10,260mAh. I did not manage to find that in Singapore. Instead, I saw it in Thailand and I bought it for TH฿3,990 (S$160.40), and after a 7% VAT refund, it cost about S$150.

Don’t let its massive physical appearance deceive you. It is pretty light weighing at 490g. It is slim as well, and the thickness is almost the same as a standard USB port.

The Energizer XP3000A Portable Charger is retailing for S$59.90. It has a capacity of 3,000 mAh which is able to charge your iPhone 5 about two times before needing a recharge and it weighs 130g.

What makes the XP3000A special is the built-in lightning cable. This means you do not need to bring along another cable if you are using it with your iPhone 5.

Twelve South PlugBug World was announced beginning this year and I have no idea why is it not selling in Singapore yet, not even the Apple Online Store in Singapore.

When Li Xiang went to Hong Kong last week, she bought it for me from the Apple Store in IFC Mall, Hong Kong. It is retailing for HK$348 (S$60). Li Xiang also mentioned that the Twelve South PlugBug World is not displayed on the shelves and you might need to request the store assistant to get it from their storeroom.

I have been eying on the Griffin PowerDock 5 since it was announced back in January 2013. But unfortunately it wasn’t released till last month (July 2013).

The Griffin PowerDock 5 is retailing for US$99 (S$126) directly from Griffin’s website. I doubt it will come to Singapore anytime soon. Griffin offers free shipping within the US and they do ship to Singapore directly and for the PowerDock 5, the cheapest shipping is about US$12 (S$15.30) without tracking. But I did not choose that option, instead I shipped it to HopShopGo, which is a freight forwarder and paid US$20.08 (S$25.50) for DHL Express shipping to Singapore.

Got the Powerocks Stone 3 which is a 7800mAh Dual USB Power Bank from my cousin in Hong Kong. I am not too sure of the local retail price, but on Amazon, it is retailing for US$48.50 (S$62.50).

As the name “stone” implies, this power bank is pretty heavy (like a stone) due to the 7800mAh battery and it weighs 500g.