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Power
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Portability
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Features
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Value
Summary
If ZILU had better quality control, this could've been a great power bank. It's not a bad powerbank per se, but there are just much better options to choose from. The Anker Astro E5 and RAVPower 16750mAh come to mind.
- Two charge ports for simultaneous charging
- Not big for a powerbank of this calibre
- 2 years of warranty by ZILU and great support service
- Low quality USB ports
- No smartports
- Not as much capacity as advertised
Yesterday we reviewed the ZILU Smart Power Basic 4400mAh Powerbank and were quite pleased by it. So we thought, why not review another one of ZILU’s popular power banks? Let’s take a look at the ZILU 16800mAh Portable Charger in this review.
Design and portability
ZILU is not known for their awesome looking designs. The ZILU portable charger can simply be described as basic. It’s a bit bland and boring and looks a lot like the 4400mAh version, only twice as big. Not that it matters that much in a power bank, but a cool looking design can go a long way.
It also has the same plastic casing as the 4400mAh version and doesn’t feel very sturdy. However, it’s good enough for a power bank and as long as you don’t drop it to often it’ll be alright.
It is relatively compact and portable for a power bank of this capacity. The device won’t really fit in your pocket unless you cram it in, but it slides into a bag or purse easily and has great portability for a device of this power level. It measures 5,4 x 2.4 inches and is 0.8 inches thick. It measures almost exactly the same as the Aibocn 10000mAh Power Bank, only a bit thicker. Interestingly, it also looks identical in terms of shape and design. The USB ports, flashlight and input are in the exact same places on both devices. This is probably because they use the same type of Samsung battery cells and components.
Measurements: | 5.4 x 2.4 x 0.8 inches |
Weight: | 295g (10.4oz) |
Features
The ZILU 16800mAh Portable Charger has four battery LED indicators that show how much juice is left in the power bank, and a power button to turn on the device. It’s equipped with two outputs so you can simultaneously charge two devices. Unfortunately, these are not smartports but have a fixed current. This means that they don’t adjust to the ideal amperage of your device like some others do. Some examples are the Anker Astro E4, RAVPower 16750mAh and Aukey 10400 Quick Charge. A great advantage of smartports is that you don’t have to select the appropriate port for the device your charging, as the port will adjust itself to charge as efficiently as possible. We really like seeing smartports on a powerbank and it’s too bad that this one doesn’t have them.
One charge port is rated at 2A, and the other at 3A. At least according to the description on Amazon. On the device itself it says that the ports are 1A and 2A respectively. Which is a bit misleading, but nothing to make a fuss about. Most devices don’t need more than 2A anyway. However, something that needs to be mentioned, is that a few users have experienced faults with the charging ports after regular use, and complained that it just stopped working after a while. ZILU really needs to do better quality control, because this was also an issue with the 4400mah version.
Now onto some upsides. Just like the 4400mah version power bank, this one is also equipped with a whopping nine safety features. It has short-circuit, overcharge, overcurrent and overvoltage protection, and other safety functions like temperature control and a reset mechanism.
Charging ports: | 2 (2A and 3A) |
Smartports: | No |
Compatible with: | Smartphone, tablet, digital camera etc. (basically any micro USB device) |
Safety features: | Overcharge, overcurrent, shortcircuit protection and 6 more |
Battery indication: | 4 LED lights |
Flashlight: | No |
Power
The ZILU certainly packs more power than it’s smaller brother and has an impressive 16800mAh battery capacity. ZILU is actually honest about the efficiency of the device and claims it to have 93 percent efficiency, which comes down to about 15000 true mAh. This is supposed to be enough power to charge your average smartphone six times and your iPad Pro once. In reality, its retention rate is pretty bad and it loses charge far quicker than it should. It’s almost completely empty after charging an iPhone 6S three times, which means it definitely doesn’t have the 15000mAh it claims to have. Another downside is that the device becomes really hot at times, especially when it’s almost out of charge.
Power capacity: | 16,800 mAh |
Total max output: | 3A |
Time to charge itself: | 10+ hours |
Conclusion
I’m honestly a bit dissapointed with this one. Which is a shame because the other ZILU powerbank we reviewed yesterday was a great bang for the buck. The ZILU 16750mAh Portable Charger is not a bad powerbank per se and very portable for its powerlevel. But to be honest, there are far better power banks that are cheaper, stronger and more reliable, like the Anker AStro E4 and the RAVPower 16750. ZILU really needs to work on their quality control, because this device is definitely not as great as it could potentially be. Thankfully, ZILU does give 2 years of warranty and provides great support in case of defects and other issues.
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