KMASHI 15000mAh Portable Power Bank Review

It’s been a while since we last reviewed a Kmashi power bank. In our review of the KMASHI 10000mAh, we found that it was really no matchup for the Anker PowerCore 10000 or the Aukey 10040, but still a great bang for the buck nonetheless. This time we’ll be checking out its slightly bigger brother in the KMASHI 15000mAh Portable Power Bank. Let’s take a look at it in this review.

Design & portability

The Kmashi 15000mAh Power Bank comes in a thick wallet-shaped shell with red trim on the side. Its black carbon fibre like black texture gives it a stylish look and makes it quite pleasing to the eye. Apart from the carbon fibre look, it’s design is practically the same as the KMASHI 10000mAh, but is of course bigger due to its larger battery capacity.

A problem we also saw with the KMASHI 10000mAh Power Bank, is that the unit is quite a bit larger than other power banks of the same calibre. It measures 6.8 inches in length, 4.8 inches in width and is 0.9 inch thick. Making it larger than competitors like the RAVPower 16750 and even the Anker PowerCore 20100, both of which possess more power. One advantage the Kmashi does have over these two, is that it is much cheaper. However, is a cheaper price point really worth the sacrifice of compactness? I bet most people wouldn’t mind paying slightly more for a smaller device like the two models named above. After all, a lot of users value pocketability highly in a power bank. And the KMASHI really isn’t that compact, at least not for the power you’re getting.

It should be noted that for such a cheap unit, it feels quite robust and sturdy. The plastic is dense and barely leaves any scratches.

Features

On top of the power bank we find the power button which can be used to view how much battery is left in the power bank, indicated by four blue lights. Next to that we find two USB ports, meaning you can charge two devices simultaneously. Pass-through charging is not an option with the KMASHI, meaning you can’t charge devices while the power bank is being charged.

Unfortunately the charging ports have a fixed amperage and are not equipped with smart charging. One port is fixed at a maximum output of 1A, and the other port at 2A. This means you can’t just charge a large tablet in a random port, but have to put it in the 2A port. Furthermore, a smartphone needs to be charged in the 1A port, as a 2A output is not great for your phone battery’s health. Since smart charging ports (ports that automatically find your ideal amperage) are becoming the norm on power banks, it’s too bad that KMASHI still hasn’t decided to implement it in their power banks. But then again, you can’t really expect such a cheap power bank to be ultra-rich in features.

Power

A battery capacity of 15000mAh is quite impressive. The KMASHI is able to charge a Samsung Galaxy S7 four-and-a-half times in total. An iPhone 7—which has a smaller battery than the Galaxy S7, can be charged five times. Most large tablets like the iPad Air 2 will not be fully charged by the power bank but to just about 75%. However, medium sized tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 can be charged fully almost twice.

Charging speeds are fairly quick although not as impressive as the Anker PowerCore and the RAVPower units we tested. It charges a Samsung Galaxy S7 in two hours, and the iPhone 7 in one hour and forty minutes.

An odd thing about the power bank is that is gets quite hot during simultaneous charging of two devices. Then during research, we came across some reviews about the KMASHI on Amazon that were quite concerning. There were users who left the device to charge overnight, after which the battery pack exploded and caught fire. Even though these were rare occasions and only happened in three (reported) instances out of thousands of people, it definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. It tells us that KMASHI possibly uses the cheapest of battery cells to manufacture the battery packs, which is to be expected if you look at the price tag of the power bank, but things like possible explosions and fire hazard are nothing to take lightly. So keep in mind that cheap can come with quite some risk.

Conclusion

Reports of units blowing up were rare, but still enough to be slightly concerned. The KMASHI 15000mAh Portable Power Bank is a great cheap device and a nice bang for the buck, but if it comes with a risk of explosion, I’m not so sure if I’ll take it. Especially if there are alternatives from Anker and RAVPower that don’t come with this risk and seem to have much better quality control than KMASHI.

Technical Specifications