I have used many energy banks in my life, but none of them were very expensive. In India, if you spend $ 1,000 to 3,000 ($ 13 to $ 40), you can get a power bank that offers a good combination of ports, charging speed and battery capacity.
So when I was presented with a $ 299 energy bank, I was intrigued. For that price, I could get a good budget phone or more than some power banks. In addition, the company’s claim that it uses the same battery material found in Tesla cars made me want to experiment more.
I may not be the target audience for this expensive Chargeasap energy bank, but there may be some people who would like that.
I have been using this device for several weeks, and it has some impressive features for a power bank. Let’s get into the details.
What does this offer?
When you think of a $ 249 energy bank, you want it to have all the features that a high-priced energy bank should have. Fortunately, yes.
Chargeasap Flash 2.0 has many features that you would expect for that price. With its 20,000 mAh capacity, you can quickly charge your iPhone 12 seven times or your MacBook Air 2020 with a 5,100 mAh battery almost four times. It’s a good amount of charging energy.
It has four ports in total: two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports. One of the USB-C ports offers 60W of output and the other 100W of input or output – this is the one you will use to charge this monster. Both ports support the USB-PD standard.
Two USB-A ports support Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 at 18W. One of them also supports 40 W fast charging standards from Oppo and OnePlus and 22.5 W fast charging standards from Vivo and Huawei with compatible phones.
So, almost no matter what device you have, this power bank will support your fast charging standard. This is a very bold statement.
In addition, the device has dual-coil wireless charging on one side. So, you can charge any of your supported devices at 10W. You can also charge your Apple Watch at 2.5 W with this.
Design and performance
This energy bank is a chonk in every way. It is 15.1 cm long and 8.2 cm wide. Much bigger than the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Flash 2.0 is2.7 cm thick – or approximately the height of 4 iPhone 12 units stacked on top of each other.
If you need to work out, this device will also help you, as it weighs 500 grams. This is much heavier than your average energy bank.
The energy bank keeps its promises for fast charging. He charged my iPhone 12 from 10% to 31% in 10 minutes. It increased my Pixel 4a from 11% to 48% in 21 minutes; fully charged in less than an hour. Flash charged the MacBook Pro 2019 by 15% in less than 20 minutes. So yes. it’s really fast and versatile.
Why does it cost so much?
Vinson Leow, the founder of ASAP technology, told me that one of the main reasons why the flash power bank costs so much is the battery. The company used Graphe battery cells manufactured by Panasonic. These are the same cells used by Tesla in its car batteries.
Initially, Chargeasap used the name Tesla in the marketing of this product. However, the automaker requested removal of the name later.
Leow says that, because of this design, you can insert or produce more power from the power bank. This allows for faster charging of devices as well as the power bank itself.
He added that the average power bank lasts 500 charge cycles, which usually results in about two years of use. However, the company said that Flash can last 2,000 charge cycles with these next-generation batteries.
Leow said that incorporating all quick charge standards is also an expensive process and also contributes to the final price.
Conclusion
Chargeasap targets people who are already spending more than $ 100 on power banks that charge devices at 60 W or more. However, $ 249 is still a high price for such a device.
The company says that this energy bank will last for years and you won’t have to buy another one. If you are a Tesla fan and constantly change your phone, this power bank may be useful for you. But if you don’t need all of these features, there are many options in the $ 100 to $ 200 range from other companies, including Anker and Goal Zero, that can serve your purpose.
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Posted on December 27, 2020 – 07:00 UTC