UKH

Flying off tomorrow - and I need to buy a battery pack (around 10,000 mAh) to charge USB devices while out in the field. Looking for a decent one I can buy from the shops. If anyone knows any good places to buy a good quality one - please let me know (getting desperate!).

Cheers

In reply to SenzuBean:

Nothing like leaving it to the last minute.
The only brand I have experience of using and would recommend would be Anchor, but they don't seem to be stocked by any physical shops.
Argos have one that meets your needs
http://tinyurl.com/nkop6wk
But it's a online only thing so getting it tomorrow could be a problem.
I'd say that unless you are massively luck to have a good independent place near you your best bet is going to be the duty free shop.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Its not cheap but you are in a hurry

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-portable-power-bank-10000mah-n95lh

However if you had more time then I too would recommend Anker battery packs from Amazon.

I have these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/13000mAh-Portable-External-Technology-Motorola-Blac...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OJXVDAU?psc=1

In reply to The Lemming:

Fark - foolish to leave it to the last minute. Oh well. I will have a see tomorrow. Gulp.

In reply to The Lemming:

I have been thinking about getting a battery pack. Both of the ones of amazon look good, do you have a preference between them?

In reply to alastairbegley:

The bigger one is for work where I do 12 hour shifts. I just need a top-up for the last couple of hours and the 15,000 battery lasts a good few weeks before it is drained. In fact the battery can charge my phone quicker than by using a mains connection. I can go from 0% to 100% in around 1 hour. Quite impressive. As the battery is not very big, it lives in my kit bag.

The other battery was bought for Miss lemming to go with the new phone I bought her. Both do their job very well.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Some but not all battery packs can provide power whilst being charged so you might want to check that.

Also some USB devices (notably Garmin GPSs) require a special cable that grounds one of the wires (can't remember which one) otherwise the unit is put in to "PC mode" and will charge and be able to transfer files but the main functionality is turned off.

In reply to The Lemming:

I have a RAV one very similar to yours. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EHEEFWY?psc=1&redirect=true&r...

Other than the size and weight (which are pretty good for the capacity) I can't fault it. It reviews better than the Anker products. Nearly 10% of the reviews are 3 stars or less on the anchor product you listed and it has 5% reviews at 4/5 stars. This isn't an unacceptable number of low votes but it is a bit on the high side.

In reply to alastairbegley:
I Have a Anker Astro.

Link here

http://www.amazon.co.uk/16000mAh-Portable-External-Technology-Motorola-Whit...

I cannot fault it.

Edit it's actually the black one I've got

cheers

Gaz

In reply to Gazlynn:
Thanks for the replies! However I couldn't get anything from Amazon as I am flying out this evening, and when I arrive I also only have 1 day (and 1-day delivery to rural is not possible in NZ). Luckily Maplin had a good quality 9000mAh battery pack from Brunton, which seem to be a decent brand (I didn't want maplin's home brand). It was 50 quid instead of 130, so I thought may as well at that price. Fingers crossed it works!

In reply to SenzuBean:

Just to make you feel bad, you don't get the full power of your battery. You can lose up to 30% through some physics of transferring the energy from your battery to the device of choice.

Just so you don't think that you've been giving a dudd.

In reply to The Lemming:

No worries - yeah I am aware of that. It's only to charge a piddly point and shoot battery - 1250mAh, so if it can charge that 4-5x, and then combined with the 4 batteries I already have - should be plenty for 9-11 days of trekking with no charging. After that, we'll have more access to charging so it won't be a problem hopefully