Battery life is the bane of smart phones and it is rare to not see someone pack a powerbank, or a charger and cable in their everyday carry. You charge your power bank overnight perhaps with a charger and cable, and round and round the cycle goes. What if someone combined the two? This is exactly what Belkin did with the rather long named BoostCharge Hybrid Wall Charger 25W + Power Bank 5K. I am just going to refer to this as the BoostCharge in this review.
Is Kevin capable of writing a quick snappy review? Let’s see.
First Impressions
The BoostCharge is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. Like any good wall chargers it comes with a set of interchangeable plugs to suit any country’s general purpose outlets.
There is a little push tab to make it easy to remove the adapter and store it, or swap to a different one. By taking away the adaptor, the Boostcharge becomes a regular shaped Power Bank.
At one end of the unit is a USB-A and a USB-C port, as well as a small button which will light up four LEDs to indicate the Powerbank charge level.
Without the GPO adapter, the unit comes in at just a shade under 168 grams.
Belkin has included a USB-C cable and a little cloth storage bag to keep everything together with this one.
Also of note is the use of recyclable material both in the packaging and the product.
In Use
There’s not a lot to say other than it is a Power Bank. At 5000 mAh it will tide you over for a single charge of your average mobile phone battery, give or take.
What is handy is that you don’t need to carry a separate charger to recharge the BoostCharge. All you need is to have the right plug in for your GPO and you can plug it straight into the wall to recharge.
If you are plugged into the wall point, the USB-C port is PD rated for 25W. This won’t work for devices that have higher power drains, but a lot of your small on the go pieces will work just nicely.
Interesting enough, the USB-C port can also be used for charging the BoostCharge with a maximum 15W for input. The same USB-C port can handle a 20W output and as one would expect, the USB-A output is lower and tops out at 12W.
It is not the fastest speeds but it is no slouch either.
Gripes
Whilst Belkin has provided a little storage bag to keep things together, I could have loved a little cable management on the BoostCharge itself to keep things neat and tidy.
Conclusions
The Belkin BoostCharge Hybrid Wall Charger 25W + Power Bank 5K is an interesting concept from Belkin, but executed well. It is immensely handy to have although the 5K Power Bank is pretty low end. The catch though is striking the balance between capacity, weight and well, gravity. The higher the capacity power bank, the heavier it weights, and the more likely it will create a stress point where it is plugged into – the wall socket.
The BoostCharge comes as quite a package, including all the adaptors for travelling. It does come at a cost of RRP AUD$119.95 which is a pretty hefty price tag for this size. Even Belkin’s own 5000 mAh Magnetic Wireless Power Bank comes in at nearly half that price.
All I can say it that is is incredibly convenient to have in the kit as long as the price is no objection.
DRN would like to thank Belkin for providing the review unit.
Specifications
Hybrid portable charging technology
Dual ports (1x USB-C and 1x USB-A) support two devices charging simultaneously
25W USB-C PD3.0 PPS wall charger for fast charging
20W power bank offers a quick power boost to your device
Compact and sleek design that fits in your pocket
Includes 3.3ft/1m USB-C to USB-C cable and interchangeable regional power plugs
2-year warranty
Made with recycled plastic products
100% recycled plastic packaging
