Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 Review

This portable battery finished just behind the OtterBox Power Pack 10000, but exceeded the performance of the RAVPower Ace 22000. The OtterBox is a little more portable than the Anker but has much less capacity and is less convenient to use. It also costs about $10 less. The RAVPower scored just a point less than the Anker, due to it being slightly less portable, but we overall favored it, as it retails for around $20 less than the Anker and has a larger capacity, making it our top recommendation if you need a battery pack with maximum capacity.

The Anker PowerCore Speed 20000.

Performance Comparison

In our quest to find a portable pack that tops them all, we looked at dozens and dozens of different models, then picked out the ones that showed the most promise to buy and truly test our their performance, scoring them side-by-side with their peers. We split our testing method up into four weighted metrics, with the results of the Anker PowerCore Speed 2000 when it came to its convenience factor, capacity, portability, and recharge time highlighted below.

This battery pack isn't great to carry around in a pocket.

Portability

For this initial round of assessments, we compared the volume and weight of each battery, as well as how comfortable each one is to carry around in a pocket, both while sitting and standing. These account for 40% of the overall score for each portable power pack, with the Anker PowerCore Speed meriting a 4 out of 10 for its less than stellar showing.

This battery is one of the larger ones of the bunch, having a rectangular form factor that measures 6.6" long, 2.4" wide, and 0.8" deep.

This is one of the larger and heavier batteries that we tested.

Unsurprisingly, this portable battery is also one of the heaviest models, weighing in at a little less than 13 oz.

The longer and slimmer profile of this battery actually make it not horrendous to carry around in a pocket.

The larger batteries are much more suited to being carried in a bag than a pocket.

While it usually will stick quite a ways out of both a front or back pocket, it's not overly cumbersome to sit or stand with it, but is definitely noticeable. We usually found it preferable to store this battery pack in a larger jacket pocket or a bag or backpack rather than carry it around in a pants pocket.

The dummy load allowed us to test the capacity at different discharge rates.

Capacity

Moving on to how much juice the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 actually has, our capacity metric is in charge of 30% of its total score. To award points, we tested out the accuracy of the manufacturer's claim regarding how many device charges you can get out of the PowerCore Speed 20000, as well as the total energy we could pull out of this power pack using a simulated dummy load. The PowerCore Speed did quite well, earning a 6 out of 10.

This portable USB battery has a stated capacity of 20,000 mAh and we were able to get a little over 60% of the stated capacity out of this battery, or 12,175 mAh, using our dummy load set to a discharge rate of 2.4 amps. We repeated this test with the discharge rate set at 1 amp and got a bit more energy out — 12, 428 mAh — but not by much. We did like that this battery was able to maintain a 2.4 amp discharge rate the entire time

For our next test, we looked at the claimed 4 Galaxy S7, 6 iPhone 7, or 1.5 iPad Air 2 charges that Anker says you should be able to get out of this portable battery. Using our Samsung Galaxy S8 test phone, we found that it exceeded the roughly comparable S7 claim, as we were able to charge our phone 4.48 times before the battery completely died.

You need to make sure the battery has an adequate discharge rate if you want to charge multiple devices as quickly as possible.

Added Convenience

Constituting 20% of the overall score for each battery, our convenience metric is the next most significant in determining the overall score of the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000. We looked at if there are any built-in or integrated features or functions that make this battery less of a hassle to use, as well as how many devices can be charged at the same time and what sort of warranty is included. The PowerCore Speed is a bit bare-bones when it comes to design, meriting it a 5 out of 10 for its mediocre showing in this metric.

The pair of output ports and recharging port on the Anker.

While you can charge multiple different electronic devices at once with this charger, it does lack any integrated convenience features whatsoever. There is no built-in flashlight module, no built-in cables, and no integrated method to recharge the battery, requiring an additional cable for both of those tasks. However, a micro USB cable is included with the PowerCore Speed. Additionally, there is also an 18-month limited warranty included as well.

This battery takes a very long time to recharge.

Recharge Time

For the remaining tenth of the total score, we compared and scored the recharge time of each of these portable chargers. As the PowerCore Speed is one of the largest battery packs, it is at a bit of a disadvantage in this metric, earning a 4 out of 10 for its results.

This battery took almost the longest out of the group to charge, with a whopping 485 minutes on the charger before the LED lights indicated that it was fully charged.

Value

This battery isn't a great value option, as there are less expensive options that have even more capacity out there.

Conclusion

While the Anker's only real deficiencies are its somewhat limited portability and its longer than average recharge time, we are still a bit hesitant to recommend it. It does have a huge capacity, but other batteries have an even larger capacity and cost less, while being just a little bit less portable — somewhat of a non-issue, as most people are going to be carrying these larger batteries around in a purse or other bag, rather than a pocket.