Our Thoughts
I know what you are probably thinking… $179 if you are in the states… or $249 if you are in Canada is a bit rich for a powerbank. That’s the same thing that we thought as well. But traveling around a lot without access to charging plugs all the time left us either using the lightest power settings on our computers ( and reducing the speed at which it was working ) or rushing at full performance and sitting there with a dead laptop. So perhaps it is better to look at it more as a spare battery for your laptop , Macbook, with the ability to power your phone.
It hurts the wallet the same but at least this way we can justify the price as you can almost buy a backup battery for that much. But as mentioned before it won’t actually help with anything other than the laptop you have.
Why we love the Anker 737
As mentioned above this thing can charge your laptop, Macbook, and pretty much anything else that has a usb cable that can be used to connect it. This thing is a monster, in a good way, that it can carry 25600 mAh of power. I know that it isn’t very useful to think that way , so to give you an idea. The new Ipad Touch has the capacity of 1,043 mAh which can give you up to 40 hours of playback. The Apple MacBook Pro 13″ Touch A1706 has 4310 mAh , so won’t get you a full charge but it will give you a half a battery. This is good for another 3-4 hours at normal usage. So the capacity is great, for the size of the battery. After finishing this review we have done a full article about why graphene is so great, and why it is a great new tech to be used in these power banks. So if you want to find out why graphene in your power bank is a thing to look for, make sure you read our full review and FAQ on it
Size of the Anker 737
Speaking of the size, it is great as well. It is about 7 and a half inches long, and pretty thin at under 1 inch. The width is almost 4 inches so it is a bit too long to put in a pocket but can easily fit in your hoody or a backpack without taking up much space. It is a bit heavy at around a pound total weight. But there isn’t much you can do as it is just the weight of the batteries.
Anker power bank charging options
It also offers multiple charging outlets. This is great if you are just making a quick flight with the need to get your phone and laptop a boost. One of the outlets is 60 w with a usb-c outlet and the other two can do a total of 18 watts. So there is a pretty big drop off. However the truth is that they still charge fast enough to be useful.
Ankers reputation
The final reason that we love the product is because Anker is a great company. I know that you can get charging cables for $2 off Aliexpress or other places now. But we bought one of their higher end cables, and have been using ( and maybe abusing ) it for over 4 years now. There is no crimping, bends, or loss of charging speed at all. They stand behind their products, and offer amazing customer support. We had a speaker of theirs.. that got a bit wet ( before waterproofing everything was the rage). And they quickly and easily replaced it.. even if it was probably our fault 🙂
Anker 737 features
Alright now that we’ve explained what we love about the product we can look at bit more into the features from their spec sheets… aka things that we didn’t notice but are probably useful.
- Advanced Safety Protection – Anker has built in circuits that prevent overheating and surges. This is really important because some of the cheaper charger have been known to catch fire and short out phones or other things due to surges.
- Premium Batteries – Anker says that they use LG batteries in their equipment. LG makes very good batteries, which is important when you are plugging in a phone or computer worth a couple thousand dollars.
- Fast (re)charging – As big as the capacity is , it’s not much use if you can’t charge it quickly for the next use. This is again why we love Anker. Their power banks support fast charging both to the equipment and to the bank itself. This allows you to plug them in and get them some juice when you do have access to an outlet. This fast charger is included with the 737 as well so it isn’t a hidden expense you need to access it.
Is the Anker power bank good?
Yes, the Anker power bank is good. It combines good quality with fast charging. The warranty and quality are the best in the market today.
Final thoughts on the Anker 737
While the price is high, you have to think about the potential other costs that come up if you don’t pay it. We aren’t saying that this is a must have for everyone, but if you’ve got the latest Google or Apple phone they could easily cost more than $1000. Or your MacBook and laptop, which can cost over $2000 without really getting anything super high end. But for the people that need access to big power , on the go, we can’t really suggest anyone else other than Anker.
They have been around long enough that their name is well known. I know you can compare the mAh to the ones that are claimed online and you might think that you can get it for cheaper and higher capacity. But you have to ask yourself, if you’ve spent so much is it worth the risk of saving some money on the powerbank, what is a bit more for a high quality one with a great warranty?
Their product is light enough that it can be taken without adding a lot of weight to your carry on or back pack. But it does have a nice weight to it, so you can feel the quality. So we think that it is a great product, and if you find that the price is just too high, we suggest taking a look at one of their other models. Anker has a lot of different options that are a good fit for every budget and need.
We will try to get some pictures up, but we just couldn’t get any that looked decent. While we love tech we must admit that taking pictures is not our thing. 🙂 But if you are looking for more info on graphene and its use in power banks, make sure you read our follow up article that we just finished!
