TeckNetŪ iEP380 5000mAh Dual-Port External Battery Pack and Charger for "The new iPad" the 3rd Gen ipad, iPad 2, iPad mini, iPhone 4S 4 3G, iPod Touch (1G to 5G), Android (Samsung Galaxy Note S S2, HTC Sensation EVO Thunderbolt, LG Optimus V), Blackberry (Bold curve Torch), Droid(Motorola Razr), Plus Major Tablet PCs with 5V input (Samsung, Blackberry, HTC) - Black

This device is absolutely brilliant. Many thanks for watching.

I bought this for a trip to Japan, as my devices usually run out of power long before the end of the 12 hour flight. I was particularly attracted by the dual USB ports which allow you to charge two devices simultaneously, and the large 5000mAh capacity. It turned out to be invaluable and an essential item for people who travel with lots of gadgets. For our trip my wife and I between us had and iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, Sony PSP Go, Nintendo DS and two Ipods and we got all the way there with all devices still running and some power still left in the pack. I was able to play the PSP for at least twice as long as would have been possible without it and could have played even longer (theoretically it could give you probably 4-5 times more play time in addition to the standard battery). It has huge capacity and will charge a 3G iphone several times easily, the iPhone 4 seems to suck more juice out of it, so possibly only two charges for that.

It also comes in useful if you forget to charge your phone; just hook it to the battery and stick it in your bag and in an hour or so you're phone is charged without any inconvenience. It's also handy having two sockets, as you can charge two devices from the one wall socket, and also cut down the number of chargers you have to carry with you. I carried just the iPhone charger with a generic USB cable and was able to charge everything from the battery pack.

One point to note is you will need to pick up special USB cables for some devices, the PSP Go will not work with the standard USB cable that comes with it, you need a generic cable (for some reason the Sony cable doesn't follow the USB spec properly and will not charge the device). Once I got a third party cable (available on Amazon) it worked fine. The Nintendo DS Lite also has an unusual socket so you'll need to find a USB cable for that, I picked one up in Japan, I'm sure you can get them on Amazon too. The standard iPhone cable worked fine with this battery for iPods and iPhones.

You can pick up USB adapter cables for almost any kind of DC socket now, which makes this device extremely useful and you will be able to charge almost anything with it. For the money it's probably the best accessory I've ever bought. It also comes with a little bag and strap, and is surprisingly light.

I have had this little device for about 3 months now and I have put it through its paces a lot. Firstly I was quite shocked at the small size and weight of it as I was expecting it to be much bigger than it was and heavier too. The item is actually smaller in footprint than my mobile phone (Samsung Galaxy S) and not a great deal heavier either. The build quality seems really good for the price, strong and sturdy with a slick design.

OK so now for information on the use of it.

Firstly the Pro's

fits in the pocket really well and you hardly notice the extra weight in a coat or bag. The cord is a wound one so takes up a small amount of space even when plugged in so I have often used the device to charge my phone while it is in my coat pocket and this works quite well.

The dual USB outputs are a godsend. My and my partner went on a day trip and the weather turned really bad while we were out and we had several hours to wait for the coach home. We found a nice cosy pub to snuggle up in and both got out our mobile phones and hooked them up to the battery pack. 3 hours later and not only had this stopped both our phones from dying due to us hammering the internet and watching movies on them but they were both fully charged and the unit was still reporting strong power.

The host of connectors that come with it are very good and fit most of the items i have had the urge to try and charge with it, including PSP and a digital camera.

OK now the Con's

The capacity stated on the item is 5000mah and although it does perform well I have calculated that I only get about 3200mah out of it before it turns off. I have tested this by discharging my phone to flat then recharging the 1500mah battery twice, after the second full cycle the pack was showing 2 bars or juice left but after the 3rd recharge attempt my phone was left with just 11% battery. So roughly only 3200mah of charge supplied. This was all done in one day so self discharge should not come into the equation.(mainly due to a boring day at work and watching movies on my mobile) and when the device was on charge it was left on standby so less than 1% discharge while charging.

The bars on the front of the device do not give an accurate indication to the % of power left in it. All 3 bars stay lit up from 100% charge right down to about 15% charge then the other 2 go off in quick succession within 20-30 minutes of charging.

Lastly the single lead that you get with the device can be an issue if you are trying to charge the device while at the same time power something else (if you have lost the original device cable for instance) so I purchased a separate mini USB cable to charge the battery pack with.

The bottom Line!

All in all for the money I don't think you can beat this for quality and durability, feels like you could play football with it and it would still work afterwords. but if your needing the full 5000mah and a accurate indicator of remaining charge then you might want to look elsewhere. I'm personally quite happy with what I have got for the price though.