10,000mAh Mi Power Bank Pro review: Plenty of extra juice in a small, sleek package

|
, ,

TA-ratings-94Power banks are a dime a dozen these days and are only getting smaller while increasing charging capacity. Our Mi Power Bank Pro review takes a look at a very slim and sleek looking 10000mAh portable power bank from Xiaomi for charging your smartphone and other devices on the go.

Specifications

The 10.000mAh Mi Power Bank Pro has the following features and specifications:

  • Battery type: Li-polymer
  • Cell capacity: 10000mAh 3.85V (38.5 Wh)
  • Operating temperature: 0º – 45º C
  • Input: 5.0V/2.0A, 9.0V/2.0A, 12V/1.5A
  • Output: 5.0V/2.4A, 9.0V/2.0A, 12V/1.5A
  • Charging time: 3.5h (9V/2A or 12V/1.5A adapter); 5.5h (5V/2A adapter)
  • Dimensions: 5.1 x 2.9 x 0.5″ (128.5 x 75 x 12.6mm)

What’s in the box

  • 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank Pro
  • USB-A to Micro-USB/USB Type-C cable
  • User Manual
Mi-Power-Bank-Pro-review-03
What’s in the box…

Design

Power banks come in all shapes and sizes — from the more mundane to the more polished and sleek. The Mi Power Bank Pro easily falls into the latter category. Just over 5″ in length and just under 3″ wide, the power bank is just under ½” thick and features rounded sides along the length. The entire outer shell is a nice brushed aluminum with the Mi logo centered on the front in the lower quarter of the case. The back side has a small clear caution sticker and the mi.com URL in roughly the same spot.

Mi-Power-Bank-Pro-review-01
Sleek, durable design.

Each end of the power pack is your basic grey plastic finish, with the regulatory and input/output info printed on one end and your ports on the other. On the end with the ports, you’ll find an ovalish power check button on the far left, four LED lights to indicate current capacity, a USB Type-C port and a USB A port. You might be thinking “sweet, USB-C!” Unfortunately, the USB Type-C port is for input only and allows for faster recharging of the battery pack. The USB-A port, however, supposedly intelligently adjusts up to 18W but more on that later.

Mi-Power-Bank-Pro-review-02
The power check button, LED lights, and ports on the one end.

Included with the power bank is a short, 11″, white USB-A to Micro-USB cable with a Micro-USB to USB Type-C adapter attached to the end.

As far as power banks go, the Mi Power Bank Pro is definitely sleek looking with its nice aluminum finish and is also very durable feeling.

Performance

The power bank is as easy to use as plugging in the USB-A cable and connecting it to your device. Once the power bank detects a connection, it will automatically start charging your device.

While the Mi Power Bank Pro only outputs over USB-A, the specs and manual state that it outputs at 5.0V/2.4A, 9.0V/2.0A, or 12V/1.5A — plenty of output for fast charging on devices that support it. Unfortunately, during testing with both the included and three other cables, the most we could get out of the power pack while charging the Pixel 2 XL was 4.65V/1.43A which wasn’t enough for the phone to display “charging rapidly.”

That being said, looking closer at the Amazon listing, you’ll find the following:

Compatibility: Intelligently detects and charges your devices at a max speed. iPhone X 8 7 6 Plus, iPad Air / 4 3 2, Samsung S8 Plus, Note 8, Google Nexus, LG, Moto, Fitbit, BT earphones, tablets and more. USB PD not supported. Does not fast charge Pixel phones.

The key statement here is “USB PD not supported,” so that explains why it won’t fast charge Pixel phones. At any rate, as such, charging was still fairly quick with it’s roughly 6.65W output to the Pixel 2 XL. Other devices tested charged as expected as well, so aside from no rapid charging for Pixel phones, there aren’t any real complaints with performance here. It’d also be nice to see a future version support charging from the USB-C port as well.

Another nice feature is that a double tap of the power check button will place the battery pack in “small current discharge mode” for charging Bluetooth headphones, smart bands, and other smaller devices. Pressing the power check button again will exit this mode.

Battery Life

Sporting a 10,000mAh Li-polymer high-capacity battery, you should be able to get close to, if not more than, three full charges of your device. During testing, we were able to fully charge the Pixel 2 XL twice and then up to 92% a third time from less than 15% each time. Where the Type-C port comes in is for recharging the battery pack itself. Normally it can take up to 6 hours to charge a battery of this size but over USB-C it took us just over 3.5 hours to fully recharge the battery pack.

Price/Value

With an MSRP of $29.99 USD, the Mi Power Bank Pro isn’t the cheapest but it’s also not the most expensive 10,000 mAh power bank on the market. It does have a very nice and durable finish which adds some value to it. In addition, being able to recharge it over USB-C is a plus given the amount of time it normally takes to recharge power banks of this size normally. It’s currently a few dollars off on Amazon, bringing the price to just over $25USD.

Wrap-up

The Xiaomi Mi 10,000mAh Power Bank Pro has a sleek, solid build quality and enough juice to recharge your smartphone multiple times. Small in size, it easily fits in a pocket, purse, or small pouch in your bag for easy access to power on the go.

*We were sent a sample of the 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank Pro for the purposes of this review.
Previous

Apple Watch Series 4 may get a redesign with larger display, and better battery life

Logitech G PRO Gaming Headset launches with affordable price tag

Next

Latest Articles

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap