Review: Anker PowerCore Essential 20000mAh
Anker and its flagship power bank PowerCore Essential 20000. With over 18,000 ratings on Amazon, is one of the most popular and sold power banks on the market. Is it worth its price? Is it as good as reviews say? Read on to find out.
Pros & Cons:
Pros:
Supporting simultaneous USB charging by USB-A type ports
Superb material quality and design
Battery efficiency on 92%, one of the highest
It’s able to charge most mobile phones 4 times
Cons:
Simultaneous charging and recharging is not supported
USB-C Input only; no cable provided, only Micro USB / USB-A
Doesn’t support laptop charging
It does not support fast charge output to phones only standard charge speed
Rating
Power & Performance (1 to 5 stars)
Design & Build (1 to 5 stars)
Technology (1 to 5 stars)
Overall Rating (average of above)
Key Specifications of a Product
Key Specs:
Capacity
20,000 mAh / 72 Wh
Dimensions (LxWxH)
6.2 x 2.9 x 0.8 in / 15.8 x 7.4 x 1.9 cm
Weight
12 oz / 342 gm
Output & Input Charging:
Average Charging Time of a Mobile Phone (average battery capacity 3000mAh)
1 hour and 20 minutes
Average Recharging Time (from 0% to 100%)
11 hours
Ports
2 x USB-A Output: 5V/3A
USB-C Input: 5V/2A
Micro USB Input: 5V/2A
Charging Technology
Fast-Charging via Leading Technology
PowerIQ Technology
VoltageBoost technology delivers an optimized charge to your devices
Trickle-charging mode - the best way to charge low-power accessories
Anker's MultiProtect safety system
Flight Status
Under 100WH
Safe to take on board.
Other Features
18-Month Limited Warranty
Lifetime Technical Support
Ideal For?
Traveler
Student
Adventurer
What Inside?
Anker PowerCore Essential 20000
Protective pouch
USB-A to Micro USB cable
Manual in multiple languages
Welcome card
Power & Performance
Battery Capacity
Battery capacity in mAh, and Watts power.
The Anker PowerCore Essential has a battery capacity of 20,000 mAh / 72 Wh. This amount of energy is enough to charge most phones 3 or 4 times.
Capacity test - discharge the fully charged power bank
Have you ever wondered if the advertised power bank has the claimed battery capacity? Does it really have 5,000 mAh or 10,000 mAh as advertised? It’s possible to check it.
To check the actual battery capacity we need:
The fully charged power bank
A USB tester that shows the current, voltage, mAh, and charging time.
The USB mini adjustable load receives energy from the power bank and releases it safely via the fan. This is the safe way to discharge a fully charged power bank and measure the real battery capacity.
Let’s dive deep into the test and result. Following the aforementioned procedure, I tested Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 . Here are the results:
Results
What I found out:
Discharging Time - 6 hours and 54 minutes
Watt-Hours - 70.5 Wh
Ampere hour - 13644 mAh
The real battery capacity is 13644 mAh / 70.5 Wh. This amount of mAh precisely shows the energy that you will fully use to charge your mobile phone. If you are surprised why it’s not 20,000 mAh, that’s due to converting energy from 3.7V (power bank’s battery voltage) to 5V (USB’s voltage). This natural process occurs in every power bank.
Knowing advertised and the actual battery capacity it’s possible to measure the battery efficiency which is 92%. Manufacturers frequently don’t share this information. An efficiency above 90% is considered a very good one. Having said that, 92% is an excellent score, which proves a high-quality battery.
Disclaimer: Every test may vary, but only with a small variation.
How many times to charge the most sold mobile phones in 2020?
To put the battery capacity into perspective, I will use a formula for Real Battery Capacity and calculate how many times Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 mAh can charge the top 10 most popular mobile phones in 2020. Perhaps you own one of the enlisted phones or at least you know your mobile phone’s battery capacity. From the previous test, we know the real battery capacity which is 92%.
Once we know the real battery capacity, simply divide it by the enlisted mobile phones’ battery capacity to find out how many times it can be charged.
Mobile Phone Model | How Many Times Can It Be Charged? |
4.61 | |
3.05 | |
2.88 | |
2.88 | |
3.24 | |
7.13 | |
2.88 | |
4.13 | |
3.09 | |
2.60 |
The tested device can easily charge almost all devices nearly 3 times. Moto G8 has the biggest battery amongst enlisted mobile phones and it can be charged over 2 and half times, nearer to 3 times, since most people don’t wait for their batteries to die completely. For smartphones with batteries around 3,000 mAh such as Google Pixel 4a, you can count on at least 4 full charges.
If you need a power source for 3 or 4 days for one phone, the Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 will be a great choice.
Output Charging
Charging Time & Power Usage
The main purpose of power banks is charging your devices, hence this review cannot be done without testing output charging. The knowledge of the charging time of devices is crucial. Frequently is one of the most important factors while purchasing a power bank.
For these tests, I used two mobile phones:
Huawei P10 with a battery of 3200 mAh (Huawei SuperCharge)
Samsung S8 with a battery of 3000mAh (Adaptive Fast Charging)
Both phones support fast-charging technology.
To record data (current, voltage, mAh, time) I used a USB tester.
Real-life examples, testing charging phones demonstrate what you can expect after purchasing the power bank.
The Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 is equipped with fast-charging technology via leading technology and PowerIW Technology. Having said that, the expectation bar is set high. Anker is already well-known for its cutting-edge technology. Let’s find out if the tested power bank will exceed a standard charging on level 5V/2A, but without USB-C PD for output charging it might be more difficult.
Test charging via USB-A (Huawei)
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The tested power bank delivered the energy in standard time on level 5V/2A. The mobile phone was charged to almost 90% an hour and 11 minutes. Perhaps another 10 minutes could have added an extra 7% of the battery. It is a good time considering a standard output and quite an old phone without the newest charging technology.
Test charging via USB-A (Samsung)
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Charging Samsung S8 wasn’t as quick as charging Huawei P10. It had almost the full blast to 97% and it took an hour and 35 minutes. The power bank delivered 2,159 mAh / 11.1 Wh of energy. It’s a decent score, but I had expected it could have been charged a bit faster.
Test charging via USB-A two phone simultaneously
Due to the short distance between ports, I could only use one USB tester, hence data is not highly accurate, but it still shows data in the ballpark. It took nearly 2 hours to charge two mobile phones at the same time. It’s nearly 5000 mAh of energy delivered. It’s a pretty decent result.
Round-up of output charging
Overall it’s a good result. The power bank delivers energy in an acceptable time frame. The high battery efficiency guarantees the use of every single drop of juice, making this a highly efficient power bank. On the flip side, neither tested phone detected fast-charging speed. It could have allowed me to charge the phone within an hour or a bit longer.
Input Charging
Both available ports Micro USB and USB-C can accept energy on level 5V/2A. Considering the battery’s capacity, it might take around 10 to 11 hours.
I charged the power bank twice. The first test, via a standard charger rated at 5V/2A charging speed; a charger most of us have. For the second charge, I used the charger rated 65W, the fastest type of charger, able to charge compatible laptops.
10 hours and 40 minutes for the full charge via Standard Charger. It’s the expected time. The power bank received in total 18,128 mAh / 92.7 Wh.
Recharging via RAVPower Fast Charger
This is quite surprising, RAVPower’s charger, one of the fastest to buy, that can pump up energy with the fastest possible pace, needed nearly 12 hours to charge the power bank to the maximum. Nonetheless, the power bank can accept a certain amount of energy, thus still it was expected, but within 11 hours, not 12. The power bank received 18573 mAh / 96 Wh.
Score
Design & Build
Size & Weight
Weight in ounces and grams
12 oz / 342 gm
Measurement in inches and centimeters
6.2 x 2.9 x 0.8 in / 15.8 x 7.4 x 1.9 cm
The PowerCore Essential 20000 is compact enough for easy transport. At 2.9 inches wide, 6.4 inches tall, and 0.7 inches thick, it’s only slightly larger than your average smartphone with a case. This makes it small enough to slip into a backpack or laptop bag, although it’s a bit large to carry in your pants pocket. It weighs 12 ounces, which is heavier than you’d expect for the size, about twice the weight of an iPhone.
Design & Material
Those who follow Charging Kick might already know that I am a big fan of Anker design. All their power banks are robust and minimalistic. The Anker PowerCore Essential is not an exception.
The power bank is constructed from solid plastic. There are two color selections: black and white. It has a matte finish, prevents creating smudges and fingerprints. The texture is comfortably coarse, keeping the device firmly in hand. The edges are glossy, providing a subtle contrast to the matte front and back. The corners are slightly curved. All parts are well built, and I can't find any loose parts.
The front of the power bank has a small, glossy Anker logo on one end. On the other end, is the power button the size of a fingertip. It’s easily palpable from the rest of the device, which makes it very useful if you carry it in a pocket. It has four small LED lights built into it. Once the button is pressed, the lights start illuminating, showing the current power level. If you press and keep the button for 2 seconds, it switches on the trickle charge option to charge safely low-power accessories such as earphones or smartwatches. It’s indicated as a green light.
On the bottom of the power bank, near the power button, you’ll find four USB ports. On the left side are two USB-A, used to output charging, and on the right are USB-C and Micro USB, both used to recharge the power bank.
On the back, on the bottom, you can find a list of essential information about the power bank.
Sadly the PowerCore Essential 20000 is not waterproof and shock-proof. It’s a robust power bank, great construction, but I don’t recommend it taking to the wilderness or outdoor activities. For everyday use, it should be enough.
Score
Technology
Ports
The Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 has
two USB-A ports for output charging.
Both can be used at the same time to charge two devices. A handy feature
for, I would consider essential, for a big power bank.
Each port is limited to 5V at 2.4A, for a total of 12 Watts.
While using two ports simultaneously,
it’s limited to 15 Watts. In consequence, charging two
devices at the same time will slow the charging time of each charged
device.
For input charging, there are two options available: Micro
USB and USB-C. Both supply the same charging speed.
Ports:
2 x USB-A Output: 5V/3A
USB-C Type Input: 5V/2A
Micro USB Type Input: 5V/2A
Tech
The power bank uses Anker’s PowerIQ technology, which detects automatically the voltage of the charged device to meet the optimal condition.
Sadly the Anker PowerCore Essential doesn’t have pass-through charging, so you can’t charge your mobile phone while simultaneously charging the power bank.
It doesn’t support laptop charging.
Fast-Charging via Leading Technology
PowerIQ Technology
VoltageBoost technology delivers an optimized charge to your devices
Trickle-charging mode - the best way to charge low-power accessories.
Anker's MultiProtect safety system
Score
Conclusion
Overall Opinion
It’s a solid power bank, which has proved the reason for its popularity on Amazon (over 18,000 ratings). Simple and great design, robust material, 4 ports (2 output, 2 input), and great battery efficiency. For someone who needs a power bank for 3-4 days, it will be an ideal option to choose. However, for this capacity and Anker’s reputation, I would expect faster charging, USB-C for output charging and enough Watt output to charge laptops via USB-C PD. Still, even without these features, I want to keep it in my collection.
Final Score