As our devices grow more powerful, so do the batteries as they continuously need additional juice to stay alive. Because of this, the same thing applies to the power banks we use when it comes to keeping them charged when you don’t have access to an outlet.
Now, it is all about how much “mAh” you can pack into a power bank so that you can get the most out of it. Including charging your devices (ie, smartphone) a number of times or charging multiple devices at the same time.
We have been testing Excitrus’ Power Bank Ultimate, which is a 105W 18000mAh power bank solution that is targeted toward not only keeping your smartphone or tablet alive (or any other USB-chargeable gadgets you may have) but also helping to keep your laptop going as well.
It comes with your typical accessories, including two cables (USB-C to USB-A and USB-C to USB-C) and a short instruction foldout (user guide). Most banks don’t really come with anything else, and this one is no different.
This is too bad, because, like some of your devices or laptops, it is capable of fast-charging using the right adapter. In fact, the company says it can fully charge in around two hours with a 65W+ PD capable charger. Since it doesn’t come with this charger, you are on your own to actually make use of that (and those alone can get a bit pricey).
Again though, most power banks are lacking a wall adapter. Even Hyper’s fancy (and oh so expensive) 245W power bank doesn’t come with one.
It is nice that it comes with both types of USB cables you’d most commonly be using with it. The only thing it is missing is an Apple Lightning cable if you have any Apple products that still make use of one (given current world affairs surrounding proprietary connections). However, most Apple users typically have plenty of these laying around.
Both cables feel well manufactured so they should last a long time and work well for power-hungry devices.
It has both types of USB ports on the power bank, with the USB-C port able to supply up to 87W of power and the USB-A port able to supply up to 18W of power. Offering a total of 105W of power when both ports are in use. This means that it can keep up with most modern devices, including many laptops that support charging over USB-C.
The USB-C port will likely be your main focus when using this power bank as it is more than capable of any phone or tablet you plug into it as well as the majority of laptop models out there. Including the Dell laptops we have been plugging into it (these range from 45W to 65W requirements.
With up to 87W using the USB-C, this means that the only laptops that it won’t be able to keep up with would be some of the larger gaming laptops from companies like Alienware or the incredibly hungry models (typically used by professionals for encoding/rendering) like some of the Titan-series models from MSI.
One feature that sets one apart from some of the other power banks is the little LCD display showing its current charge both while it is charging and while it is in use charging something else. It came to us with a 75% charge and this is where we ran with testing it. Normally, we would have charged it full to 100% but we couldn’t wait to start plugging things in (we are a bunch of grown children, after all).
As for size and weight, it does have a little weight to it as any power bank of its capacity would. It isn’t bad though, weighing in at just under 14 ounces. The size, also not bad. It is around twice as thick as your average smartphone, thus it will slide right into your pocket still with ease.
Performance
When it comes to being able to fast charge some of today’s devices, it really does hit the nail on the head. We connected a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to it that had 73% battery remaining. It immediatly kicked into fast-charging and claimed it will hit 85% in just 13 minutes (we have battery protection enabled on that device so it doesn’t charge past this). Upon charging the phone to 85% (from 73%), the power bank still had 95% battery life remaining, itself.
We continued plugging in various devices that support fast-charging and everything resulted in the same experience.
This is where the real test came in. Keeping laptops juiced up takes a lot more effort than your favorite smartphone. We plugged in some of our Dell laptops we use here and the experience was about as average as we’ve seen with most high-capacity power banks. It doesn’t seem to replace the internal battery of any of the models when it comes to battery life, but it does add to what the laptop is already capable.
At least, until you plug in a laptop that has a battery past its prime (meaning the power bank is doing all the heavy lifting). We tried pairing it to a 2018 Dell Inspiron laptop. It claimed its own battery was at 100%, but that’s a lie as the battery is mostly dead and usually within 15 minutes or so, it is telling us to plug in (vs the 4-5 hours we used to get out of it),
This was actually the first thing we tested it against, breaking it out of the packaging for the first time. So it was at 75% when we put it up against its toughest challenge (an act that could be seen as a mean thing to do). At 75% of its own capacity, it was plugged in at 10:43AM. By 10:54AM, it was at 20%, and by 10:58AM, it was at 0% (although the laptop still claimed to be plugged in and taking a charge from something for some time after that–although not much of one). It averaged about 1% every 22 seconds idle, post-boot. This means, it failed miserably to keep the laptop powered while also trying to charge its battery (because we know the internal battery wasn’t lifting a finger).
Although this had been a lot of straight on the power bank (which is reasonable), we were a bit conflicted as “18000mAh” would make 64.8Wh and the laptop’s battery is 56Wh. So you’d think it would last at least as long as the laptop’s battery would in its glory days. However, once again, it may have a lot to do with powering the laptop while trying to charge the battery (that doesn’t take a charge well) at the same time. So that may need some additional testing we might come back to. If we wind up finding anything new, we will make sure to elaborate in an update.
As for everything else, it seemed to be performing as you’d expect from a high-capacity power bank.
Our Conclusion
Every device we plugged into the power bank that supported faster charging speeds seemed to like this power bank a lot. Thus, this should make for a great travel solution. It also works well for many laptops (that have properly working batteries, at least). It will likely fail miserably if your laptop’s battery is shot, though. So that is something to keep in mind.
If your laptop requires less than 65W, you will see an even bigger gain with this kind of power bank. Especially, if you are carrying around a Chromebook or equivalent. This should do circles around something like that.
It offers a good size and weight compared to other models in the market that offer this kind of capacity.
The price does seem a bit high, but we feel that way about most high-capacity power banks. We feel there is definitely some inflation in the market surrounding these. But then again, device/laptop batteries have also experienced a lot of inflation over the years. Not that it makes it any better to your wallet. It would be interesting to know how much markup there really is in the industry.
It is too bad it doesn’t come with a 65W+ wall adapted–and we do recommend buying into one as they (typically 65W to 120W) make for some of the best wall adapters out there. However, since most power banks do not come with one, it doesn’t affect the score as some of the other variables.
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