Last week I received a surprise.  I opened my door and found a package from Amazon addressed to me courtesy of AUKEY.  I guess they were sufficiently happy with my review of their wireless charger that they decided to see what I thought of one of their portable charging banks. 

I was about to write a review of this product - tl;dr the power bank does what it’s supposed to and it does it well - when another AUKEY package arrived at my door. I opened the padded envelope and inside was a little dual port car charger.  These are great little devices, so I’m going to start my review of the power bank with a review of this car charger.  

The AUKEY CC-S2

The CC-S2 is a nice little car charger.  I previously purchased the CC-S1 last year for my BMW i3’s “hidden power outlet” under the dash and it works exactly as it should - it unobtrusively sits in the lighter port and makes it possible for me and my wife to simultaneously charge both our phones. I expect the CC-S2 will perform that function just as well.  

What it is and what it is not. First, what it’s not.  It isn't a speed charger. It will charge your phone/tablet/portable gaming device fine. If you need to charge something fast this basic charger isn’t what you want. The CC-T8 (which supports Qualcomm Quick Charge) is the one you want. 

What it is.  It’s a really well made product. It is probably made to a higher quality standard than is actually required. I was impressed when I took it out of the box and saw that the metallic gray charger wasn't metallic paint but actual metal (a cast aluminum alloy I expect) with all the labeling etched by laser. The CC-S1 I previously purchased has a plastic shell. The fact that a device as mundane as a car charge-port adapter is made to this high standard impresses me.   

Appearances aside the device works as well as it should.  It fits very snug into the cigarette port and, while it might sit flush in your car, protrudes a few millimeters in my i3 (and in all the power ports throughout the vehicle). Some users have reported that it’s so flush that if you have a car with a little door over the charger you’ll probably be able to close it when it’s not in use. That’s not my experience with these chargers but other than that they work as intended. 

So after using the CC-S1 and newer the CC-S2 I would say both are excellent products that will last a long time and do just what they should all for a very reasonable price. My only qualm is that they can be annoying to remove once installed. You need a plastic putty knife to pry them out.  But they don’t get taken out much anyway so that’s not a huge deal. 

Verdict: CC-S2 is worth purchasing for its reasonable price of $11.99 on Amazon.

The AUKEY PB-Y22

Is it nice to have a portable battery pack? Yes. Do you absolutely have to have one in order to live? No. If you were lost in the desert with no electrical devices to charge, this would be a pretty lousy final wish that a genie in a lamp bamboozled you out of.  But if you’re stuck at an airport with a dying phone and other travelers were using all available plugs, you’d be pleased with yourself if in that situation you pulled the AUKEY PB-Y22 out of your hat (or pocket since that’s a more likely place). Imagine you are not traveling alone, but have a child in tow, and said child has a Nintendo Switch, a device with notoriously weak battery life. God forbid you give him or her a book to read, or entertain your child yourself, instead just keep letting the Nintendo occupy your child when, like a suburban Dr. Frankenstein, you inject new life into their console morte via this portable power bank. 

So, file portable power banks under don’t need but nice to have.

The PB-Y22 is a 10000 mAh battery pack which current industry trends say is a good size for the average user.  If you are a person who carries a lot of electronic devices, say you’re a photographer or the quintessential road tripping salaryman with laptop, tablet, and multiple mobile phones a'blazing; then this might not be enough juice for you. You’d want something like the 26500 mAh  PB-Y15.  

But this is a great little electric piggy bank. It’s not overly bulky, it’s portable, and is sufficiently light for you to forget about. It’s also got enough power to charge multiple devices several times before needing to be charged itself.

Now for the more technical discussion. The good news is that the PB-Y22 is engineered to charge devices up to four times faster than conventional power banks. With Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 it can get boost your compatible device FAST and do so very efficiently. (It’s also backward-compatible with QC 2.0/1.0 devices).

What’s also nice is that the PB-Y22 has a “Low-Current Charging Mode.”  Say you’re back at that airport but this time your bluetooth headphones died. Some power banks don’t recognize those types of devices because they have very light power draws (they’re engineered that way).  BUT, double click the PB-Y22’s power button and voilà “low current charging mode engaged” and you’ll be charging up your headphones.

In my testing, the PB-Y22 seems to do all that it’s supposed to do. I’m not entirely certain the quick charge worked with my 2018 iPad Pro. It might be an Apple thing.  For example, I read that with the iPhone X/XS you need to make sure you're using an Apple USB-C to lightning cable to charge at the full 18W quick charge speed. Supposedly my iPad would charge at 18W but I got an average charge rate of a quarter of a percent per minute. For comparison, the wall charger clocked in at around 3/4 of a percent per minute. That being said, during my testing I was able to charge my iPad multiple times using just the AUKEY device.

The moral of the story is that if quick charging is a must for you, make sure you have the proper cables to enable that functionality.

You’ll also want to use the right port for the right device. For example, the power flow from the bank to my laptop (2017 i7 MacBook) would stutter (intermittently stop and start supplying power) when plugged into the middle USB-C port.  This behavior ceased when I plugged into the orange QC USB port. Maybe my iPad would charge faster in that port (it didn’t).  

I have no reservations against recommending this AUKEY product other than this caveat: if you are an Apple person you’ll need a USB-C to Lightning charging cable to fast charge an iPhone X/XS with the USB-C port. (That cable from Apple is $19, only $10 less than the power bank itself!)

Other than that, if you purchased this power bank, you wouldn't have buyers remorse.

Size: It’s about the same as a pack of cigarettes (well, maybe a pack of Marlboro 100’s, but still). 

Looks: It’s a plastic rounded rectangle.  Nothing seems to rattle on the inside.  Has a nice heft. It also comes with a little mesh bag with a pocket big enough for the cable. When in use you don’t even need to take it out of this bag.  

Where can you get it? Only on Amazon. For around $30 USD

Testing figures: 2017 iPad Pro 11 in.