The Best Portable Chargers for Travel

At 15.2 ounces and an inch thick, this is the heaviest thing in our travel kit when it comes along, and the only bank here that earns the weight. Eighty-seven watts split across three devices, with up to 65W going to one, is enough to run a phone, a tablet and a camera battery together, and Anker rates the built-in cable at 52% on a MacBook Air in half an hour. We carry it on working trips and leave it home on weekends, which is exactly the test it should pass.

The rest of the design serves the same job. The integrated USB-C cable is rated to 10,000 bends, Anker quotes a full recharge in about an hour and a half, and at 20,000mAh it still sits inside the carry-on limit most airlines apply. An 18-month warranty covers it.

Against our top pick, the difference is simple arithmetic. The Zolo does the phone-and-earbuds job at less than half the weight and a fraction of the bulk, so this one has to change what you can actually do: charge a laptop through a layover, keep a camera alive for a week, run two tablets on a long flight. If it doesn't, you're carrying 15 ounces to do a job a lighter bank handles.

Fifteen thousand milliamp-hours is the size almost nobody shops for and a lot of people should. It's half again the capacity of the 10,000mAh banks that fill this list, HELLEE rates it at up to 3.5 charges for an iPhone 17, and it stops well short of the near-pound bricks at 20,000mAh.

The bank carries four built-in cables and six outputs in total, including a bi-directional USB-C port, so a mixed household can charge an iPhone, a USB-C Android and a pair of micro-USB gadgets without anyone hunting for a dongle. A small display shows the remaining percentage, which beats guessing from four dots. It recharges in about three hours, and the body measures 6 by 3.2 by 1.1 inches at 250 grams.

What convinced us is the arithmetic: this is the capacity that covers a long day out with two people sharing, and it does it without the 20,000mAh heft. The trade is bulk rather than money. At 250 grams it's a bag bank, not a pocket one, and the 1.1-inch thickness makes that plain the first time you try to sit down with it in your jeans.

A foldable plug on the end of the bank reorganizes a packing cube. Push it into any outlet and the bank recharges itself in about four hours, so the wall adapter you'd normally bring for your phone can stay home, and the built-in USB-C and Lightning cables cover the phones without anything else coming along.

That's why it's our pick for carry-on-only travel, where every adapter you cut is space in the bag. The rest of the package is competent rather than thrilling: 10,000mAh, 22.5W, four devices at once, 200 grams, and just under two charges for a current iPhone by AIFENG's numbers. We're comfortable with the modest wattage because the plug is what buys you the space.

Two things to keep straight. The plug only helps where there's an outlet, so on a long day out it's dead weight and the real charging happens back in the room. And at 1.26 inches thick it's the chunkiest of the small banks here, a jacket-or-tote carry rather than something you forget in a jeans pocket.

Three dead phones, one hotel outlet, and a rental car with a single USB port: that's the trip this bank is designed around. Built-in cables plus three extra ports let it charge up to six devices at once, which makes it the one we drop in the middle of the table and let everyone plug into. It's the bank we share rather than the one we carry for ourselves.

Recharging is unusually flexible, too. The bank tops itself up through its own built-in USB-C cable, its built-in USB-A cable or a micro-USB input, so whichever adapter is nearest wins and you never need a dedicated cable. The built-in cords are short, which keeps them from tangling and dangling, though you won't be using a phone at arm's length while it charges. It measures 5.67 by 2.64 by 0.71 inches, weighs 9.2 ounces, and comes with a storage bag and a three-year warranty.

The honest caveat is arithmetic. Ten thousand milliamp-hours split six ways is a round of top-ups rather than a full charge for everybody, and the bank itself will want topping up overnight. As a shared resource it's the most useful thing here; as a personal bank it's more plugs than one phone needs.

Four built-in cables for the least money in this group is the pitch, and we think the cables are the right thing to spend on: iOS, USB-C, micro-USB and a USB-A cord all fold out of the body, so a bag full of mismatched devices never needs a separate cable.

The rest is sensible. A digital display reads from 0 to 100 rather than showing a row of dots, the bank runs up to five devices at once, it weighs 188 grams and measures 4.17 by 2.8 by 0.71 inches, and the manufacturer covers it for a year. The display is the part we use most: a percentage is far more useful than four dots when you're deciding whether to plug in before a long transfer.

Where it gives ground is output. The 3A rating puts it behind the faster banks here, and it isn't the one to grab when you need 30 minutes of charge before boarding. As a spare that lives in a backpack, a glovebox or a kid's bag, so that one bank is always full while the other travels, it's hard to argue with.

Two people traveling together have a problem one power bank can't solve: the moment you split up, the bank is in the wrong bag. This pack answers it with two complete 10,000mAh banks, each with a built-in Lightning cable, a built-in USB-C cable and two USB-A ports.

Each bank runs up to four devices, measures 5.83 by 2.68 by 0.63 inches, and is slim enough to live in a jacket pocket. Both carry a three-year warranty.

What you don't get is speed. No wattage figure is published for these, and the built-in cables stop at Lightning and USB-C, so a micro-USB gadget or an older camera still needs its own cord. The pair is also plainer than the Anker picks, with none of the battery readout hardware you get up the list.

We like it for the arithmetic of traveling as a pair: each of you gets a self-contained kit, neither has to ask for the bank back, and if one fails the other keeps going. Alone, one better bank is the smarter purchase.

The lanyard and the little travel pouch are what separate this bank from a stack of look-alike four-cable models. Hang it off a daypack's strap and it rides outside the bag, which means you actually use it on a walking day instead of remembering it at the hotel.

The 37 watt-hour figure is the clearest airline statement in this group: it's the number security staff look for, and it sits comfortably under the 100Wh ceiling most carriers apply. Four built-in cables, covering USB-C, Lightning, micro-USB and USB-A, feed up to five devices, a display shows what's left, and a full recharge of the bank takes about six hours.

The cable set earns its place on the awkward devices: micro-USB for an old e-reader or a camera, USB-A for the friend who forgot theirs. Six hours to refill is the other thing to plan around, so plug it in when you get back to the room rather than when you leave in the morning.

Our view is that the pouch and the lanyard earn it a spot for walking days and festival weekends, where you want power on the outside of the bag and 20 minutes of charging at a time is the whole ask. For anything longer, the 12W ceiling makes it the wrong tool and the faster banks here are worth the extra ounces.