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Lenmar Mutant 20,800 mAh Portable Charger Review

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When it comes to battery life for our mobile devices we could always use a little more. That is where the impressive Lenmar Mutant 20,800 mAh portable battery and power pack comes into play. These days our Android and iOS smartphones and tablets are getting bigger, faster, and more power hungry, but battery advances have remained stagnant.

It’s this that has caused an increase in popularity of portable chargers or battery packs for mobile devices. We’ve used plenty of popular brands in the past like Anker, TYLT, MyCharge and more, but a relatively new device from Lenmar packs enough juice for all of your devices. If you’re like me, you probably carry around at least one smartphone, and possibly a tablet too. Being able to always have additional battery while on the go is crucial, and this huge power pack aims to deliver.

Read: 5 Best Galaxy S5 Battery Cases

The Lenmar Mutant power pack for smartphones and tablets has a huge 20,800 mAh lithium-ion battery and four USB ports that delivers enough power to charge your tablet, smartphone, some accessories and more, all at the same time. We’ve had a chance to enjoy Lenmar’s relatively small power pack over the past few weeks and wanted to share our thoughts. Read on for our Lenmar 20,800 mAh portable battery review.

Lenmar

While it’s still the cold months for many around the United States, the summer adventures will be here soon enough and that means you’ll probably be looking for some external battery packs to keep your iPhone, iPad Air 2, or your newest Samsung smartphone full of battery all day long. Whether it’s a day at the beach, or a weekend camping trip, this power pack has enough juice to last the entire time. This can be for yourself, or one device to charge every smartphone for the entire family.

For those who aren’t too familiar with battery packs, they’re essentially the same type of lithium-ion battery inside of our smartphones and tablets but added into a device that usually has a USB output so we can connect our devices included USB cable and charge a device on the go. Basically, you can charge your phone or tablet with it. Only with the Lenmar Mutant it has four USB ports, allowing you to simultaneously charge four devices at once.

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As an example, this one device will be able to charge your iPhone 6 nearly 10 times, or two full charges of your iPad Air 2. This means you won’t have to search for an outlet while traveling for work or pleasure, or when you don’t have a wall outlet while camping. The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a large 2,800 mAh battery that usually lasts most users an entire day. Doing the math here, the almost 21,000 mAh of battery inside the Lenmar should technically be able to fully charge a Galaxy S5 nearly 7 times. That’s enough to last all week!

These days portable power banks or chargers are a dime a dozen, and all over Amazon with cheap batteries that never live up to the rating, but so far our experience with the Lenmar has been stellar. Obviously the 20,800 mAh rating is just that, a rating, but I charged my 3,220 mAh Nexus 6 five times over the past week, and the Lenmar Mutant still has one bar remaining, and enough battery to probably charge it again. Meaning that battery rating seems fairly accurate. What makes it even better though, is the Lenmar Mutant has high output USB ports. This allows for fast charging times, rather than slow charging you get from some of the cheaper alternatives.

There are two 2.4A USB ports for charging an iPad, Android tablets, and bigger smartphones. Then you also get two 1A USB ports for charging smaller USB devices like older iPhones, Android devices, your smartwatch, Vaper or e-cigarettes, or anything that takes a charge via a USB cable. That’s four devices that can be charged, all at the same time. My only complaint about the Lenmar thus far is that they only provide one extremely short 2ft micro-USB cord in the box, and no Apple lightning cable. Meaning you’ll need to bring your own.

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This week I’ve been using the Lenmar 20,800 mAh portable battery to charge both my Nexus 9 tablet and Nexus 6 while on the go, and it still had some juice left for my backup Samsung Galaxy S5. It’s nice being able to carry one device that will charge everything, vs having a myriad of chargers or cables. This one device does it all.

At one point I had my Nexus 9, Nexus 6, Galaxy S5, and Moto 360 all charging on the Lenmar, but that will quickly drain all the juice. The design is pretty simple and has a soft-touch matte rubber black frame, and it feels nice in the hand. What impressed me the most about the Lenmar Mutant 20,800 mAh battery is I had four devices charging at once, and it was barely warm to the touch. Other chargers start to get really warm, but that wasn’t the case here.

Overall the build quality is extremely good, the ports are durable, and the 4-bar LED notification light is pretty accurate regarding battery. Tap the power button and you’ll see how much battery life is remaining. This is in 25% increments. If you hit the battery meter and have two bars left, this means you have at least 50% battery, or roughly 10,000 mAh of juice. Enough to charge any smartphone 3-4 times, if not more.

I’ll admit it, the Lenmar certainly isn’t small, but it’s fairly lightweight and I’d rather have one big battery than have to carry around two smaller 10,000 mAh options from the competition. This is one less device in my bag, which is fine by me. I’m always carrying around at least one smartphone, probably a tablet, and at some point need to charge my Android Wear smartwatch or fitness band. Having the Lenmar in my truck always full of battery has been a welcomed edition to my tech-filled lifestyle.

Many portable battery packs not only charge your devices over USB, but they themselves are charged up by a USB port too. Some of the larger packs can take between 4-5 hours to charge. This is both a pro and a con, as you don’t need another cord, but the Lenmar has a dedicated AC charger to power it up as quickly as possible. They include four international adapters for those who travel out of country frequently.

In the end it certainly isn’t the most compact “portable” charger I’ve ever used, the one small and low quality USB cable that was provided could be better, but the important thing here is battery life. The Lenmar Mutant is a device I’ll always have when I travel or go to the family cabin to ensure I’m never stuck without any battery in my gadgets. It’s a bit pricy being $149, but being able to charge four devices at a time makes it worthwhile. If some of the smaller options on Amazon don’t fit your need, give the Mutant a try, you’ll be glad you did.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Nicholas Bodley

    01/29/2015 at 5:21 am

    Folxs, let’s do as any competent electronic engineer would do, and simplify to “20.8 Ah”. Milliampere-hour[s] is a fine unit for small rechargeables, but this is starting to look goofy!

    • Nicholas Bodley

      01/29/2015 at 5:23 am

      Sorry; failed to proofread — “folks”, natch.

      • Cory Gunther

        02/18/2015 at 11:49 am

        Yea, agreed but this thing is awesome and it’s always in my car fully charged ready to juice up anything and everything I own.

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