Case or no case, iPhone, iPad or Android device, TYLT has an ENERGI Battery Pack that’ll keep you going throughout the day, throughout the big game or throughout the Con.
You may recall that a few months back I reviewed TYLT’s ENERGI Sliding Power Case for iPhone 5 and I loved both the protection and convenience that it offered. However there are still many of you that don’t like having a case on your device or carry around multiple devices and TYLT has sleek portable charging solutions for you as well in a wide variety of capacities and sizes. All of TYLT’s ENERGI batteries are recharged via a supplied micro-USB cable and have at least one LED which can be used to check remaining battery capacity. Nearly all 6 models are available in black with your choice of three accent colors: red, gray or blue.
Keeping with their commitment to convenience and portability, the majority of TYLT’s ENERGI battery packs feature attached, stow-able micro-USB and/or Lightning cables so you don’t have to carry around a charging cable as well. The ENERGI battery lineup consists of 6 different models ranging in capacity from 2,000mAH all the way up to 10,400mAH.
Let’s start with the smallest model, the ENERGI 2K ($39.99). This one has a single USB port for a user-supplied cable and doesn’t offer the embedded charging cable, but is small stature (roughly the size of a credit card and the thickness of about a half a deck of cards) and light weight, with a 2,000mAH battery pack that allows you to charge your 1560 mAH iPhone 5 and have some juice left over. Those looking to charge the ~4440mAh battery of their iPad Mini or ~8,827mAH battery of their iPad Air will have to wait for the larger offerings.
Next up are the ENERGI 3K ($59.99) and ENERGI 3K+ ($69.99) which both pack a generous 3,000mAh to give you nearly two full re-charges of your iPhone from just one charge of the battery pack. The 3K is meant for non-iPhone devices and has the tethered micro-USB cable and the 3K+ comes with the stow-able Lightning cable for convenient iPhone charging. Both also feature a micro-USB port for charging the battery pack itself and another USB port which can be used if you have a legacy 30-pin Apple device or some other USB device you’d like to charge using your own cable. The battery charges in about 3-4 hours and outputs at 2A for a nice speedy recharge and can even charge two devices simultaneously.
All ENERGI battery packs come fully charged and usable right out of the box. Infact the very first night my batteries arrived I found a good non-iPhone use for the ENERGI 3K. It was nearly midnight and my daughter’s Continuous Glucose Monitoring device’s receiver battery had run low and in order to read her properly, it needs to be a certain distace away, so plugging it into a wall outlet wasnt really an option. I opened the ENERGI 3K, used the attached micro-USB cable and let the ENERGI charge it right on the doorknob where it hung. Problem solved!
The second to largest offering is the ENERGI 5K ($79.99) and ENERGI 5K+ ($89.99), which as you probably already guessed, each offer 5,200mAh of power and are roughly 1.5x the size of the 3K and 3K+ models. The ENERGI 5K has an attached micro-USB cable as well as one USB port for your own cable. The ENERGI 5K+ is probably my favorite of all of TYLT’s offerings and takes things to the next level offering both a tethered micro-USB cable AND a Lightning cable as well as a standard USB port. Both the cable / USB port can be used at the same time on the 5K and ALL THREE ports/cables can be used at the same time on the ENERGI 5K+ to charge multiple devices simultaneously. This is the model I tend to carry around with me when I travel or go out to an event as it is nice and light weight, offers maximum flexibility and there is no need to carry external cables except the small included micro-USB cable to recharge the battery unit. My brother took this one to E3 and it helped his iPhone last through each day of the show.
Finally we come to the beast…the ENERGI 10K ($99.99) with its capacity topping out at 10,400mAH. This one is an inch thick and fairly heavy, especially compared to similar-sized offerings which I’ve used from other manufacturers. It doesn’t offer any tethered cables, but instead has three USB ports for charging up to three devices simultaneously. The 10K takes about 6 hours to fully charge, offers a generous 4.1A of output for rapid recharging of devices (two 1A ports for iPhones, iPod and smartphones and one 2.1A port for iPads, tablets or smartphones) and a four LED indicator lights to let you keep track of the remaining battery capacity. This is a great pack to carry in a bag, especially if you carry around both an iPad and iPhone, but probably a little too heavy to toss in a pocket.
For even more details regarding each of these batteries you can check out this great comparison chart.
Before I wrap this review up, I’d also like to mention that after their successful Kickstarter campaign, TYLT has just started offering their ENERGI 2K Travel Charger on TYLT.com in black, blue, red or neon green for $39.99. It combines a battery like the 2K, with a 1A wall charger.
In Conclusion
TYLT’s ENERGI battery packs are nice, light weight (except for that ENERGI 10K) and portable battery packs. The attached cables on the ENERGI 3K, 3K+, 5K and 5K+ are a brilliant idea and makes them even more convenient to use. Now if they could just tether the devices recharging cable as well… Just pop one of these ENERGI packs in your pocket or bag on your way out for the day and you don’t have to worry about a messy jumble of wires as well. Unfortunately TYLT’s ENERGI lineup certainly trends toward the higher end of the pricing spectrum, with many of their competitors offering substantially cheaper models with similar charging capacities, albeit without the convenient tethered cable. That’s why it is difficult for me to recommend the ENERGI 2K or 10K over something similar from a less expensive manufacturer like ANKER, as they too lack of the convenient embedded cables, which are arguably the main draw of TYLT’s offerings. That being said, the high price tag is really the only complaint I have about an otherwise stellar line of products. In the end, it will be up to individual buyers to decide as to whether the convenience of TYLT’s ENERGI line is worth the extra cost.