Anker debuted a pair of new display-equipped chargers at CES this year (reviews on the way for those), but neither of them offered up the versatility I was after in the way its latest Prime Power Bank does. It is also a more compact solution, providing both entirely portable power bank functionality while also doubling as a wall charger – this is exactly what I needed for my EDC, so let’s find out what this thing is like in hand and what it’s like to actually use.
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Hands-on with the Anker Prime Power Bank meets wall charger
Anker’s 9,600mAh Prime Power Bank doubles as a wall charger with fold-out prongs and carries $90 list price at Amazon – it is often on sale for $75 or less like it is right now.
Features at a glance:
- 65W High-Speed Charging
- Doubles as a wall charger
- Onboard color display with real-time charging/battery stats
- Fold-out outlet prongs
- Dual USB-C ports
- 9,600mAh (3 × 3,200mAh) power bank capacity
- 10.76 oz (305 g)
- Flight-approved
gadgetnewsonline’ Take
One of my motivations to secure a charger of this nature was its dual functionality – it works as a power bank and a typical wall charger, effectively cutting my EDC or travel carry down in the process. This is one of the best features of this power bank – there’s plenty of these out there, but this happens to be one of the nicer looking models and it remains relatively compact (or at least much more so than some of those 20,000mAh+ models – I don’t need that sort of portable battery power).
These leads me to the build here – it isn’t particularly robust or overly rugged, but it does feature a more premium build than I typically expect from Anker. The brand sits somewhere between bargain bin and well-respected value – this particular Prime charger is a great example of that. It’s not cheap, but it’s also not built cheap either. It, for me, looks and feels a lot more like a premium charging solution than one might think of from a brand like Anker. The $90 list price is certainly steep, but considering how versatile it is and how often it is on sale (including right now), I think there’s a ton of value here.
All of that said, you are still certainly paying at least a little bit of a premium for the looks. It features a nice clean gray/silver body with a front mounted, glossy black covering that really elevates the vibe here. While the onboard display only takes up the upper third or so of the front panel, the whole thing looks super nice for me anyway.
This leads us to the onboard display and what is arguably the biggest selling point of this unit for many folks. While I personally don’t really care all that much about all of the data it provides, it is a fun and novel aesthetic treatment I can very much appreciate. That said, it is nice to see the remaining battery life on the color display and how power is bring distributed via the two onboard USB-C ports – I personally would just rather it did all of that extra stuff on its own intelligently and leave me out of the process entirely, but it does look cool.
For those interested, you’ll be in for a treat – it’s not wildly extensive or anything but it does do what it says on the tin:
For me, it’s clearly all about the way it looks, functions, and how versatile it is in my kit. And in this regard, I really love this little charger. While it’s not nearly as thin as a typical power bank, the fact that it pulls double duty as a wall charger and looks particularly nice doing it has me totally sold. At this point I have tested this unit out at home and on-the-go extensively and it has performed wonderfully, has gotten more than a few compliments along the way, and will remain a staple in my EDC and travel kit for the foreseeable future.
Buy the Anker Prime Power Bank
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