Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsGood, Quality Power Bank, with a Glitch or Two (UPDATED)
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 23, 2023
UPDATE 01/24/2023
I discovered that both power banks I have available have a bulge on their back side. Usually that happens when the batteries inside start to swell, but since these are new there is a chance that this happened sometime during manufacturing.
When batteries start swelling up you should stop using the power banks. For now, I will set them aside. I already contacted Baseus and I am waiting for their reply.
Baseus replied: "It is not normal that the power bank is bulged.".
ORIGINAL REVIEW
I purchased one of these Baseus 30,000mAh power banks to replace an IMUTO 30,000mAh power which started to swell.
The first thing I noticed was that the display is very dim. If you are outside, you will have to shield it from the ambient light so you can read it. I saw that others have mentioned this issue in their reviews. I contacted Baseus but at first they neither confirmed it nor denied it. They offered me a 10% discount to keep it. Several messages later Baseus said "For the display issue, since the material of the display is thick, it will be dim, and we don't have a better way to solve the problem so far.". By the time I am writing this review I have seen several of these power banks and at least they are consistent regarding the dim display.
I connected it to my USB power supply via a Type C cable to charge it. The power pack negotiated a charge at 12V/2.3A, which is 27W (the per port limit of my ASOMETECH charging station. It continued with these charging parameters until it got to about 90% full. At this point it started to ramp down the current until it was 100% charged.
The next step was to measure the power bank's capacity. I used the FNIRSI FNB59 USB Tester with a Drok Electronic load. I set the discharge current to 1,000mA at 5V. I started the discharge with the power bank being fully charged (100%) and continued until the power banks shut down at 0%. The FNIRSI FNB58 USB Tester indicated that the power bank output 95.644Wh, which is 18.4Wh less than the rating. I reluctantly considered this acceptable. Right after the test, when I pressed the side button, the display showed 0% remaining capacity.
A second discharge test (after fully charging the power bank) produced results in the same area.
I did ask for an Amazon replacement with the hope that the second power bank would have a brighter display (this was before Baseus confirmed the dim display) and that maybe the capacity would be closer to the rating on the label.
POWER BANK #2
When the replacement arrived, the display brightness was the same as the first, so I guessed that this is across the line or at least across the production lot.
The initial charge went on identical to the first power bank (12V/2.3A, ramping down at 90%).
The discharging step started the same as the first power bank. At 3 points during the discharging of the first bank I made notes of the % capacity remaining and the Wh accumulated up to that point. The second power bank produced very similar values at those points. However, at about 10% capacity remaining, the second power bank shut down, terminating the test. This was about 2 hours earlier than the first power bank, and about 10Wh less. Pressing the side button did not show anything on the display.
When I connected the power bank to the USB power supply, the display came on at 0% and started charging at 12V/2.3A. About 5 seconds later the capacity jumped to 25%, which I considered not normal. From this point on everything seemed normal until the power bank was at about 90%. At this point the charging current did not start to ramp down and it continued at 2.3A until the power bank was 100% charged. Again, not normal. After about 30 minutes at 100% still drawing 2.3A, I decided that this is a potentially dangerous situation, and I unplugged the power bank.
I repeated the discharge/charge cycle, and I obtained identical results.
I have returned the replacement power bank to Amazon.
POWER BANK #3
After posting my initial review Baseus contacted me for details. In the end they offered to send me a replacement power pack.
Upon receipt of the power bank, I immediately started the steps I had previously performed. Without repeating the details of the steps, I can say that in the end this power pack performed up to my expectations thru 2 iterations. The final results were 105.65Wh and 20,760mAh.
Charging the power bank from 0% to 100% at 12V/2.3A took 5h 2m.
ACTUAL PHONE CHARGING
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Phone charge left: 52%
Power Bank charge left: 100%
When connected, the phone estimated to fully charge in 37 minutes.
Charging started at 9.2V/2.2A, then it started to ramp down as the phone came to 90% charge.
Full charge took 43 minutes. That's 6 minutes longer than the phone estimated.
Phone charge at the end: 100%
Power Bank charge at the end: 90%
This shows that I should get about 9 charges from 50% to 100%.
Estimated charge time for 1%: 0:46 minutes.
Estimated charge speed per minute: 1.30%.
Actual charge time for 1%: 0:54 minutes.
Actual charge speed per minute: 1.12%.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The first power bank output was 16% lower than the advertised 114Wh. But it behaved consistently across 2 charge/discharge tests.
The second power bank consistently shut down prematurely during the discharge test and behaved abnormally during the charging step across 2 charge/discharge tests. It also presented a potentially dangerous situation. I considered this power bank defective and returned it to Amazon.
The third power bank performed as expected regarding charging times and capacity.
The build quality is very good. When handling the power bank, it does feel like handling a solid, quality product. The only drawback is the dimmer display. The display perfectly readable indoors. It only suffers outdoors in a bright ambient light.
And finally, Baseus support is remarkable. They were very quick to respond, and I never had the feeling that I am given the run-around.
