I don’t know how I got along without one of these gizmos for so long. But, I knew that with a recent trip to a conference in D.C. I would need some type of portable charger for the day long conference. Looking at the conference schedule, there were back to back sessions and social media updates to make which left little opportunity to re-charge my aging Samsung Galaxy S4. A quick trip to the local WalMart provided a bunch of different models at different price points and output amps. I picked the TZUMI™ Pocket Juice 4000 mAh Portable Charger which was a little more budget conscious but, had enough output amps to push a charge in what I guessed might be a reasonable amount of time. Some details on this battery charger and my experience follows.
Table of Contents
Out of the Box – TZUMI™ Pocket Juice 4000 mAh Portable Charger
Out of the box the TZUMI™ Pocket Juice 400 mAh portable charger is a fairly compact unit and includes a short charging/re-charging cable and instruction booklet.
By The Numbers
TZUMI™ Pocket Juice 4000 mAh Portable Charger Specifications
Battery Capacity: 4000 mAh
Battery Type: Lithium Ion
Input: 5 V/1A
Output: 5 V/2.1A (2.4 A Max)
My Real Life Use
I put the Pocket Juice to real use during a multi-day conference. And my experiences were good. Click To TweetThe Good:
– Charging my phone off the battery took about an hour or, so which is okay. I wasn’t expecting an instant charge at the price point. And, I could continue to use my device as I was charging. This usually left about 1/4 left on the charger.
– The indicator lights are helpful to let you know the state of your battery.
– Recharging the pack took some time via USB and is faster via your phone’s charger.
– The short charging/recharging cord is shorter than others I have but, long enough to connect my phone and get the job done.
– I liked the soft touch feel of the battery pack. It wasn’t slippery and was easy to keep nearby.
What I Learned:
– You have to turn on the Pocket Juice before connecting your phone. Well, atleast in my case with the S4 this is true.
– Charging the phone with the charger often made the charger battery warm.
– I could only get one charge out of the Pocket Juice. It’s definitely a once and nearly done kind of rechargable pack for my uses. This left one segment left on the indicator lights meaning I had between 0% – 25% of charge left on the battery pack.
– If I want to charge more than 1 device, or charge more than one time, I will need a bigger re-charger.
Instruction Manual
To download the instruction manual, check the PDF available here.
Summary
All in all a good first battery charger. It performed well for something I bought at the last minute. I’ll likely be looking for larger capacity one in the future. Maybe something like this Anker PowerCore 20000mAh Portable Charger with 4.8 A output.
6 Responses
I have the anker and can’t live without it. I have an older model which means it’s bigger but I can charge my iphone 4-5 times with it. Of course that means it takes a while for the battery pack to recharge, but that’s okay. Definitely a lifesaver when you’re on vacation (ahem.. Disney??) with 3 teens packing iPhones and needing their Snapchat ;)
Thanks for your comment Kristen. Yeah, I really want a bigger charger. The bigger ones do take longer to charge for sure. Ah, yeah… it’s definitely required gear for a florida vacation! :-)
I just pack 3 of the ones you bought as you can reck phones that charge at 4 + amps at least im not doing it to my 700$ phone. My phone original charger is 5.3 v 2.0 amp and when its charging from 0 or 1% and up to 100% the charger gets warm, so I dont wanna jam juice into such a delicate instrument. At 10$ I can charge as many as I want at home and My kids can each have one along with myself. Yes they do get warm its normal. I even got the tiny compact pocket juice at 2000 mah 2000mah willcharge my 3200 mah bat about 70% I just have one in case I NEED it….I do not like the size of the bigger models. At 10$ you can buy as many as you need. Plus keep your receipt Walmart will take it back and you get a new one within 90 days…. If you go past 90 days just use your license and make sure to have the package in both cases….you can only return so much stuff to wal mart in a years time. I always charge my pocket juices slowly with a 5v 650ma as it just better on the battery…Energizer had a cheep one with 2 AA batteries that you could put in rechargeable batteries but to much to do… pocket juice or I call them “cobs” are perfect size and I have a bunch of them and they get turned into me each night and I charge them….I give both the smaller one and 4000 m
Thanks for stopping by John. I appreciate you sharing how you keep everything charged.
12/2 – 9:54pm
Hi…just bought the pocket juice Portable Charger from Tzumi …the 4000 mAh…smallest and least expensive one for an upcoming business trip….Believe it already comes charged and I can charge my Apple 5 I-phone twice . How do I know when the Pocket Juice is fully charged?…and when it needs to be charged again. Thank you, Anthony Vento – Brooklyn, NY
There’s a muktisegment LED on the top. Plug it into the wall and should indicate amount of charge.