RAVPower Portable Charger 3200mAh with LED light

[raistlin65]

The lipstick size portable phone battery chargers have been around for a few years, and many of them look to be sourced from the same manufacturer and rebranded. A couple of years ago, RAVPower came out with a modified version that has an LED flashlight built in. Lots of positive Amazon reviews for it and it is less than $10, so I thought I'd try it out:



Came with the USB adapter pictured beside it. Unlike my Anker lipstick charger which I have had for a while, this RAVPower did not come with a mesh bag to keep it the charger and cable in, which I miss.  I ordered some mesh bags from Ebay.  Will try to remember to come back and update whether they fit in a few weeks after they get here from China.

I'm not experienced with many flashlights, but the LED light was fairly bright to me in high power mode.





Low power mode didn't seem to decrease the output very much. And it has a strobe mode as well.

The back of the unit has the same plug/switch interface as my Anker lipstick charger:



First press of the small white button lights up the USB drive: green, blue, or red (almost drained) to indicate battery status. Pressing multiple times turns on the flashlight, and then press once in flashlight mode to cycle through to low mode, strobe, or off. Basically, they just reused the button that was already available for the lipstick charger for this version. I can't imagine that this small button would be durable for heavy, repeated flashlight use. 

Obviously, this doesn't seem to be a good primary flashlight. But as an add on to a lipstick charger, which many people would find useful? Great idea, and I am happy with the implementation given the price. Throw one of these in your glove box in case your car battery goes dead and you need to charge your phone. Nice to know you'll have a backup flashlight if you need it. Got the girl friend or wife who would never carry a flashlight in their purse? They might be willing to carry one of these chargers for their phone. Already have a flashlight as your EDC? This is a good little charger to give you a backup light to carry in your laptop bag or man bag.

[Henry]

I work in a cold environment so have problems with cell phone battery life. Been carrying around a 10800 mah battery in my pocket, think I'll order one of these and give it a go.

Do you think it is actually 3200mah? (ie 3 x smart phone charges on one charge)

[raistlin65]

I don't know the answer to that. But since there are almost 2000 reviews on Amazon for it, I would imagine the capacity has been covered there by someone

But it wouldn't be even be two charges for me. My current and last smartphone both have batteries over 3000 mAh.

[Etherealicer]

Can't you open that thing up? That looks like it houses a regular 18650 battery like most portable Chargers in this shape... It's just a guess.
I was thinking about something similar for a while, great thing is you can just bring more batteries if you need more charges.

[raistlin65]

Can't you open that thing up? That looks like it houses a regular 18650 battery like most portable Chargers in this shape... It's just a guess.

If it's threaded, seems more than hand tight. I did try to twist what appears to be the end cap off. Didn't want to force it.

Here's a diagram of Anker's version:



Don't seem to be threads in the pic. Maybe these things are glued shut?

[Etherealicer]

Only thing I found is this:


Not certain this is your model, at any rate its clearly not intended to be taken apart.
Maybe its for the better, those models where you can replace the battery look very poorly done.

[raistlin65]

They are probably made to be disposable since they are selling them for $7.

[Gareth]

I was thinking about getting one of these so it's good to hear you think it's OK.

[raistlin65]

I can get 'em for $7 in the US via Amazon Prime. I think I paid $10 for the Anker version I have which doesn't have the LED light, but looks the same otherwise. If it holds up for many charges, I figure I can't lose. And build quality seems very good for a $7 device.

Looks there is a new version by Ravpower on Amazon UK (don't see the old one) that is a UV-A light to detect pet stains:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/RAVPower-Flashlight-Counterfeit-Protection-Recharging/dp/B00U3MLK2W/
Is there really a market for that feature instead of a regular flashlight 

[Gareth]

It's not a use I'd have automatically thought of, no.

[Steinar]

It might be they are trying to create new markets. For them, UV or white or blue or... doesn't make much difference, so if they can sell an extra feature to a new segment, it would be great for them. I can see the use for looking for already dried stains, if a animal has been left alone for too long, for instance.

[Etherealicer]

The hunter in my office always complains that LED flashlights are no good for tracking a wounded animal. So adding UV to the backup seems like a reasonable decision.
However, there are probably not enough hunters but more CSI-lovers that go for that. It's probably also cool at a party

[zoidberg]

The hunter in my office always complains that LED flashlights are no good for tracking a wounded animal. So adding UV to the backup seems like a reasonable decision.
However, there are probably not enough hunters but more CSI-lovers that go for that. It's probably also cool at a party