As someone who tends to take a lot of road trips and travel a lot, it is important that I always keep all the gadgets that I carry with me fully charged and ready to go. That’s less of a problem when I am at home, but when out and about on a road trip, things can get a bit difficult because the erratic schedule means I might not get enough time to charge my GoPro, iPad, or MacBook.
In particular, charging the 16-inch MacBook Pro is an issue when traveling or on a road trip. I love my Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro, and it has remained a trusty and reliable on-the-go workhorse for me. However, its battery life is average at best, mainly when you use anything other than Safari for browsing the internet. Editing videos using Final Cut Pro is another challenge as it drains the MacBook’s battery in no time.
Add in all the other gadgets that I carry while traveling with their own set of power requirements, and it is a task to charge them on the go. While I carry a 10,000-20,000mAh power bank with me, they are limited to 20-30W charging speeds, which is not good enough to charge the MacBook Pro at decent speeds or a respectable percentage.
The World’ Most Powerful Power Bank
Chargeasap, the makers of the excellent 200W Omega GaN charger I reviewed last year, aims to solve this exact problem with their Flash Pro and Flash Pro Plus power banks. The company claims these are the “world’s most powerful power banks,” featuring Panasonic graphene batteries with a total battery capacity of 25,000mAh. Made from aluminum, the power bank weighs around 585g, which is on the heavier side but respectable for a power bank with so much juice in the tank.
The charging capabilities of the power bank are even more impressive. It has three USB-C ports, with one of them capable of 100W output. This is good enough to charge even the 16-inch Intel-based MacBook Pro and the new 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro at full speed. The other two USB-C ports and USB-A ports are also impressive with their output capabilities.
- USB-C port 1 – 100W input/output with Power Deliver 3.0 support
- USB-C port 2 – 60W output
- USB-C port 3 – 20W output
- USB-A port – 50W output, with Quick Charge 3.0 and Oppo/OnePlus’ VOOC support
The Flash Pro Plus variant of the power bank also features two wireless charging pads at the front to wirelessly charge your iPhone and Apple Watch. The charging pad for the iPhone is MagSafe-compatible, so your iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 will magnetically snap to it. You can also use the same charging pad to charge your AirPods wirelessly. As for the Apple Watch, the Flash Pro Plus can wirelessly charge it at up to 5W speeds. The Flash Pro variant of the power bank only features a single 15W charging pad at the front. The charging pads are a bit fiddly, but the addition of MagSafe helps to a great extent.
Combined with the charging pads, the Flash Pro Plus can charge six devices simultaneously. The output from the ports drops if you connect more than one device, but that’s with every power bank.
While the Flash Pro Plus can charge the 16-inch MacBook Pro at 100W speeds, it does not have enough capacity — a 100Wh battery on the MacBook Pro vs. 92.5Wh on the power bank — to charge the machine fully. In my testing, the Flash Pro Plus can charge a completely dead 16-inch Intel MacBook Pro to around 60 percent. Depending on the device you charge, the Flash Pro/Plus power bank will have an efficiency of 65-70 percent.
If you have the smaller 13-inch or even the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the Flash Pro/Plus should be able to charge it to 100 percent. For iPads, iPhones, Apple Watch, GoPro, cameras, and other accessories, the Flash Pro/Plus has more than enough juice to power them all through a day of heavy use with multiple charges.
OLED Display With Real-Time Charging Stats
The Flash Pro/Plus features a 1.3-inch OLED display that shows the real-time charging status from all the ports, a first for a power bank. I did not pay much heed to the OLED display first, but I must say, watching the real-time charging stats is a handy feature to have as it gives one complete clarity on how fast their device is charging. It also shows the remaining battery percentage of the power bank itself and its charging speed.
Charging a 25,000mAh power bank while traveling is a task in itself. I use another 20,000mAh power bank, but it takes too long (>4 hours) for a full charge, something that’s not acceptable when I am always on the move. This is another area where the Flash Pro excels, as it can charge at up to 100W speeds. A full charge from a completely depleted state took less than 80 minutes. Such charging speeds are an absolute boon to have when on the road. Quickly charge the power bank when you stop for lunch or dinner and then use it to charge all your other devices.
The Flash Pro power bank will start shipping from December 2021, but you will have to back its Indiegogo campaign for that. The early bird pricing slots are all booked, so you’ll have to pay $149-169 to back the power bank. It’s definitely on the expensive side, so make sure you have a clear use case for the power bank, as you can find 90W power banks for $100 on Amazon.
