I hate to admit it but I am one of those “hard-to-shop for” gadget guys. Its true. I just cannot seem to wait until gift-giving season to get that special new piece of technology. I usually go out and get it myself well in advance or people strugle because my tastes are so eclectic that it makes it impossible for someone to really figure out what I would really like. Recently I got a got an incredibly useful piece of technology that would be great regardless of that special ‘geek’ in your life’s taste in electronics. Give them the gift of power. Pure unadulterated power. You can insert and evil laugh here with ominous looking lightning in the background.
I recently got my hands on a RAVPower Element 10400mAh Portable Charger and Battery Pack. That may be a mouthful to say but this thing has been a life saver for me numerous times. I travel fairly extensively and my devices frequently run out of power as I use them. This is especially true as I am flying cross country or on long flights. Now that the FAA has loosened their restrictions on gadget usage in-flight, I find myself running out of ‘juice’ faster and faster. Essentially the Element is a beefy battery pack of 10400mAh of stored power. If you arent a techy, thats a good amount of power. To put it into human terms I am generally able power my I-Phone 3 to four times fully from the fully charged element. I have been able to fully recharge my IPAD, or in some cases charge multiple devices (in my case phones) at the same time. This is incredibly helpful as I have numerous phone platforms based on the fact that I run mobile development and I need to be able to switch between Android and Apple platforms for our Apps.
It’s amazingly simple to use and comes with a variety of charging cables (although mine didnt come with an IPhone Charger, I just used the ones supplied with the phone). It comes with the power bank itself, and two USB to Micro USB Charging Cables. The indicators on the power bank tell you exactly how much power the device still has on it. The price is reasonable it has become one of indispensible ‘must have travel items’ in my bag.
On the downside charging this thing takes a bit of time. To be fair its a beefy amount of power to “fill up” but in general it takes a full night to charge up. More than once I forgot to charge it up before heading to the airport and kicked myself for not remembering to plug it in the night before. But if you have a gadgeteer in your family or someone who travels quite a bit this is a great gift and an indispensible tool to have!
\Mm
LooseBolts 