XTAR PB2C Reviews

Mar 25, 2020 | XTAR

Nowadays, mobile phones and other electronic products are indispensable in our lives, and more and more people are using power banks to charge these products. So almost everyone has a lot of power banks, including broken ones. These broken power banks are actually not very easy to deal with. Due to product differences, their maintenance cost may be higher than the value of itself, and there is a safety risk if you repair it yourself.

There are already a lot of idle power banks at home. They look good, but they can’t be charged. It ’s a pity to throw them away. Therefore, I’m hunting for a power bank that is recyclable.

For this problem, the use of standardized batteries can just be solved, and the most standardized battery on the market is the 18650 lithium battery, so I highly recommend the XTAR PB2C. This is a portable charger with Power Bank function and it’s simple and practical.

PB2C appearance: small and portable

I bought the PB2C package set, which includes a charger and two 18650 2600 mAh.

From the perspective of the overall design, I thought that XTAR is still of the highest quality. Let’s take a look at the PB2C in detail.

XTAR logo is printed on the front of this power bank. It’s small and exquisite. As it’s made of plastic materials, you’ll feel delicate and smooth when you touch it.

A small orange tongue sticking out from the side is a small forged belt of the battery compartment, which is convenient for picking out the battery. The height of the power bank is about the same as the diameter of a coin, which is relatively small and round in the hand.

Let’s take a look the battery compartment of the PB2C. The gaps at the joints of each part are very small, and the black and orange combination looks very cool. Moreover, the lid of the battery compartment is held on by 2 magnets, they hold the lid on very firmly so it won’t come off accidentally and it can prevent dust as well, yet it can be removed extremely easily.

Let’s check the charging port. The power input and output ports are on the same side, the output is A port, and the input is C port, which is very convenient.

18650 batteries: 2600 mAh

 

The battery is marked with some main performance parameters, including more than 500 cycles of charging, 9.62WH, and lithium-ion batteries.

It’s well acknowledged that 18650 batteries are more general and more standardized, so why is it called 18650? This is because this type of battery has a diameter of 18mm and a height of 65mm. 0 means that its shape is cylindrical, so it is called 18650.

PB2C charging: simple and practical

 

After using XTAR PB2C, the overall feeling is that it’s extremely convenient and fast! Because there is no need to carry an additional battery charger, this power bank is itself a charger, which can charge and discharge in both directions.

As for its application, no matter where you are, you can use this power bank by using the charging head and charging cable of your mobile phone, especially when you are hiking, it’s really practical!

As mentioned earlier, the output mode is the A port. It is very convenient to charge the mobile phone or the e-book. After all, the A port is still dominant on the market.

Plug in and press the switch on the power bank, and then the charging mode is turned on. However, it is a pity that 18W fast charging is not supported, it would be better if an iterative version could be released in the future.

I forgot to mention a very important parameter earlier, that is, the maximum power of charging and discharging of this XTAR PB2C is 10W.

It’s quite satisfactory, although 10W is not fast according to the current standard of fast charging. But as it’s powered by only two 18650 batteries, and it can reach 10W, which is already good.

According to the charging data of the mobile phone, the voltage can reach more than 4V, which is very stable, the current is between 1.3A and 1.5A, and the power is between 9W and 10W, which is quite in line with my expectations.

Indeed, the biggest advantage of XTAR is the replaceable battery. You can even upgrade the battery and replace it with a larger capacity 18650, so that the performance of the power bank will be further upgraded.

Summary: PB2C is fantastic

 

After using it for a period of time, the XTAR 18650 battery power bank gave me a very good experience. Whether it is self-charging or discharging to other devices, the speed is quite fast. In addition to being used as a power bank, the two 18650 batteries can also be placed in other equipment at home, such as flashlights for emergency use.

The shortcoming is that if it can add an LED light to the PB2C, so that you can use this power bank as a flashlight directly. The combination of the power bank and the flashlight can achieve both benefits and greatly improve the practicality. In addition, if it can reach the fast charging standard of 18W, it will be more perfect.

Note: This is a repost of excellent PB2C review. 

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