Okay Geek Farm
Powerbag Backpack designed by Ful review
Ricardo Trejo
There are backpacks and then there are Powerbags. You better learn the difference right here and right now because it could save the battery life of your various devices. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a bag that powers your stuff up while you’re on the go. It’s a pretty awesome idea when you think of it, and it might make you wonder why something like this hasn’t taken off by now. Well, we’re here to let you know whether this is the future or just a concept better left undiscovered.
Our Impressions
To start this off, the Powerbag is just a backpack; there are pouches, pockets, and zippers. And while you may be a little shocked at the price tag (over $100) just for a bag, you’re getting one that’s guaranteed to last you for the long haul. The exterior is solid in construction, zippers are tough and won’t fall off any time soon, and is loaded with enough places to store everything you’d ever think of taking with you. The adjustable arm straps are contoured and the backing is lined with padding so you don’t get uncomfortable even when carrying a full load. On the bottom of the bag is a rubber-wannabe material with bumpers so that your bag doesn’t slide all over the place when placed in an upright position.
On the side pouch are convenient Apple, mini-usb, and micro-usb connections to hold and charge your smartphones and/or mp3 players. On the inside there’s no included wires to charge a laptop, which is a wasted opportunity seeing as backpacks are usually meant to stow away notebooks for students and/or the business-person on the go.
Set Up and Use
The bag comes loaded with an instruction manual, 3000mAh rechargeable battery, and a wall charger. To use, remove the orange battery from its base and plug it to the wall charger and allow it to charge until the the LED light turns off. Once it’s fully charged you can place it back into the base in the secondary compartment where it is now ready for use on your various devices. And if you don’t feel like taking the battery out and more interested in having the bag itself near the wall charger, the bag also hosts a port on the front that lets you charge the bag while the battery is still in the base.
Pressing in the Powerbag logo on the front of the backpack will let you check the status of the battery’s life, and pressing and holding for approx. 2 seconds will turn the battery on and off. This is pretty important since simply plugging in a device won’t do much unless the bag is actually turned on. That being said, to conserve energy make sure you have the bag turned off if it’s not in use.
It can’t charge laptops, so what can it charge?
I’m sure there are a ton of products that could work with the Powerbag but the official site has a list of specific products it knowingly supports:
- Amazon Kindle™ (All generations)
- Barnes & Noble NOOK™
- Samsung Galaxy Tab™ - The Galaxy Tab requires a unique USB power source to charge at full speed. Powerbag will supply only 500mA (similar to computer charging) to your tablet. During this time, the Galaxy Tab may state that it is not charging, when in fact it really is.
- *Tablets must be charged with their own USB cable through Powerbag’s on-board USB port.
- *iPod nano® and iPad® may be charged with their own USB cable through Powerbag’s on-board USB port.
- iPad® and iPad 2
- iPod touch® (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation)
- iPhone® 4, iPhone® 3GS, iPhone® 3G, iPhone®
On the iPad side of things, the battery station within the secondary compartment has a USB port that will charge an iPad. It’s a pretty good addition, seeing as most iPod / iPhone charging accessories don’t have the means to power an entire iPad, which is a guzzler in the energy department. Our only issue with the iPad and this bag is that the pouch made for it is a little snug, especially if your device is wearing a thick case.
We’d also would’ve loved if the Powerbag had something like a portable wall socket plug, that way we could take our DS’ and other portable gaming units with us to be charged instead of being forced to use only USB capable chargers.
One thing we’d like to point out is the design choice to make it as minimal looking as possible, without its branding showing all over the place. Yes, you’re a geek and you know what’s needed for your devices, but you don’t always want to wear that badge with pride, especially if you’re trying to bump up your professional credibility. That’s something we have to salute the folks over at Powerbag for, since we love our products looking as sleek as possible.
Overall
As a backpack it gets the job done. It’s got the pockets and pouches you need and want, and it’s also constructed with durable materials, down to the zippers. And when it comes to the main attraction of being able to charge your devices while on the go, it’s better than anything we’ve seen before — even if it has a few hiccups. It’s a pretty expensive bag when it comes down to it, but for its utilitarian way of getting your devices charged, holding all of your personal effects, and looking good and not standing out while doing it, we have to give this one a recommended grade.
Sure, its biggest flaw is its inability to charge a laptop, but for all the other great things that it does right there’s no way we could pass up an opportunity at give it our thumbs up. There are a few things we’d love to see added to the Powerbag in future iterations; like the means to charge a laptop, but also maybe an added connector for portable gaming systems.
Pro’s
- Contstructed of durable material, inside and out
- Ability to charge an iPad w/o converter
- Has variety of cables and ports for all types of devices
Con’s
- Can’t charge laptops
- iPad pouch is a little snug
Where to buy
Powerbag — MSRP: $139.99
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This review was done by Ricardo Trejo, who was given a Powerbag backpack by Powerbag.
