Fun fact: Seems the English and the Australians have taken to the word ‘powerbank’ to describe battery packs. Which is fine and all, but the linguistic disconnect between American consumers and the companies selling ‘powerbanks’ will do terrible things for their SEO.
PlusUs, the Australian company behind the LifeCard Powerbank, the LifeLink Cable (Lightning/MicroUSB) and Life2Go Car Charger, as well handcrafted designer cables (not reviewed), has another sort of disconnect on their hands: price. Their products are good, but it’s almost like PlusUs forgot to convert from Australian to American dollars when they posted them on Amazon.
LifeCard Powerbank
The LifeCard is a cool little product, and by far the favorite of three things PlusUs sent to iDigitalTimes. It charges itself with a separate Micro USB cord, but has either a Lightning or Micro USB cable (depending on model) built into the battery pack. The LifeCard has four lights by these built-in cables that light up whenever the cable is moved, giving you an indication of how much battery the LifeCard has left.
With a 1,500 mAh battery, the LifeCard Powerbank consistently charged a drained iPhone 6s to about 3/5 of the phone’s total capacity. But is it worth $60? That’s more difficult to say. Unlike the two other products, a credit card sized battery pack isn’t necessarily the most innovative product in the world, and so the gimmick of the product pales when compared to, let’s say, the $29 TravelCard Charger.
Admittedly, the LifeCard is a bit smaller and weighs less than then the TravelCard (3.46 x 0.15 x 2.09 inches vs. 3.38 x 18.8 x 2.13 inches, and 1.76 ounces vs. 1.9 ounces), but is it worth double the price for the same battery capacity (1500mAh), despite the lack of two built-in cables like the TravelCard?
LifeLink Cable
The LifeLink cable is a neat little toy, and admittedly does fit into a wallet without a problem. Almost too well to be honest, because you’ll probably forget it’s even there when you actually need a Lightning or Micro USB cable.
However, for $30 there’s a plethora of other cables you could buy, and it’s up to you if the design gimmick of the LifeLink cable is worth the price. Some users on Amazon report the connection between the two halves is fragile, but in iDigitalTimes’ experience, LifeLink’s built-in flexibility held up.
Life2Go Car Charger
The Life2Go Car Charger battery pack is another neat little toy that trades on an innovate gimmick, one that can charge itself by either plugging into your car’s cigarette lighter port or via a Micro USB cable. The basic idea behind the Life2Go Car Charger is that it acts as a regular car charger, meaning you plug your phone into the device while driving to charge it up. Then, if you need to leave the car but still have a drained battery, you can bring it with you as a battery pack.
Life2Go Car Charger costs $30, and comes with a 1000mah battery, or about 2/3 the battery size of the LifeCard battery pack.
While a little expensive compared to to competitors, PlusUs products are well built, and worth the money if the design gimmick of the product speaks to you. Otherwise, they would make great presents for Father’s Day.
