Review: Proporta USB TurboCharger 3400 vs Powertraveller powermonkey-eXplorer

NASA's historic 'failure' of Apollo 13 is full of physical hacks, ingenuity and doing things that shouldn't be possible with the most unlikely things. The explosion took out most of the power systems in the combined spacecraft of the command module and lunar module. As the crew approached Earth, one problem had to be overcome... the command module battery was short around 40 amp-hours of power. The lunar lander batteries had a little bit to spare, so the crew and ground control worked out how to connect two different spaceships so one could charge the other. To complicate things, one used square pins, and one used round pins. And it wasn't a matter of just moving 40 amp-hours of power, because the natural resistance in any system meant that it was closer to 100 amp-hours out of the lunar module to get 40 amp-hours into the command module.

If only NASA had provided the astronauts with a Proporta USB TurboCharger 3400 or Powertraveller powermonkey-eXplorer... :-)

Part of the fun I have when travelling is the game of bringing all my electronics up to 100% charge before I leave the house, and then be a clichéd Scottish miser on the power, making sure I get to the end of the trip with everything still working. Not any more though, as there are a number of portable batteries with multiple connectors to charge up the mobile traveller's toys. I've been looking at two of the more popular units while travelling to San Francisco from Edinburgh, then bouncing around the US on internal flights, and of course prowling the halls of conferences where there are no plugs anywhere in sight.

L-Proporta USB TurboCharger. R- powermonkey-eXplorer

 

	Proporta USB Travel Charger	Travel Explorer PowerMonkey
Capacity	3400 mAh	2200 mAh
Supplied Connectors	6 ...Retractable power cable with attachments for DS Lite, iPod, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Micro USB, Mini USB. (Sony PSP available on request)	10 ...2x Nokia, Motorola V66, Samsung E900, LG Chocolate, Sony Ericsson, Mini USB, Female USB, iPod, Sony PSP
Splashproof	No	Yes
Display	5x LED	Backlit LCD Display

As in Apollo 13, you won't get all the stored charge into your device, and a regular Nokia S60 smartphone, with a 1320mAh battery (for example), can be fully recharged once on both units, while the Proporta unit, with its larger battery, will manage a second full charge compared to a significant top up from the powermonkey. That's still more than doubling your talk or online time, which is a huge practical benefit while out and about.

For me it means that I'm not afraid to really work the Wifi or 3G connection at an event. I'm not looking around for a power point through the day, that then leaves me tethered to a wall for an hour – I can still stay fully mobile through the day and into the evening parties.

Of course, you still need to charge the units up to get this benefit, so you do need to do some forward planning, but I've just made this part of my night time routine. Both the units will charge up over USB, so if you have your computer plugged in, just throw the supplied multi-use cable over from the battery into the USB port. You can even, if you're feeling a bit cheeky, scavenge power from a friend's laptop for fifteen minutes in the Blogger's Meeting Room for use later in the day.

Both units are exceptional in terms of use, and there's little complaint from me about the flexibility of the connectors supplied, or the build quality of the units.

The powermonkey is the more rugged unit, with a rubber finished and curvy exterior that's comfortable in the hand, robust, and unlike Proporta's unit, is splash proof. It is definitely the more masculine of the two, and the backlit LCD display provides more information on the charging, discharging and capacity of the powermonkey compared to the five LED status indicators on the Proporta.

Meanwhile the Proporta unit does have the larger capacity of the two units, and both input and output sockets are USB (one full size, and one mini), there's a bit more elegance to the design, and you are not so reliant on the supplied cables and tips; there is some scope to improvise if pieces go missing.

If I had to choose then I'd go with the Proporta USB TurboCharger 3400, simply because the slim rectangular size slips into one of the pockets in my travel bag far easier than the 'suited for the hand' styling of the powermonkey. I'm not one for rugged adventures such as riding a bike to Russia or cycling to Anchorage, Alaska to the Florida Keys – if I was then the more rugged nature of the powermonkey would win out.

Would I travel without one of these travel chargers? No; they add flexibility and options for only a little bit more weight, and while I can manage a plane flight, the ability to stay powered up during a hectic day and night session away from a plug while travelling is worth the tiny investment for either unit.

– Ewan Spence, March 2010.

Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at 9:18 UTC, March 13th 2010