Anker 3200mAh “Lipstick” Battery – Record Low Price on Amazon

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Remember that with these Amazon links, many of them may be affiliated links meant to make a commission off you clicking through them. To remove the affiliated portion, cut off the link after the product/number. For example the first link above would be changed to http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005X1Y7I2 to not give a commission to the poster.

Yes, that is a referral link. I suppose I should mention that in the post—I guess that's one of those border cases. Sorry if I misled anyone, that wasn't my intention. I keep a bunch of CamelCamelCamel price watches going and realized I was posting a bunch of Amazon links, so decided I might as well sign up for an affiliate account. Not trying to spam, and I never post anything just for the sake of referrals that I wouldn't have posted anyway.

Yes. These are great for a day. The only thing that drives me crazy about them is after 3 days, they lose half their capacity! I.e., they have a high self-discharge rate. I wish there were some that didn’t self-discharge after, let’s say, a month.

My wife just plugs hers in every night to keep it fresh.
And so I bought another Ankler last June, and it also self-discharges. So it can charge my wife’s Note phone on the first day. But if the Ankler sat 3 days, she could only charge her phone 1/2 way. The phone has a 2500mAhr battery. So keep these Anklers plugged in every night.

-Barry

Can anyone else corroborate what Barry said?

On the amazon page the question was asked "If an Anker charger is fully charged, how long does it hold the charge, if it is left idle i.e., you don't charge any device?"

The answer from Anker:

Generally, most of our external batteries' static power consumption is lower than 100uA, which will take between 3.5 and 20 years to drain the battery completely if they are not used. However, the chemicals within the li-ion battery will gradually become less active over prolonged periods without use. Most will die in 2 years of inactivity. To extend your battery's life: 1. Charge and recharge it at least once every 3-4 months. 2. Do not over-charge or over-discharge it. It is best to keep it charged between 5%-95%.

Knowing for sure would make a difference whether or not this would be useful on a multi day backpacking trip.

I can't speak about that particular Anker product. However, typical lithium batteries that have been properly charged and discharged have a self-discharge rate of about 1% per month when they are relatively new. As time goes by, this may increase. When they have been charged and discharged poorly, they might go to hell in more of a hurry.

–B.G.–

My Anker holds a charge just fine; in my case static discharge is a non-issue.

S I that's so weird, your deletion campaign. You take from the community that you pay to be with. Don't be concerned with BPL the corporation. They are not important. We are.

Any other suggestions for a back up power source? I have an iTouch that I would like to recharge in the field.

Ken, after doing a fair amount of research I settled on an EasyAcc 6000 power bank last summer. I get around 3 full charges for my iPhone 5. It also has a 2 amp output which charges your device at a faster rate than the 1 amp batteries do. The built in led light is a nice bonus, and is surprisingly bright.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H963GT0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's not available anymore but there's some other newer versions.

Thanks Ralph.

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This very dilemma really drove phone choice for me. Do you want to carry the external battery pack or a spare battery?
Which choice weighs more, is more complex, or is more likely to fail for the user, when needed?

The black one is back up to $15.99, but don't lose heart! The gold is $11.99 now.