Eton BoostBloc 4000mAh Portable Backup Battery Pack-Charger for Smart Phones (two full charges for

• Portable backup battery pack with rechargeable 4000mAh lithium ion polymer battery
• Fully charges most smartphones two times when fully charged
• LED battery charge indicator
• Shake unit to check battery level
• Micro-USB DC input for use with smart phone chargers (iPhone block, etc)

I own a couple of different battery packs as I have a smartphone that loves to each it's charge up when I'm hiking/biking and away from an outlet. I own a couple other Eton products and decided I would try this block from them. I'm glad I did. I can throw this in my pack when out and about and keep my phone charged wherever I go. It's been very reliable and holds it's charge well when not using it for long periods of time. I've also charged my phone up to three times from 25% to 100% on a single charge. It's also one of the few external chargers like this that will charge my Kindle Fire HD 8.9. Very helpful if I'm out camping and I want to watch a movie that I've downloaded to the Kindle. I've had this for almost a year now and it stays in my backpack ready when I need it. I lost my first one somewhere and couldn't live without it so I bought a second one almost immediately. Worth the investment for me and has paid for itself several times by providing power in situations where I needed it.

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I kept this charged for thirty five days (just outside the Amazon return policy window)without using it. Last night I decided to plug it in to charge my iPad. When I woke up this morning the iPad battery had gone from 38% to 71%. However the charger was dead. Very disappointing.

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Hurricane Sandy hit the New York area in the fall of 2012, effecting over 200,000 of us who got caught up in the fury of the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season. With power out for much of us in Lower Manhattan for days, it became time to take a a more serious look at emergency preparedness. Luckily I was well-prepared for the five-day power outages we went through, but one can never be prepared enough.

Etón BoostBloc 4000 is a small, compact device that is designed to serve as a portable backup battery pack and charger for smartphones and other USB-powered devices. It's deceptively compact, more than one might guess from the images here. At a total of 4000mAh, it's listed as offering "two full charges for most phones," but more on this later.

I'll list the subjective pros and cons found so far with this portable backup battery pack/charger for those looking for just the key points, then follow with some expanded details.

◆ High Points:

+ Compact; fits easily in your hand, 1.0"H x 2.2"W x 2.2"D, weighs ~3¾ ounces

+ Clean, minimalist design; fits into any work or professional environment

+ Micro-USB DC input; allow for connection to most USB chargers

+ LED charge indicators; four levels, activated by a shake

+ Micro-USB cable included; about 2-feet long

◆ Low Points:

May or may not live up to "two full charges" claim. See below.

◆ In Use:

The Etón BoostBloc 4000 comes packaged in a clear presentation box that's easy to open, and (luckily for us) not one of those clamshell packages. The included instructions are easy to follow. Mine arrived about ¾ charged, so I plugged it in to top it up. If it's fully drained the suggested charge time is five hours. The four blue LEDs will indicate the battery level, from 1 LED < 25% to 4 LEDs > 75%. To check the charge level, you just give it a quick shake. This seemed strange at first, but one gets used to it quickly, and there are no buttons to bump.

However... you may wish to check the power requirements of the smartphone or other device that you may want to charge. For example, my Samsung Galaxy S III (check the specs) comes with a 2100mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery, and if you quickly do the math, you'll quickly see that the 4000mAh rating of the BoostBloc 4000 is just under what it would take to give two full charges. In actual use I found that it gave about 1½ charges when the phone was left on, but slightly over 1¾ charges when the phone was turned off.

There are two other variations of this device: the Etón BoostBloc 2000, which is rated at 2000mAh, and the Etón BoostBloc 6600, which is rated at 6600mAH. Simply put, do the math before you make your choice, and you should be able to pick the right one for your needs.

In practical use, I found this Etón BoostBloc 4000 to be quite good for my needs when charging the Galaxy S III, as I was already aware of its mAh (milliamp hour) rating, so it lived up to my expectations. Also found that it had no problem putting a full charge on my Kindle Fire HD 8.9", even when I ran it down to about a 5% charge remaining. On a more practical side for emergency purposes, I plugged in my Goal Zero Luna USB LED Stick Light, a product of which I have a few, and it ran for days... I lost track as it was still providing light four days later.

◆ Summary:

The Etón BoostBloc 4000 has proven to be a solid performer that does what is expected. It's good enough that I'm considering adding the Etón BoostBloc 6600 to my arsenal of emergency supplies, as the higher-powered version also has two standard USB ports that can charge two devices simultaneously. Just be sure to first check your power requirements from the documentation of your smartphone or device so that you won't be disappointed. Simply put, this one is a real 5-star product, and one that's highly recommended.

5/12/2013

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Like most people, I carry around at least three devices with me most of the time and something is constantly running out of juice. This small, relatively light weight block carries enough charge to recharge an iphone 3X but also has enough amperage to recharge an ipad, which most portable packs cannot. This little beauty kept two iphones charges over a long weekend camping on an isolated island off the NC coast. Absolutely worth the expense and I couldn't recommend this more.

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It works fine to re-juice the iPhone & iPad, for example, on the plane BUT because it works only on 110 V, the BoostBloc becomes more difficult to recharge overseas if the country uses 220 V. Eton's support representative took 4 days to reply to me and then told me that I would need a voltage converter. Who wants to carry yet another device around?