aNewDomain
— Look, I’m a stoner. I think like one. I totally act like one. Now, it might surprise you to learn that we stoners aren’t the vacant burnouts you’ve seen in movies. Actually, we’re complex and sensitive creatures who like to nerd out on all kinds of things outside the green sticky stuff. For instance, I’m into tech. Always have been. I speak to computers like that kid did in “Heroes.”
Anyway, the portable charging company Jackery recently offered up two products for review: the Jackery Mini and the Jackery Giant + . I immediately agreed. From the description, these battery packs could be right out of Stuff Stoners Like. So my inner tech nerd and I set out to test the gear.
Portable battery power matters deeply for a ton of tech and business uses. But if you’re a stoner, you need a lot of battery power to make sure you never run out of vape juice. Running out of vape juice definitely qualifies as something stoners don’t like.
So, using that stoner lens as our guide, here’s my Jackery Mini and Jackery Giant+ review.
Could Jackery match my PowerAdd Pilot X7 — and look better doing it?
I already own a portable charging solution. I bought it on Amazon just before I headed out to CES 2015 in January with the aNewDomain team. When you’re running around to write about an event that stretches for miles in Las Vegas, it’s not convenient to find a station, sit down and charge up.
So I found the biggest portable charger I could afford at the time, the PowerAdd Pilot X7. The X7 is a beast. It’s got enough power to charge everything I carry with me, not once but twice. Unfortunately, it’s a ridiculously massive brick of a thing. It doesn’t fit in any pocket of any of my clothes or even in my backpack. And it hogs a lot of space in my camera bag.
Another drawback to the X7 was that it took forever to charge. I’m talking a damn-near full day if you manage to deplete it past the halfway point. Yes, it charged everything I had on me, twice. But that was a specific event, and it was really a hassle.
That’s why I was interested to see if Jackery had an equally powerful but sleeker solution …
Jackery Giant+ and Jackery Mini out of the box
The Jackery Giant+ is currently the company’s largest offering and is the firm’s only model that supports dual charging. The first thing I noticed about it was that it’s basically half the size and capacity of my old X7.
At 10,000 mAh with two USB charging terminals, the Giant+ has more than enough power to charge my first generation Moto X and Vuber Atlas vaporizer at the same time. And it isn’t a huge, heavy brick. I was impressed.
After carrying around both products in the place of my X7, I was super happy with the performance of both products. I have virtually no complaints, actually, and if you know me you know how rare that is.
If you are into e-cigs and vaping at all, you’ll find both Jackery products really handy.
Nothing is worse than having that bomb golden goodness and a dead battery in your pen when you’re camping or at a festival or, you know, just walking around the streets of Seattle, as I do, daily. It’s easy to toss the Mini or even the Giant+ in your bag in case you need them. You’ll be glad you did when the time comes.
There are lots of nice touches here, too.
Both chargers have LEDs on top, that light up when you press a button, to show you how much power is left. The Giant+ also has an LED flashlight, which is super handy. Just hold down the power button once the blue status lights are on, and you can see in the dark.
Jackery says it takes 10 hours for the Giant+ to charge fully. That’s true, but like a smartphone or any other device, you just get into the habit of plugging it in all night after it’s totally drained. Because they carry lithium ion (LiO2) batteries, you really should keep them charged as fully as you can at all times. Topping them up makes sense.
The Mini uses high quality Panasonic Grade A Li-ion cells and premium microchips, which is why the Jackery store page promises you’ll get over 500 charge cycles. You can fully recharge the Mini in a few hours depending on what it’s plugged into. Some chargers charge slower than others, of course.
For best results, I suggest you plug these guys into a powered USB hub or a computer. That takes any guesswork out of the situation. And you won’t have to read the minuscule print on that tiny phone charger to make sure it’s properly powered up.
I also tested these devices in my non-Bluetooth enabled car. This was supposed to be a hard test. You see, I run the auxiliary cord to play music through the stereo, which is why charging my smartphone with the cigarette adapter always produces a loud hum.
What a downer.
So I was psyched to find that, with both of the Jackery products I reviewed, charging up was relatively quiet. I mean, it was a lot easier on the ears.
Bottom line?
I’m impressed with the size, quality and cost of both these Jackery chargers. If you’re a stoner — or anyone else who needs portable charging around you always — definitely consider one of these little guys. Find them either at the Jackery store site or via Amazon.
The Jackery Giant+ will set you back $30 or $35 dollars, depending on the color you choose. The tiny Jackery Mini is priced between $13 or $20 dollars, also depending on the color. They’re both on Amazon Prime at the time of this writing, too. Want to snag one? You definitely have my blessing. Leave me a comment if you have questions or just want to comment on your own experiences with the Jackery chargers or others like it. A stoner’s got to be up on such things.
For aNewDomain, I’m Mat Lee.
Cover image: LiveScience.com, All Rights Reserved. Image of guy blowing out smoke: Andy Cassianis image via Flickr, All Rights Reserved. All other images: by Mat Lee for aNewDomain, All Rights Reserved 2015.
