Best Power Banks for Music Festivals

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Best Power Banks for Music Festivals

If you’re heading to a music festival (or five) this summer, you’ll probably want to take your phone with you. It’s more than just finding your mates, it’s being able to take photos, videos and having your device with you. It would feel wrong to simply leave your phone at home, though. Problem is, festival fields don’t have plug sockets for you to charge your phone. Fortunately, power banks exist!

Power banks are a festivalgoer’s and a social media addict’s best friend! This article is here to help you find the best power bank to take with you to your next festival (and everywhere else you go!)

People sitting

About Power Banks

Portable battery chargers are sometimes called Power banks or Juice bars. They are devices that contain a battery and a USB charging port (or two). That means you can plug your phone, iPad or Kindle into charge when you’re out and about.

Then, when your power bank is out of power, you simply recharge it and it’s good to go again!

Most power banks take about 12 hours to fully charge, so make sure you charge it fully before the festival!

Power banks at Music Festivals

You may notice that many festivals offer phone charging services. This either means you leave your phone in a tiny charging locker for a few hours then collect it later, or you pay a deposit and collect a power bank to walk around with. Then, when your power bank is empty, you take it back to the stall and swap it for a new one. This usually lasts you all festival.

But, why pay for this service when you could get your very own portable charger and never be stuck without any battery on your phone again?!

Buying a Power Bank for a Music Festival

Here is an overview of what to look for when choosing a power bank to use at a music festival:

Quick charge capabilities

If you have a relatively new Android phone, then it will support Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0. This means that if you charge your phone from the mains, it charges in super-fast time!

A portable charger that also supports Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 will charge your phone in the same amount of time.

If you have an iPhone, unfortunately, iPhones do not support Quick Charge, so even if you choose a portable charger with Quick Charge capabilities, charging your iPhone will do so at regular speeds.

To check whether your Android phone has Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0, simply Google the make and model of your phone + ‘Quick Charge’ to find out.

Charging capacity

To put it simply, the big numbers, e.g. 20,000mAh indicates its capacity. mAh stands for Milliamp Hours, so 20,000mAh means 20,000 Milliamp hours or 100 Milliamps for 20 hours.

The larger the number, the larger the charger capacity.

In very general terms, as this depends on a lot of different factors but here is a rough guide:

3,000mAh = 1 phone charge
7,000mAh = 2 phone charges
10,000mAh = 3 phone charges
15,000mAh = 5 phone charges
20,000mAh = 6-7 phone charges

This depends on a lot of things, like the type of phone you have, the health of its battery, whether you’re using it as it’s charging or charging it from 0-100%. This is just a rough guide to gauge how many times you’ll be able to charge your phone.

If you see lightweight power banks on eBay with huge capacities, be aware that they may be fake or even dangerous!

Number of ports

Power banks will come with 1-4 USB ports, meaning each charger can charge 1-4 devices at the same time. Most chargers will usually only have 1 or 2 ports, with one of them being an Android Quick Charge port.

When you’re choosing a charger, you may want to charge two phones at once. Be aware that this makes the portable charger run out of juice sooner if you’re charging multiple devices!

Size and Weight

If you’re planning to take your power bank to a festival, then its size and weight will matter. You don’t want to have to carry something too bulky and heavy.

The highest capacity chargers are usually physically larger and heavier too. But some more expensive chargers still provide a large capacity and weigh a lot less.

Related: Best Utility Belts for Festivals


Best Power Banks for Music Festivals

Here is a selection of the best power banks to use at music festivals:

Tips for Getting the most from your Power Bank

  1. Start charging your phone when it’s below 10%, then turn it off and leave it for an hour. When you turn it back on, it should be nearly full!
  2. Don’t use your phone and charge it at the same time, this is using more power than is necessary.
  3. Ensure that your phone is not in the full sun when it’s charging. Try to keep it shaded, the temperature rises when it’s charging anyway!
  4. Get a solar panel, like this one, to re-charge your portable charge on sunny days and never be without power ever again!
  5. If you’re not using your power bank for a long time, store it with about 60% charge – this helps to preserve the Lithium-Ion battery.

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