Thursday, March 28, 2024

Review | Romoss Polymos 20,000 mAh power bank

By Ajay Joseph

Most people nowadays know what a power bank is and many own them. But rewind to a decade before and you’ll find yourself in the pre-power bank era. The first power bank after years of development was unveiled in 2011, and thanks to the massive explosion in the mobile phone market, and its inherent need for electricity, power banks are now basic utility devices that are here to stay.

Romoss Technology is a Chinese firm focused on charging solutions, including power banks, adapters, cables, wireless charging products, and such. What we’ll be looking at in this review is the Polymos 20 unit.

Design and Ergonomics

The Polymos 20 has a straightforward rectangular design, with curved edges that make it easy to handle and keep in the pocket. It’s white in color with a 4-point orange LED indicator for charge levels.

On one of its lengthwise sides, it has a power button that needs to be long-pressed to turn on once a device is connected for charging.

The outlets and inlet are on the breadthwise side, close to the charge level indicators. The inlet is a single micro USB, while there are 2 regular USB outlets.

In terms of weight, it’s a pretty solid 445 grams.

Specs and Performance

With an impressive capacity of 20,000 mAh, it’s a good solution to charge a few devices over a few days. Charging input is rated at DC5V 2.1A, though the package only includes a USB charger cable. The power adapter / AC charger is sold separately, and my guess is that it would charge quicker with that.

Connected to a standard PC USB 3.0 port, the device charged from empty to full in a little over 10 hours (11 to 12 hours). Best done overnight I’d presume.

In my testing, I was able to charge four devices totaling approximately 14,000 mAh over a period of one week before the power bank was empty. So that’s 70% in terms of actual charge available to the user. You could also attribute a minor loss of charge to inefficiencies related to idle standby periods during the week.

The Polymos 20 has 2 charging outputs and allows for simultaneously charging 2 devices, while also charging the power bank itself. Of the 2 charging ports, one allows for fast charging at 2.1A, while the latter maxes out at 1A. It’s a good set of charge and discharge options; allowing for some flexibility.

I tested a mix of devices, a new Huawei P20 Pro that is known for fast charging, and some older ones with well-used batteries (>1 year). Below are the results to give you a sense of what to expect.

? Huawei P20 Pro ? 4000 mAh battery ? 2 hours 14 minutes from 3% to 100%

? iPhone 7 Plus ? 2900 mAh battery ? 2 hours 10 minutes from 3% to 100%

? Nokia Lumia 1520 ? 3400 mAh battery ? 4 hours from 6% to 100%

Value

The Romoss Polymos 20 is listed at prices ranging from P879 to P1,499. For the most part, you can expect to have it for P1,000 or less. Given the charging flexibility it allows, and the high capacity, it’s certainly an option worth considering at the price point. While there are competing products at similar prices, most well-known brands are considerably more (2.5x).

Conclusion

In today’s world power banks have become a norm and almost a need. It’s good that more options are becoming available to consumers, with Romoss filling an interesting gap with its products; that being the space between the highly reputed big-name brands and the unknown overnight startups. Thus, making available seemingly moderate quality at an affordable price.

Though the charging adapter is sorely missed, making for long charge times, the Romoss Polymos 20 is utilitarian and functional, at a welcome price point.

  • Model: PB20
  • Price: P900
  • Verdict: A well-priced 20,000 mAh power bank

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