If you carry around an external battery to keep your phone powered up, you’re likely familiar with the needing multiple cables. With this new Aukey power bank, you only need to bring your Lightning cable!

PROs

• Lightning input: I think this is very cool. Apple has just started to allow manufacturers to include a Lightning port input for charging. Aukey is one of the first companies to implement this officially. So you only need to remember to bring one cable with you for this power bank. A Lightning cable will both charge your phone AND charge this unit (with other power banks, you need to bring a Lightning cable to charge your iPhone and also a Micro USB cable to charge the power bank itself).
• 3,600mAh of power: This provides a little over 1 full charge to my iPhone 5S (maybe 1.5 depending how much I’m using the phone at the time). You might able to squeeze out 2 charges if you put your iPhone in Airplane Mode while it’s charging.
• 1.5 amp output: This isn’t quite as fast as a 2 amp output would be, but this can still charge devices quickly. Typically, only tablets can receive 2 amps of power, and you probably won’t be using this to recharge a tablet since it is only 3,600mAh (it would only add a partial charge to the iPad).
• Travel bag: I like that Aukey includes a nice felt bag to carry both the Aukey unit and my Lightning cable.

CONs

• No Lighting cable included: This is fairly standard with all power banks, but I thought I would point this out. There isn’t a Lightning cable included with this unit. As with most manufacturers, they can either (1) increase the price of the unit to account for the Lightning cable if they were to include one, or (2) keep the price of the power bank low and you can pay for your own Lightning cable separately. I prefer option 2, as Lightning cables have really come down in price recently. UPDATE: I see that Aukey now sells a version that includes a small Lightning cable for a few bucks more… not a bad deal!
• Suction cup mat: I think it’s cool that Aukey includes a small suction cup mat with this unit, and I believe the idea is that you can essentially “stick” the external battery behind your iPhone while it’s charging and you’re on the move. But, this Aukey unit has a matte finish and the suction cups do not stick to it. However, it’s a nice thought at least.

Overall, I’m really happy to see companies like Aukey implementing Lightning ports into their devices. Yeah, I know some of the Apple haters out there won’t have a use for this battery, but Lightning cables are easier to connect than Micro USB and I hope Lightning input ports expand to more products in the future.

Aukey 3600mAh External Battery with Lightning Input