Best festival power banks: 6 portable chargers that will last all weekend

by Sam Warrenger
iPhone out of battery in field

Long gone are the days when Glastonbury would be awash with rumours that the Queen King had died. Now that everyone has a smartphone, many festivals now benefit from enhanced 4G and 5G internet coverage, leaving power the one remaining hurdle to staying connected throughout the weekend. We look at some of the best power banks around that’ll keep you going until you get back home.

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Some festivals have traders offering phone charging, but it’s usually expensive. Some will charge well over a fiver for only an hour of charging.

That’s why power banks, or portable chargers, offer a much better alternative. A high-capacity power bank can keep a modern smartphone going throughout even a 5-day festival. Often for less than the price of a phone charging pass at a festival, you can get a decent power bank that you can use again and again for years to come.

These devices contain batteries way bigger than inside your phone, and once charged, provide USB ports for keeping your phone and other devices going when you’re away from mains power. Portable chargers are perfect for days out, camping, and of course, music festivals.

We’ve listed a few tried and tested power banks below, with most available online and a couple from the high street that you can pick up today.

Best portable charger: So which power banks will last all weekend?

Three generic portable chargers of a similar style to the best power banks

A power bank’s battery capacity is measured in mAh, just like your phone. The smallest power banks are around 2,000mAh, and with most modern smartphones batteries around 2,000 – 3,000mah themselves, these tiny chargers are only good for a quick top-up charge. Their tiny size can make them useful, and can often be carried in a pocket, but they’re no use for a music festival with 3 to 6 days away from a plug socket.

Even the best portable charger doesn’t operate totally efficiently, though a good one should only lose 10% – 20% of its stated capacity when charging your phone. For this reason, we recommend a portable charger with a capacity over 20,000mAh for music festivals and camping trips.

Whilst they can be expensive on the high street, safety-certified high-quality power banks with a 20,000mAh capacity can now be purchased online for less than the price of a weekend charging wristband at a festival.

For a festival, a 20,000mAh or larger capacity is perfect. It should ensure your smartphone lasts the entire event, even if you use it heavily and require more than one recharge per day. Most will have multiple USB sockets, allowing you to keep a friend’s device topped-up too!

The best power banks: 6 portable chargers that will last an entire festival

Anker Powercore Essential 20000 / 20000 PD

Our Best Portable Charger: Anker Powercore 20100
Image credit: Anker

Anker are the big name in portable chargers, known for their exceptionally high-quality products. They also have an awesome 18 month warranty.

The Anker power bank we recommend comes in two versions, one of them with Power Delivery compatibility to ‘fast charge’ iPhones and Androids.

The Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 is the version without fast charging. It’s got a 20000mAh capacity, plenty for a full festival, and charges via USB-C, with a charging cable included.

It takes about 10 hours to fully recharge and has ‘PowerIQ’ and ‘VoltageBoost’ technology to ensure your iPhone is always charging at the fastest possible speed. It’s available in black, blue, and white colours. It comes with two standard USB ports for charging your devices and both micro-USB and USB-C ports for recharging the power bank.

The Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 PD adds ‘USB Power Delivery’, which is the technology that enables ‘fast charging’ mode on recent iPhones and Android devices. This’ll top an iPhone 12 up to 50% from empty in just 30 minutes back at your tent. It has one standard USB port and one special ‘input/output’ USB-C port, which is used for recharging the power bank itself and for fast charging your devices.

USB Power Delivery only works on the new USB-C sockets, so make sure you’ve got a USB-C to Lightning cable if you want to fast charge an iPhone (it’s why they’re included in the box with the latest iPhones, you might have one) or a USB-C to USB-C for Android.

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Charmast 20000mAh wireless power bank with fast charging

Poweradd power bank charging a Samsung S20 Ultra in a field

The PowerAdd Pro 20000mAh power bank is a fantastic power bank that we’ve tested extensively over the past couple of months. Despite usually being the cheapest option on this page, it has all the features of the more expensive power banks including 20W ‘power delivery’ fast charging from the USB-C port. It also boasts an LED display which gives the exact percentage of charge and whether fast charging is currently active.

With three standard USB ports and a USB-C port, you can charge up to three devices at once, albeit at a reduced speed. Another minor advantage over the other power banks we’ve listed is the ability to recharge via either USB-C or micro-USB.

In normal circumstances, wireless charging from the power bank would be silly. You’ll get a slower charge than using a cable, use up more of the power bank’s charge to do it and you’ll need to keep your phone perfectly in place while it’s charging. However, wireless charging has one advantage that makes it a potential lifesaver at a festival: if your charging cables or your phone’s charging port breaks – or just won’t work because it’s got moisture in – you’ll still be able to keep your phone alive simply by placing it on top of the power bank.

I’ve been using this as my main power bank for a while to get the best impression of how it compares. I love having the exact percentage on the display instead of a few indicator lights, it really helps me be confident I’ve got enough charge left in there before leaving the house – whereas, with the Anker, 2 lights out of 4 illuminated is sometimes plenty of charge but sometimes leaves me short. While the display seems a bit dim in bright sunlight, it’s easy enough to read when you need to and there’s no point wasting battery power making it brighter. (It’s my fault you can’t see the display illuminated in the above photo, it’s a silly angle in bright light, so much so that my jet-black USB cable glares bright white – not how you want to photograph glossy screens).

I have noticed you get slightly less charges out of this than the Anker and the final 30% of the displayed charge gets used up quicker than when it’s full. Power banks never transfer 100% of their capacity into the devices they’re charging and efficiency of around 80-90% is to be expected, so possibly this one is slightly less efficient than the Anker. But, this power bank is usually so much cheaper you could pretty much get two for the price of an Anker with the same capacity and features.

Charmast 20000mAh wireless power bank with fast charging
1,211 Reviews
Charmast 20000mAh wireless power bank with fast charging
  • ✨【15W Max Qi Wireless Charging】With the newest wireless panel, the power bank can charge devices up to 15W without connecting any cable conveniently (supports 5W, 7.5W, 10W, 15W). Don’t worry about the cables any longer when you are outdoors.

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INIU 20000mAh power bank with LED display

Best festival power banks: 6 portable chargers that will last all weekend 1
Image credit: INIU

INUI’s 20000 mAh power bank supports Power Delivery for modern fast charging (iPhone + Android) and ‘Quick Charge 4.0’ to fast charge an even wider range of Android devices. INUI might not be as widely-known as Anker, but they back up their products with an impressive three-year warranty.

Their new power bank for this year offers brilliant value, matching the Anker’s capacity and functionality.

You can fast-charge an iPhone and many recent Android phones from the USB-C port, while the two full-size USBs will fast-charge loads of other Android devices with support for all ‘Quick Charge’ versions up to 4.0.

Any other USB devices will charge at their full speed – and INIU have also added a handy LED display to show you exactly how much power is left.

We used this one ourselves at Shindig Weekender and it kept two phones going until we got back in the car Monday morning.

As an Amazon Associate TheFestivals earns from qualifying purchases / Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.co.uk, Inc. or its affiliates


Veger 30,000mAh Power Bank with Fast Charging

Best festival power banks: 6 portable chargers that will last all weekend 2

Want even more power? This power bank from Veger boasts a 30,000mAh capacity, so it should last around 50% longer than those above. All that extra juice can keep you going through a week-long festival or give you plenty of charge to share with your friends.

It supports Power Delivery on the USB-C port, so you can fast charge recent iPhones and Android devices – and recharge the power bank itself at faster speeds. It also comes with two standard USB sockets, meaning you can recharge up to three devices at the same time.

As it’s a higher capacity, it’ll be slightly heavier than the power banks above and probably won’t fit in your pockets, but it’s still only around 600g, so I wouldn’t worry about adding it to your bag.


Belkin 20000 mAh Portable Power Bank at Currys

This one’s available today on the high street for £29.99!

Best festival power banks: 6 portable chargers that will last all weekend 3

If you don’t fancy buying online, or you need something you can pick up right now, this power bank is available on the high street. Coming from the reputable brand name that is Belkin, stockists include Curry’s – who’ll even let you check stock online before rushing down to your local store. Perfect if you’ve left it until the last minute and realised while packing for a festival you need a new power bank

Its 20000mAh capacity means it’s a great portable charger for festivals. A few years ago, you’d have to buy online or pay way over the odds for this capacity on the high street, but thankfully that’s no longer the case. It recharges over USB-C (with the required cable included) and has two standard USB ports for recharging your devices

It’s currently £34.99, and if you need it today, you can enter your postcode to check stock in nearby stores and collect in minutes. Alternatively, Curry’s are currently offering free next day delivery if purchased before 1pm.


Belkin 20000 mAh Power Bank at Argos

Check stock in your local Argos and pick up today

If you prefer Argos to Currys and need to buy on the high street, this is another viable option.

It’ll cost you more than an online brand like Anker or Aukey, but the big advantage here is that it’s stocked by Argos. That means you can find local stores with stock online, then reserve one to pick up immediately. You could even reserve one to pick up on the way to your next festival, though you’ll need a while to charge it in the car.

You do get a pretty decent power bank for the premium price, with a screen, two normal USB outputs and a USB-C port too. You can use the USB-C for recharging both your phone and the power bank itself or recharge the power bank via a microUSB socket. It also supports both Quick Charge 3.0 and USB Power Delivery for super-quick recharging.

It’s currently £29.99 on the Argos website.


F.A.Q.

What is fast charging?

The iPhone 8 and above and most modern Android phones support fast charging with a feature called ‘USB Power Delivery’. This means if you also purchase a portable charger that supports these technologies, it’ll top up your phone battery at super-fast speed. Perfect if you want to recharge at your tent for half an hour before heading back into the festival with a fully charged phone. If you’re still using an older iPhone with a slow-charging, knackered old battery, it could be the perfect time to compare deals on a lovely new iPhone 13 with the fast charging and endurance you need for festival season.

iPhones need a power bank with ‘USB Power Delivery’ to fast charge, as do most modern Android phones. Other Android phones need ‘Quick Charge’, but some of our best picks support both anyway.

And of course, if your phone isn’t compatible, it will still charge as normal at standard USB speeds from a Quick Charge charger.

Does my phone have fast charging?

If it’s an iPhone, it needs to be the iPhone 8 or newer. These should recharge to 50% from empty in 30 minutes with a USB Power Delivery charger, according to Apple.

For all other phones, try Googling the model number of your phone followed by ‘USB power delivery’ or ‘quick charge’ and you should find out pretty quick.

I’ve seen chargers online with much higher capacities, how come?

Portable chargers, or power banks, sold on eBay unfortunately often have fake capacity listings. It’s difficult for a consumer to test the capacity of a power bank themselves, and most don’t understand the capacity ratings anyhow. eBay sellers take advantage of this and pretend their power banks have a much higher capacity than in reality.

It’s very hard to create higher-density batteries, so if you see a power bank offering 40,000mAh capacity in a similar size and weight to the 20,000mAh ones listed here, you know it’s a fake capacity.

Worse still, most of these fakes also aren’t safety tested. As power banks are made of volatile lithium batteries, we recommend sticking to the official Amazon stores of the trusted brands listed above, or even the high street. Never buy untested lithium battery products from unknown eBay sellers.

How do you recharge a portable charger?

It’s usually really simple to figure out how to recharge a portable charger or power bank. Just look for a small socket, usually labelled input. It’s usually a microUSB socket, but whatever it is, it’ll match the short cable included with your power bank. Most of these high-capacity power banks will take 10-12 hours to fully charge, and all have LED lights which will indicate when the power bank’s batteries are full.

The Aukey power bank also has a Lightning charging socket, allowing it to be recharged using the same cable as an iPhone or iPad. The Anker Powercore 26800 and EC Technology power banks support dual-microUSB recharging, using two charging cables to cut the charging time to under 6 hours.

What’s the difference between power banks and portable chargers?

Nothing. We’ve used the terms interchangeably here. Sorry. Some people also call them battery packs or power packs. They all mean the same thing. Simply a battery with some USB sockets that can be used to recharge other devices’ batteries.

How many times can a power bank be recharged?

A portable charger, or power bank, uses the same type of Lithium battery as your phone. They can be recharged thousands of times whilst remaining effective, though after several years, there may be some reduction in total capacity.

Can temperature affect a power bank?

Yes. Lithium batteries work best between 10°C and 50°C, and should never be recharged when below 0°C, as this can damage the battery. Using a power bank at a low temperature shouldn’t have any permanent effects, but may reduce the effective charge of the power bank.

During the British summer, I’d expect the temperature in your tent to stay within the ideal range. Just watch out for leaving your power bank lying around in direct, strong sunlight and you’ll be fine. And remember, your phone uses the same Lithium battery technology, so avoid charging it if it’s ever below freezing.

It’s normal for both power banks and smartphones to become warm or generate heat during use. However, if your device gets too hot, safety mechanisms should cause it to cut off. This can happen if you leave your smartphone or power bank in direct sunlight, or during a malfunction.

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