Xiaomi Mi Power Bank 10000mAh: Buying, Authenticity Check and Real Capacity
Last week I told myself: enough suffering, enough watching my phone’s battery level and hunting for a power outlet! And I bought a Xiaomi Mi Power Bank 10000mAh :-)
Xiaomi Mi Power Bank 10000mAh
Stylish, silver, powerful, not too heavy, compact and handy – that’s the Xiaomi Mi in a nutshell.
Buying it and checking it’s genuine
I bought it from an online store in my city for 490 UAH (about $21): with the discount it came out cheaper than on Rozetka, the big Ukrainian online store, and there was no delivery fee :-)
Xiaomi products are often faked, so the first thing I did at home was check it on Xiaomi’s website: the packaging has a sticker with a 20-digit code under a scratch-off layer, which you enter on the verification page.
Authenticity check on Xiaomi’s website
The code was accepted, all good.
How much is 10,000 mAh really
By the way, if you didn’t know: 10,000 mAh is the capacity of the cells themselves at 3.6 V. The USB output is 5.1 V, so the capacity has to be recalculated: in theory you get about 7,000 mAh, and with conversion losses about 6,250 mAh. Keep that in mind when choosing a power bank.
That’s enough for 2 full charges of my phone. If you don’t play Ingress or drain the phone with other games, and just make calls and browse a bit, my Meizu M2 Note lasts a day, a day and a half or even longer. But with Ingress, extra charge comes in very handy, so the power bank is great both for the game and for travel.
Why not the 10,400 mAh model
I was choosing between the Xiaomi Mi 10000mAh and the Xiaomi Mi 10400mAh. I read reviews, compared the sizes and went for the 10000mAh. The only thing both models lack is a second output to charge two devices at once, say a phone and a 3G Wi-Fi router. But if that made it bigger and pricier, then no thanks: let it stay small and relatively cheap.
Impressions
- You plug in the phone and charging starts right away, no button to press.
- At first the power bank weighed down my jacket pocket and got in the way, but then I got used to it and don’t notice it anymore. Now it’s always with me, and I know that if anything happens I’ll stay reachable and online :-)
- It takes a long time to charge itself: about six hours from empty to full. It’s easiest to charge it overnight, and better not from a computer’s USB port, where the current is low.