Guillaume Hoarau, whom everyone calls "16", is the adventurer of Best Batteries. The nickname has nothing to do with geography: it comes from his openly admitted fondness for a certain lager whose name ends in 1664, which insiders happily shorten to "16". The team settled the matter long ago, it will be "16" on his badge as well as at the coffee machine.
As head of content and, officially, the site's publication manager, he sets the tone of the editorial line, approves the articles and keeps the whole thing consistent. A power bank specialist, he has put hundreds of them through their paces, from the tiniest models to fifty-thousand-milliamp-hour monsters. His method is unlike any other: rather than the laboratory, he chooses real life. He takes the units hiking, lends them to his children for their tablets and puts them through everyday abuse for weeks before writing a single line. The result: tests that talk about real use, actual weight in the backpack and usable runtime, not just numbers.
Convinced that honest content is what sets Best Batteries apart from ordinary shops, he constantly pushes the team to go further. His guides on choosing a power bank, taking batteries on a plane and portable solar panels are among the most-read pieces on the blog.
Away from the office, Guillaume lives his passion to the full. A fan of wild camping, hiking and travel, he is also hooked on prepping and survivalism. For a few years now he has been restoring an old farmhouse he dreams of making fully self-sufficient: already 100% energy-independent (solar, wind and storage batteries), and not far off for the rest. Needless to say, he tests solar power banks and power stations in the most real-world conditions imaginable. That sensibility makes him the natural writer for the site whenever a topic touches on autonomy, energy resilience or gear for getting by far from the grid.
10,000 mAh in a 0.55 in (13.9 mm) body weighing 7.5 oz (213 g), with a built-in USB-C cable that doubles as a lanyard: the MagFlow Air delivers about 34 Wh from 39.2 Wh nominal and posts one of the best wireless recharge scores in its class. Its thinness is paid for in heat, and its total output drops to 15W as soon as a second device is plugged in.
Published on October 9, 2026 by Guillaume
The Zendure SolarFlow 2400 AC+ adds storage to an existing solar installation through a simple outlet, with no input for panels at all. It returns about 88% of the energy stored at 800 W, well short of the 93% claimed, and its 2400 W stays capped at 800 W until an electrician has approved the circuit. It is a 230 V European product that is not sold in the United States.
Published on October 9, 2026 by Guillaume
The headline 130 W needs two ports, the pack's 72 Wh shrinks to 55 to 65 Wh at the output, and the 100 W port falls back to 65 or 45 W when a device draws on it for long. The color display shows these gaps live, port by port: it is the strongest argument for buying it.
Published on October 9, 2026 by Guillaume
A bug out bag rides on your back, not in a car trunk. Here is how to build its power kit without excess: a realistic watt-hour budget for 72 hours, the real hierarchy between a power bank and a solar panel, and why a power station almost never belongs in one.
Published on September 20, 2026 by Guillaume
From September 2 to 8, 2026, at IFA Berlin, Anker unveiled 22 new products, three of which directly concern portable power and charging: the MagGo Power Bank 2 Pro, a magnetic power bank already on sale, the Laptop Charger Pro, a redesigned 100W GaN charger, and the MagStand Charging Station. Our full review of the MagGo Power Bank 2 Pro is already live.
Published on September 17, 2026 by Guillaume
In the compact 300W power station segment, the XP2W300's headline argument is its full WiFi control, but its 204.8Wh capacity falls clearly behind rivals that offer up to 40% more capacity at a similar price.
Published on September 16, 2026 by Guillaume
With a built-in USB-C cable that reaches 65 W, enough to top up a laptop, this Rapid Mag remains the most powerful wired charger in EcoFlow's whole magnetic lineup. Its Qi2 wireless charging is rated at 15 W, yet an iPhone only receives 8 to 9 W on average, and at 9.1 to 9.7 oz (258 to 275 g) it is also the heaviest model in its category.
Published on September 16, 2026 by Guillaume
With 460 Wh of LiFePO4 cells and an output that climbs to 300 W, Voltcraft's VC-GP40 is already more than a power bank, without quite being a full power station either. Even its own official documentation cannot agree with itself: 144,000 or 36,000 mAh, a screen or plain LEDs. Here is what actually holds up behind those numbers.
Published on September 16, 2026 by Guillaume
27,600mAh, 99.36Wh and 140W of fast charging: the Aukey PB-Y63 Spark Sling packs one of the largest capacities on the market that still clears airline carry-on rules without prior approval. The power budget gets shared out as soon as both USB-C ports work together, and the brand itself is still rebuilding trust after being dropped from the major marketplaces in 2021.
Published on September 16, 2026 by Guillaume
A backup battery you forget you're even carrying because it barely takes up any pocket space: that is the promise of ultra-compact mini power banks. Here is our pick of the five best, for five different needs.
Published on September 13, 2026 by Guillaume
25W of wireless charging and an active fan to fight heat: the MagGo 2 Pro nearly doubles its predecessor's power on paper. The product is only just reaching buyers, though, and both its real-world efficiency and the reliability of this new fan remain to be seen.
Published on September 12, 2026 by Guillaume
Its built-in USB-C connector does away with the cable, but the advertised 5000 mAh only delivers around 13.6 Wh at the output port: enough for one smartphone charge, not more.
Published on September 12, 2026 by Guillaume
Updated on September 1, 2026