Reviewed: Powertraveller powermonkey extreme

Darren · Last edited by Darren on Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

Powermonkey have earned a reputation for no-nonsense portable charger and power solutions. They're designed for travellers and are built with portability and ruggedness in mind. Their catalogue of products ranges from small battery packs intended to recharge your mobile phone to monster packs capable of running a power hungry laptop for hours.

Regular readers may recall that we have reviewed a Powertraveller product previously. Back in September 2008 I came across their powermonkey explorer in the in-flight magazine on route to Dubai. I was sufficiently intrigued to splash out real money to buy one for testing and it was an instant favourite of mine.

Fast forward a few years and we now have a much more powerful version in the powermonkey extreme which we are reviewing here.
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Darren Griffin

UKJeeper · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 26, 2010 Posts: 2

Great review of a great product. I've had mine nearly a year and it has come in useful countless times. Had an issue with the 1st one i received, but as always they stand behind their products and replaced it without any problems. and since then, no more worries.

The solar panel by itself has had provided enough juice to keep my smartphone (Samsung i8910, 1500MaH battery) running all day while walking Boudicca's Way with GPS, internet and Viewranger running without needing the battery.

Would definitely recommend.

Darren · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:12 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the correction. I was confusing the latest iPad which has the 11000 mAh battery. I've corrected the original text.
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Darren Griffin

MaFt · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:14 pm Post subject:

UKJeeper · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 26, 2010 Posts: 2

Something to mention for other Tablet users (eg Galaxy Tab 7) that have somewhat... finicky... charging requirements, you will need the charging adapter from PowerMonkeys plugged into the USB port on the extreme and then into your charging cable.

Costs a WHOPPING £5 Wink

, but the upside is that you can also use it to charge from ANY usb port at full rate (normal usb charge only provides a trickle charge of about 10% per hour).

Wazza_G · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:21 pm Post subject:

Well I've got the powermonkey explorer (the extremes smaller brother) & to be quite honest it's the biggest waste of money ever.

Absolutely useless, it's sitting in its box in a cupboard after spending days in a window recharging & never getting there, absolute crap & I hope the manufacturer reads this too.

I wouldn't recommend them at all.
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Be alert.. This country needs more lerts.

Darren · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:31 pm Post subject:

Mine is still working perfectly and charges fine from solar, when we get sun that is.

Have you got in touch with Powertraveller about the issue?
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Darren Griffin

Wazza_G · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:44 pm Post subject:

Nope. I bought it back in November, lost the receipt, so can't do anything about it.

I have been trying to get it to charge up during this sunny weather and still waiting for it to say it's charged, like I said I consider it to be a waste of money. I've got a wind up charger instead & that does the charging without fuss.
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Be alert.. This country needs more lerts.

Darren · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:49 am Post subject:

Well if you're not willing to get in touch with them for help/advice there isn't much more to say.
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Darren Griffin

Wazza_G · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:59 am Post subject:

All I'm stating is the product that I have is of poor quality & poor reliability and I wouldn't recommend anyone buying any of them.
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Be alert.. This country needs more lerts.

Darren · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:25 pm Post subject:

And all I'm suggesting is that my experience is different and If you call you'll find them very helpful.

Perhaps yours has some issue? If you don't give them the opportunity to help then it's a little unfair to berate them.
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Darren Griffin

mjtima · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 07, 2006 Posts: 25

I have the smaller version. Pleased with it but in answer to not charging on the windowsill. I had the same problem, rang powermonkey and was told it does not charge through glass.

frogfoot · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 14, 2014 Posts: 1

Thanks for the review, however I think you have been wildly overoptimistic about the following statement
"The full capacity of 9000mAh is more than enough to charge an iPad 2, with it's 6944 mAh battery, and still have enough juice to fully charge an samsung Galaxy S2 with its 1800 mAh bettery. Or it could recharge six smartphones"

I have just purchased one and have run a couple of tests. My example will fully charge my HTC One two and a half times before it runs out of juice. The HTC one has a battery of 2300mAh giving a total available charge of 2300x2.5 =5750mAh. When I phoned Powertraveler about this I was informed that this was normal due to losses in the charging process. So by my estimation the efficiency of the system is less than 65%.

In other words my PM Extreme would only be able to provide a 80% charge on an iPad2 with 6944mAh battery.

Either I have a faulty unit and Powertraveller don't care or their marketing literature is very misleading.

M8TJT · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:44 pm Post subject:

It seem that most of this type of device quote the capacity of the 3.7v battery stack that they have inside.

The first thing to remember is that if the battery can source 9000mAh is at 3.7v giving a total of 9000*3.7 =33.3 Wh. As the charging voltage required for a phone etc. is about 5v, then 33.3Wh will give a mAh rating of 33.3 / 5 = 6660 mAh giving an apparent (but not real) efficiency of 6660/9000 = 73% and that is not taking into account conversion losses in the inverter that steps up the 3.7v to 5v or any other losses.

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