Zendure’s SuperTank Pro is the business’s latest and best portable charger, with faster speeds, more USB-C ports, a refined design, and an enhanced OLED screen. It’s a great product, but in a world without travel, it’s almost useless.
The SuperTank Pro– launching on Kickstarter for an early rate of $149 ahead of a last $249 market price– is an upgraded version of the original SuperTank from 2019 It has the precise very same capability as the previous design at 26,800 mAh/ 96.48 Wh battery (the maximum that you can legally take on a business flight according to Federal Air travel Administration guidelines), however it’s updated the ports significantly. Rather of a USB-C/ USB-A split, the SuperTank Pro fully accepts the future with 4 USB-C ports in addition to greater and more constant power output.
The initial SuperTank offered a hodgepodge of charging requirements: one USB-C port supported 100 W input/ output, and the second was limited to simply 60 W out. And the LED display screen was only able to show the total charge of the SuperTank itself.
The SuperTank Pro, on the other hand, enhances on almost all of these aspects. The 2 USB-C ports on the left support a full 100 W input/ output charge rate, with USB-C PD 3.0 and Quick Charge 3.0 compatibility.
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The OLED panel likewise provides far more information: it’ll tell you at what speed each device is charging at any given moment, in addition to the length of time it’ll require to charge the SuperTank Pro. (One crucial discovery from this function was discovering that not all of my USB-C cables might support a full 100 W charge.) The SuperTank Pro also enhances on the original by making the top and bottom parts of the case out of real aluminum, which looks far better than the painted plastic (which, sadly, still comprises the middle part of the case).
It feels like the ideal travel battery charger. The SuperTank Pro can put out enough wattage to power two 13- inch MacBook Pros while out and about and top off two smart devices at the exact same time. It can supply enough power to keep a phone going on its own for a week on the roadway. The passthrough charging means that it can work as a USB-C center to prep all of your gadgets for the next day, while likewise recharging itself as a backup to have when you’re out and about.
At least, that’s the theory. In practice, I used the SuperTank Pro over the recently to keep my laptop powered while taking a Zoom conference from the comfier side of my couch that doesn’t reach an outlet– not charging my phone or Change in an airport. Throughout COVID times, the closet I got to taking the SuperTank Pro on a grand adventure was a journey outside your home for a breath of fresh air while writing this review. It is extremely good at keeping my gadgets charged on those events, too. Connection is trustworthy, and the battery pack is amazingly cool, even when powering 2 MacBooks. I’m not sure moving two cushions over is necessarily a factor to invest $249 on a battery pack right now.
Which’s where my greatest issue about the SuperTank Pro is. It’s so certainly meant for travel– even the metal case seems created to evoke a hardshell suitcase– that it’s tough to validate getting during today’s locked-down world. And at the rate that USB-C charging specifications move, there’s a good chance that by the time travel is a possibility again, the SuperTank Pro will be obsoleted. (Simply compare in 2015’s design to this one.) Zendure is promising the SuperTank Pro will be firmware updatable to prevent these concerns, but promising firmware updates is a lot simpler than in fact delivering them.
Photography by Chaim Gartenberg/ The Brink
