Many of us own at least one power bank and the cost is so cheap that many don’t research on whether the technology behind it matters. Well, I’m telling you, it does.

I own a Sanyo Power Bank. It’s 5,000 mAh and it works great but I have one issue with it – charging time. It takes forever to charge this dude. I always had to wait for more than four hours of charge time just to get it to four blinking lights. For 5,000 mAh, it’s not worth it. So what’s the alternative? The Xiaomi’s Mi Power Bank Pro.

The 10,000 mAh Mi Power Bank Pro is just like what many power banks look like on the outside. It’s slim but not the slimmest. It is light but not the lightest, weighing at 223g. The build quality is very solid thanks to the anodised aluminium case and it feels very substantial in your hands. But it is what’s inside that makes the most difference.

Charging the Mi Power Bank Pro

Xiaomi claims that the Mi Power Bank Pro can charge itself up in approximately 3.5 hours. Although during my test, it took me about 10 mins more than their lab test time, comparing it to charging a 5,000 mAh battery to a 10,000 mAh battery (7,000 mAh output) power bank, it’s very fast.

What about charging your smartphone?

It took me about 2 hours to charge my S7 Edge from 10% to 100% and it took me about 1.5 hours to charge up my iPhone from 22% to 100%. I think it is decently fast.

What’s in the box?

There are only two items in the 13mm box – the Mi Power Bank Pro and a USB Type-C cable. Yes. Type C. So if you are not using Type C cable, remember to bring your own cable when you are out.

Where to get and the pricing?

You can find the Mi Power Bank (Pro) at Xiaomi’s retail outlet. You could find it on Lazada but I don’t trust the merchants there. So yeah.

The Xiaomi Mi Power Bank Pro is priced at just SGD52 and I find that it is a very good investment. So if you are looking for a power bank, do check it out.