Aukey’s 30,000mAh battery pack is the perfect Nintendo Switch travel companion

Sometimes useful accessories actually do come in big packages.

Aukey’s 30,000mAh battery pack measures in at a massive 150mm x 82mm x 28mm and weighs 552g, making it hefty and rather difficult to carry around unless you have ample space in your bag.

Specs

• Capacity: 30000mAh
• Micro-USB Input: 5V 2.4A
• Lightning Input: 5V 2.4A
• Output 1 (Quick Charge 3.0): 3.6V-6.5V/3A, 6.5V-9V/2A, 9V-12V/1.5A
• Output 2 (AiPower): 5V 2.4A
• Dimensions: 5.9” × 3.3” × 1.1”
• Weight: 20.46 oz

While we’ve had one these high-capacity battery packs around the MobileSyrup office for the last few weeks, I’ve seen little reason to opt for it over the more portable Anker 5,200mAh battery pack I’ve been using, at least until recently. This is mainly because the the battery pack lacks USB Power Delivery 2.0, which means it’s unable pass through the high wattages needed to charge most laptops while they’re in use, in my case, the 13-inch USB-C MacBook Pro (it does work when the laptop is off though).

When headed on my last few work related trips as well as a recent vacation to Cuba, however, I opted to lug the massive battery pack around in an attempt to keep my Nintendo Switch up and running and continue exploring Hyrule’s fast landscape at all time. While the Switch’s battery life can sometimes exceed three hours when playing games that aren’t graphically intensive, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the console comes in at just three hours of portable power.

I’ve found Aukey’s 30,000mAh charger to be the perfect way to keep my Switch running on long flights where I often don’t have access to a traditional plug. It is important to note that the battery isn’t capable of charging the Switch while you’re playing and instead only works when the system has been put in sleep mode or turned off.

The battery features four ports: USB-A for input and output, microUSB for recharging, Lightning input also for recharging and a Quick Charge 3 USB-A port. Apart from charging the Nintendo Switch, I’ve found the Quick Charge 3 port to be the battery pack’s most useful port, allowing me to charge supported devices — like the HTC 10 and LG G5 — at a rapid rate. I can also charge basically any USB powered device via the battery, including almost any phone I own. The battery pack itself is charged via microUSB or Lightning.

While the power pack doesn’t feature a USB-C port, which is admittedly disappointing, it does include a USB-A-to-C cable, allowing for easy charging of USB-C devices like the Nintendo Switch or any recently released smartphone that features the newer charging technology.

The charger does, however, have downsides beyond its hefty weight. For example. Aukey’s multi-coloured power lights are difficult to follow, with the battery opting to display zero to 30 percent battery with a red light, 30 to 70 percent with green and 70 to 100 percent with white. This makes it hard to tell exactly how much battery life is left in the pack.

It’s also worth mentioning that while I rarely used the battery pack to charge my MacBook, in one instance while trying to hit a tight deadline and traveling on a plane, putting my computer to sleep first and then charging it, allowed me to jump back into working on the story roughly 20 minutes later with about 30 percent battery life.

All in you can expect the battery to last at least 12 hours of charging with some devices, though it depends on what port you’re using and how often you charge your device as well as what its voltage is.

The Aukey 30,000mAh Quick Charge 3.0 battery pack is priced at $69.99 CAD on Amazon.

Note: Aukey also sells a 30,000mAh battery pack with USB-C In/Out on Amazon (which might work better for the Nintendo Switch), though it’s sold out currently.