Portable emergency power for MagSafe-compatible iPhones
Portable power for your MagSafe and wireless charging phones. Attach the 5000 mAh battery and gain ~40-60% charge to your phone. Add a USB-C to Lightning cable for wired charging. Add the included magnetic ring to expand the magnetic charging options. 3.9-ounce battery, 5000 mAh power, bright LEDs, and strong magnetic attachment to extend your phone's battery time.
- Design
- Ease of Use
- Power Output
- Magnetic Attachment
- Price
PowerPod provides portable emergency power for MagSafe-compatible iPhones
As a Xennial (Sarah Stankorb, 2014) born within the micro-generation 1977-1983, I had the luxury of an analog childhood and a digital tech-filled adult life. I knew a time before pocket computers, received a Palm Pilot as my high school graduation gift, and grew up alongside Blackberrys, Android phones, iPhones, and iPads.
As a lover of on-the-go tech, I regularly carry a BUBM organizer with wall chargers, cables, and various dongles to charge and inter-connect my iPhone, iPad Pro, AirPods Pro, and Apple Watch Ultra. Even though wireless tech has not caught up to wired options, I hoped that MagSafe charging could reduce the need for so many cables. Despite some of the limitations, wireless charging still represents a convenient means for an emergency pick-me-up.
Unboxing:
I know that I am not alone in my love for product display/marketing. Whenever I get a new piece of tech, I likely spend as much time on the packaging/outer presentation as the device itself. I enjoy quirks, nuances, clever display methods, and clear window views of the product. Unfortunately, many companies do not realize the deficits inherent in bland packaging and likely lose market share to the flashier competition. I think the Casely PowerPod could have used a bit of pizzazz/marketing department magic.
The Casely PowerPod device arrived in a 3 1/2 inches wide by 5 1/4 inches tall by 1 inches thick retail package. The tan-colored front, side, and rear panels were rimmed with a lower black accent, which continued onto the bottom panel. The main cover panel displayed an angled, ink-outline drawing of the PowerPod device upon an iPhone, the PowerPod title, and a generic “Magnetic Wireless Power Bank” descriptor. The images felt a tad flat and lifeless, and needed a bit of color.
If you look along the bottom of the panel, you will find the Casely company name, written into the negative space of a small black rectangle. The side panels, like the lower segment of the cover, displayed the product name/descriptor. I would have liked additional/different information on these panels, and I felt that the redundancy detracted from the overall feel.
The rear panel repeated the product name/descriptor along the top left, the Casely name along the top right, and provided a small 100% biodegradable notice. With the drive to make more environmentally friendly products, I would have liked for this segment to be a bit larger. The lower half of the rear panel provided a large “Get.Casely” QR code, listed the getcasely.com website, and manufacturing information “Designed in Brooklyn/Made in China.”
The lower edge of the panel provided a helpful list of product specifications (Type-C input: DC5V/3A DC9V/2.25A, Type C output: DC5V/3A DC9V/2.23A 12V/1.5A, Wireless Output: 15WMax), product manufacturing labels and an sku barcode. Lastly, the bottom black-colored panel provided the getcasely.com website address. I liked the black rim, the contrast with the tan brown, but would have enjoyed some depth to the packaging.
Testing:
I lifted the top flap, slid the internal recycled cardboard tray out from the main box, and then removed the internal components from their trays. The lower tray (2 15/16 inches wide by 1 1/16 inches tall) contained a white 32 1/2 inches long USB-A to USB-C cable. I gripped each metallic prong, bent it forward/backward 25 times, then grabbed the neck/collar section and repeated the process. The USB-A and USB-C prongs were well-designed and fit snugly into their respective ports. The larger upper tray (2 5/8 inches wide by 3 3.8 inches tall) contained the 3.9 ounce, 2 9/16 inches wide by 3 5/8 inches tall by 1/2 inches thick battery, a 1/4 inches wide by 2 1/4 inches diameter metallic ring with 3M tape, a magnetic adhesive ring instruction card, and PowerPod User Manual.
When I plugged a Klein Tools Multimeter into a 5V/2A USB-A wall charger and the included USB-A to USB-C cable between the Multimeter and PowerPod, the multimeter displayed 4.95V/2.54A. Starting with 2 LED worth of charge at 9:12 am (4.95V/2.54A), the battery charged to 3 LED by 10:12 am (multimeter 5.11V/0.47A), and was fully charged to 4 LEDs by 11:01 am (5.11V/0A). Once the battery was fully charged, I removed the USB-C cable and evaluated the battery. The smooth egg-white surface had a single 3/8 inches diameter power button, which activated the battery when depressed and powered-off the battery with a double press of the button.
The front panel had a bank of five LED and the USB-C input port, while the side/top panels remained unadorned. The rear panel had a 2 5/16 inches diameter slightly raised MagSafe attachment point and a lower 1/2 inches by 11/16 inches tall magnet. The product specifications were listed along either side of the lower magnet (Model E33A, 19Wh/3.85V Battery Energy, 5000 mAh Capacity, Type C In/Out PD 20W max 9V/2.25A, Wireless charger output 5W/7.5W/10W/15W).
Several benchmark tests have shown the ability of the iPhone 14 Pro Max to charge in a total of 2 hours 18 minutes through MagSafe connection. As the first test of the Casely PowerPod, I wanted to test the wireless charging capabilities of the Battery. I placed the battery against my iPhone 14 Pro Max within a Catalyst Influence Case and then depressed the 3/8 inches diameter power button. Starting with 34% power at 4:54 PM, the iPhone increased to 37% by 5:02 PM, 53% by 5:27 PM, 62% by 5:43 PM, 68% by 6:09 PM, 79% by 6:32 PM, and 88% by 7:07 PM.
Assuming an efficiency loss with wireless charging (~30-50%), you can expect to gain ~2500-3000 mAh of power from the 5000 mAh PowerPod Casely battery. Considering the 4323 mAh battery size of an iPhone 14 ProMax, I was not surprised to only gain ~60% charge to my iPhone 14 Pro Max. Once the battery was fully depleted, the LED closest to the charger port illuminated a bright red color. When I plugged a Klein tools multimeter into an Apple iPad USB-C charger port and a USB-C to USB-C cable between the multimeter and battery, the multimeter displayed 8.92V/2.37A. Once the battery reached the fourth LED, the multimeter showed a reduced charging speed of 9.05V/0.16A. In total, it took approximately 2 hours to fully charge the battery via USB-C (8:15 PM to 10:25 PM).
For the second test, I opted to evaluate the wired power capabilities of the device. I plugged the Klein Tools multimeter into the USB-C battery port and then a USB-C to USB-Lightning cable between the multimeter and my Son’s iPhone 11. Starting at 51% charge at 11:08 PM (9.08V/1.17A), the phone reached 61% by 11:17 PM (3 LED on the battery plus 9.13V/0.96A multimeter), and 70% by 11:27 PM. By 11:49 PM the battery had fully depleted, while the phone had reached 80% charge.
As a final test, I recharged the battery as above, plugged a Klein Tools multimeter into the battery, and a USB-C to Lightning cable between the multimeter and my iPhone 14 Pro Max. Starting at 33% power at 5:29 PM, my phone increased to 48% by 5:40 PM (3 LED), 65% by 5:54 PM (2 LED), 71% by 5:59 PM, 76% by 6:05 PM (1 LED), 80% by 6:11 PM, and 88% by 6:33 PM. This represented ~2378 mAh of power from the battery.
User Experience:
A single press of the multifunction button will activate the bank of LED’s along the front of the battery, with each LED representing 25% power. Once you activate the battery, the fifth LED will illuminate a red color to signify the ready-to-charge status. You can then apply the battery to a MagSafe compatible phone to charge; the red LED will change to a green color to alert the user to the charging status. I appreciated the visual display and the color-coded power status. During the charging process, the battery may feel a bit hot to the touch.
I used a Nubee infrared thermometer and found the surface reached ~114.6 degrees, which was mildly uncomfortable but not too hot to handle. The battery will provide emergency power to a MagSafe-compatible device or through USB-C charging. I was quite pleased to find pass-through charging features of the Casely battery and that they included a magnetic ring for phones/cases with wireless charging but no magnetic attachment.
Despite the above tests, I have a few critiques. First, the outer packaging lacked imagination, creativity, and fun. I would have preferred a more interactive/informative outer shell. Second, I think it would have been a neat feature to include a lightning input port with an included USB-C to lightning cable. One of my favorite features of the Momax 10,000 mAh battery was the ability to charge via USB-C input or Lightning input. Thus, a single USB-C to Lightning cable could charge the battery and then your iPhone.
Ultimately, that may be a moot point when Apple devices transition to a USB-C charging standard. Lastly, I liked the lightweight nature of the battery (3.9 ounces) but felt the device should have been robust enough to provide at least a single charge of an iPhone battery. If I am going to give the device room in my travel bag, it needs to be able to pull its own weight. Despite the limitations, the battery has a role for emergency backup and is $30 cheaper than the Apple MagSafe charger.
For more information, visit getcasely.com, Facebook, and Twitter.