ADATA PV100 Power Bank Review

By: Bruce Normann

Manufacturer: ADATA Technology Co., Ltd
Product Name: PV100 Power Bank
Model Number: APV100-4200M-5V-CBK (Black)
UPC: 4713435799246
Price As Tested: $34.98 at Amazon

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by ADATA.

Power comes in all forms, and it’s all around us. Our entertainment streams are full of power struggles, and they continue to play out on the world stage – all day, every day. My own power struggle is much more mundane. I just need to keep my cell phone charged up all day long, and sometimes for more than a day. One way to do that is to carry an external battery pack, like the one in the picture below. Benchmark Reviews has been testing a brand new power pack from industry leader ADATA, on a daily basis for several weeks now. The ADATA PV100 Power Bank is small, slim, and relatively lightweight, courtesy of the advanced Lithium Polymer battery inside. It has a capacity of 4200mAh, which is close to a median value for this type of device.

For most smart phones, that translates into two spare charges that are at your disposal. The PV100 Power Bank is not limited to phone charging. Anything that can take a charge from a standard USB port is fair game: media players, gaming handsets, GPS, tablets, cameras, and a burgeoning array of Bluetooth devices. Instead of dragging a bunch of proprietary wall chargers around, consider carrying a single portable power pack that can charge anything that will consume power from a standard USB port.

I have one of the world’s thinnest smart phones, with a very small battery pack inside. For reference, my trusty old DROID RAZR has just 1750mAh of battery capacity inside its 7mm thin shell. I really like the small size and light weight, and I put up with its short battery life. Not everyone shares my enthusiasm for thin, light phones with a short battery life. Judging by the evolving marketplace, super thin is NOT in….but it works for me. One of the reasons it does, is that I almost always have a fully charged external battery pack with me. I’m sure that seems counterintuitive, in that I have to carry two devices and the sum total of weight and size is way more than some possible alternatives, like the DROID RAZR MAXX HD that I reviewed last year. But the reality is that I find it easy to keep a spare battery pack handy, and I can usually find a way to transport it that doesn’t involve one of my pockets. If I do have to carry it on my person, the slim profile and light weight of a device like the ADATA PV100 makes it relatively painless.

My small, thin and light smartphone fits my pocket better, and the battery pack, charger and cable goes into a briefcase, messenger bag, backpack, the car’s glove box, or my wife’s purse. Sometimes I throw them in there separately, and other times I keep them together in a little bag. In case you’re wondering, I already owned three external battery packs before I started this review, and I’ll be discussing their relative pros and cons later. For now, let’s look at the features and specifications for the ADATA PV100 Power Bank.

ADATA PV100 Power Bank Features

The ADATA PV100 Power Bank will charge most devices that can receive power from a standard USB port. I’ve always had sketchy results when trying to mix and match AC wall chargers from different platforms and manufacturers. On the other hand, I’ve never had any compatibility issues when charging directly from a USB port on a PC, or from the USB port on any of my battery packs. As more and more portable devices move away from proprietary charging ports, the number of ways you can use a battery pack keeps increasing.

The biggest issue people have with rechargeable batteries is the time it takes to get them back to full charge. Think about how long it takes to fill your car or truck with gas. That’s an enormous amount of energy transferred in a very short time. Battery technology has a long way to go to match this level of performance and convenience. Doubling the power output from 1 ampere to 2.1A is a good start, though. Ever since the iPad came out with a 2.1A charging specification and the USB Battery Charging Specification Revision 1.2 was released in 2010, the defacto high current output option for chargers and battery packs has been set as 2.1A. The ADATA PV100 Power Bank does away with the old 1A port entirely, and sports a single 2.1A port for its charging output. While the small battery in my smartphone has some downsides, one upside is that I can charge it quickly. Don’t worry that the new high current outputs will harm your portable electronics. There are protection circuits inside your device that will limit the charging current to a safe value.

Increased power requires increased responsibility, otherwise bad things happen. Lithium batteries, in general, can be quite dangerous. If they catch on fire, it’s almost impossible to extinguish the flames. That’s why there are strict shipping and travel restrictions on lithium batteries. The ADATA PV100 Power Bank has six different protection mechanisms built into its circuitry that address these hazards. The first four deal with protecting the Power Bank, itself from harm. Most batteries are adverse to high temperatures, and the lithium polymer unit inside the PV100 is no exception. The over temperature protection guards against this. A common cause for high internal temperatures is the presence of a short circuit somewhere in the system, and the built in short circuit protection prevents this problem. Over voltage protection prevents damage from connecting a power source that’s the wrong voltage. Lastly, over charge protection prevents issues caused by trying to charge the internal battery beyond its rated capacity.

Once the ADATA PV100 Power Bank is connected to your device, two other protection modes are in play. Over discharge protection keeps the PV100 from sending its last gasp of electrical charge out to another device, keeping a small amount in reserve. This is important, because when some batteries approach zero charge, they exhibit strange and unpredictable behavior. Some of us are old enough to remember how this affected first and second generation PDA devices, and it wasn’t pretty. Modern phones have exactly the same kind of protection built into them to keep the system from corrupting data when it runs out of juice. In addition, there are limits to how much current you should pump into the device you are trying to charge. Even short bursts of uncontrolled current into a device might burn out some of the components inside. The over current protection built into the PV100 Power Bank prevents this from happening.

The specifications for the ADATA PV100 Power Bank are very basic, but there are two nuggets of information in there that are important to know. First, the weight of the PV100 is just 105g, which is lighter than my super-slim smartphone. It’s also substantially lighter and smaller than any of my other external battery packs. More on that later….. Second, the charging input on the PV100 is limited to 1A, which means it could take longer to charge the battery pack than it does to charge another device from the battery pack. There is one more specification that’s very important, and I found it in the User’s Manual. Yes I admit, I read it….. The rated capacity of the PV100 device is lower than the rated capacity of the battery inside. That’s absolutely normal, and every battery pack out there in the market is going to be the same, but the majority of vendors are going to withhold this information. So, just for the record, the rated capacity of the PV100 device as a whole is approximately 2900mAh, which is quite a bit lower than the rating of the bare battery that’s inside.

ADATA PV100 Power Bank Specifications:

Now that we’ve seen the all features and the specs, follow along as Benchmark Reviews take a look at the ADATA PV100 Power Bank product that we have for in-house testing.

The ADATA PV100 Power Bank comes packaged in a slim retail container that has an inner plastic clamshell surrounded with a decorative paper sleeve. The packaging emphasizes the slimness of the product itself, and the exposed part of the clamshell lets you see the actual product inside. I got the black model, but if you’re really into color matching it’s handy to be able to see the exact shade of green and pink that the pretty ones have on their faceplate. All the main product details you need to know are right there on the front of the retail package, which will make the selection process easier if you are buying it in a brick & mortar store.

The back of the box has all the specifications, some important marketing information, the dozen or so certificates of compliance, and a QR code that can be used to initiate the web-based registration process and download some free software once you finish registering your product. I didn’t see any software on the ADATA site that was specific to power sources, though. Mostly it was applications that would complement their SSD offerings.

Looking inside the package, it won’t take long to notice that there is no AC wall charger included in the box. The slim profile of the box may have been a strong clue, as most AC wall chargers are a lot thicker than the 8mm dimension of the PV100 Power Bank. I was still a little surprised at the lack of a charger module, when I pulled the clamshell out of the sleeve. Luckily, I probably have half a dozen 5V USB wall chargers around the house, and more than a dozen available USB ports on the various computers that are in regular use. So, there was no shortage of places to plug the PV100 in, and top up the charge inside. What I would really like to see included is an ultra-slim AC charger that’s as easy to carry as the battery pack is. That would be a very complimentary addition, IMHO.

The front panel of the ADATA PV100 is a one-piece affair, painted or powder-coated in one of four colors to a full gloss finish. The review unit was black, but pink, green, and silver are available. As with all things black and shiny, I had a hard time keeping fingerprints and smudges from messing up the appearance. But, since I don’t have to stare at it, like a display screen, I learned to ignore it after a while. See, OCD can be treated…. Towards the top of the front panel are an On/Off button and four LEDs that indicate the charge level in the battery. The pushbutton can be used to check the battery level when the unit is not connected to either a power source or sink. You do have to hold it down for about a ½ second though, instantaneous taps won’t do anything.

The rear panel is the one with all the product info, including serial number and manufacturing date on a white sticker. I’m pretty sure the Mfg. Date is a legal requirement for some country where the PV100 is sold. Li-polymer batteries have a very long shelf life, so there’s no reason an ordinary consumer would need this information. You can see from this view that the majority of the outer shell is formed from a single piece of aluminum, with gently rounded corners. The finish is a matte texture that makes it easy to hold, without slipping. The whole assembly is very solid, with no flexing or rattling inside. The Li-Polymer batteries are very light, so it doesn’t feel like a brick, but it does seem well put together. Three weeks of daily usage has not changed that perception.

Along the top edge of the ADAT PV100 are the two USB ports; one for charging the PV100 and one for charging other devices. The input port is a Micro-USB, just like the port on millions of smart phones and other mobile devices. It was standardized by several industry organizations, including the influential International Telecommunication Union (ITU), who calls it the “Universal Charging Solution”. Heck, I think even Apple has seen the light…. Current input is limited to 1A, so charging the PV100 may take longer than discharging it. The output port is the old Standard-A USB receptacle we all know and love. Max output current is limited to 2.1A, which is a nod to the iPad charging requirements. The same USB charging cable can be used for charging the PV100 and using the PV100 to charge other devices, just flip the orientation.

The ADATA PV100 Power Bank is a fairly simple product, at least on the outside. Let’s take a look at how it’s used and compare it to a number of portable USB charging solutions that I have on hand.

We’re going to do a quick comparison of the ADATA PV100 Power Bank with one of the cell phones that could really benefit from having a spare power source around. The phone in the foreground is a Motorola DROID RAZR, and it’s the Skinny-Minnie of the DROID family. The flat portion on the back is only 7mm thick, compared to the 8mm thickness of the ADAT PV100. In reality, they’re both very thin, and similar in size and weight. Although one has the classic DROID appearance and the other one looks more like an “i-something”, I think they go well together. Both are sleek and smooth and will slide easily into a pocket.

Here we get a better look at the relative thickness of the ADATA PV100 Power Bank and the DROID RAZR. Both are impressively thin….

Looking at the business end of each of the devices shows that when you compare the PV100 to the typical “DROID Hump“, it’s actually thinner by a fair margin.

When the ADATA PV100 Power Bank is in service, this is what it will look like if you use the supplied cable. There’s not a lot of room to maneuver with the short cable, and if you need to pick up your phone the best thing to do is place the phone and charger back-to-back. If you have a longer cable that was supplied with your portable electronic device feel free to use that. Although the shorty cable has some limitations, it is easy to carry and fits in well with the intended use for the PV100, which is to maximize portability and convenience.

Now that we’ve seen how the ADATA PV100 Power Bank integrates with a typical energy customer, let’s look at how it compares to some other external battery packs that I currently have in rotation.

Here’s my whole kit of chargers, surrounding the primary smartphone that they support. The ADATA PV100 Power Bank is the smallest of the devices, both physically and electrically. Starting with the PV100 with 4200mAh and continuing counter-clockwise: the AGPtek Solar-Powered model has 5000mAh of battery capacity, the IOGEAR GearPower Power Station has 6600mAh of capacity, and the RAVPower PB07 on the far left has 10,400mAh of battery capacity. They all function pretty much the same; although the AGPtek solar unit has a few extra tricks up its sleeve, in addition to the integrated solar panel. It’s the only one of my old battery packs that allows pass-through charging, where you can hook up one AC-powered charger to the battery pack, and also have another device connected to the battery pack that gets charged at the same time. As it turns out, the ADATA PV100 Power Bank was able to do this trick, as well. This is an undocumented feature, for both units. I’m not sure what prompted me to try this in the first place, but it definitely only works on selected models. This feature was more important back before wall chargers started sporting dual USB output receptacles. Today, you just hook both devices up to one charger, in parallel. Back in the day, the only way to charge two devices from one charger was to connect them in series.

Looking from the top, in the last picture, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference in the sizes of the various battery packs. Looking at them from the side is a different story! On top, at just 8mm thick, is the ADATA PV100. Second from the top is my AGPtek solar-powered unit, at 17mm thick and carrying 5,000mAH of charge. The largest of the units is third from the top, and it’s the fattest of the bunch at 21mm. It makes no apologies for its bulk though; it just shows you its 10,400mAh of Li-Poly muscle. On the bottom is the IOGEAR GMP6600P, which holds 6,600mAh within its relatively slim 14mm case. It’s slightly larger in the other two dimensions, relative to the other three units, which does make it feel slightly bulkier in use. You can see from this view that some have dual charging outlets, and the others have only one. Three of them are strictly 5V units, and the AGPtek has a switch-selectable output voltage of 5 – 6.5 – 9 – 12 VDC. They all have slightly different personalities, and the ADAT PV100 is now my go-everywhere power pack. It’s just the right size to make it easy enough to carry, no matter where you’re going.

One thing to remember with all these devices is that no matter what output you use, the electronic device you are charging with it will almost surely limit the amount of current that flows into its own battery. So, despite the 2.1A label on the battery pack output, your phone or Bluetooth headset will probably limit the charging current to 1A. In other words, don’t expect faster charging times with a battery pack than you typically get from your AC wall charger. I’ve been using the ADATA PV100 Power Bank for a couple weeks now; let’s see what we can come up with for testing purposes. It wouldn’t be Benchmark Reviews if we didn’t log some test miles.

Testing of external battery packs is not something we do often at Benchmark Reviews, and without dedicated test equipment like you would find in an electrical engineering lab, it was clear to me that our test protocol is going to be more of a functional evaluation than a series of performance measurements. Here’s a list of the things I can currently test:

• Does it accept and hold a full charge
• Does it accept a charge at the specified rate
• How long does it hold a charge
• Does it charge other devices
• Does it charge other devices at the specified rate
• Does it deliver the specified amount of energy to other devices
• Does it function the way the User Manual specifies
• Does it exhibit behaviors that are undocumented
• Does it exhibit undesirable behaviors during normal operation

• The PV100 accepts and holds a full charge
• The PV100 accepts a charge at the specified rate – 1A
• The PV100 holds a charge for several weeks
• The PV100 charged several different devices
• The PV100 charged other devices at a rate allowed by each individual device
• The PV100 delivered the specified amount of energy to other devices
• The PV100 functioned the way the User Manual specified
• The PV100 did exhibit one behaviors that is not undocumented
  • In-line charging of the battery pack + connected device from one USB port
• The PV100 did not exhibit undesirable behaviors during normal operation

I don’t know any other way to demonstrate that the ADATA PV100 Power Bank performed exactly as I expected it to. I’ve had good success with my other external power sources, and experienced no problems with any of them, so I had high expectations coming into this review.

The term “Battery Life” is usually a reference to how much charge the battery contains and how long it will power a particular device. It’s hard to know when the phrase “dead battery” came into common usage, or whether it was originally used to describe rechargeable batteries or disposable ones. A rechargeable battery is really dead when it won’t hold a charge at some nominal percentage of its full factory voltage. Depending on who you ask, that nominal value is somewhere between 60% and 80%. A typical 1.5V AA Alkaline battery is pretty much done for when it gets down to 1.2V. It’s actually not the voltage that matters; it’s just that the battery can’t deliver much current when its charge is depleted, but voltage is the easiest thing to measure. For instance, rechargeable AA batteries start out at 1.2V, yet they can deliver a lot of current at that voltage. Enough maths for now, what I really wanted to mention is the other aspect of battery life.

One other factor to consider is the overall service life of the battery. Modern lithium ion polymer batteries have a lifecycle that is defined by how many times the battery can be charged, before its capacity starts dropping. With a larger battery, you don’t have to charge it as often, and the service life will be longer. There are a variety of standards and varying levels of performance that can be achieved, but a rough rule of thumb is that when a LIPO battery is charged ~500 times, its loses ~20% of its original capacity. Some battery-charger systems do better than that, but with the rate of progress in technology, and two-year service provider contracts being the norm, isn’t it convenient that the built-in battery starts dying off just when it’s most advantageous to update your hardware?

The previous paragraph presents a good argument for buying portable devices with the largest reasonable and practical battery inside. Very few modern mobile electronic products have batteries that can be easily replaced by the consumer, so once it’s worn out it usually means that it’s time to replace the device. How does having an external battery pack available make a difference in this situation? It’s because human behavior is often driven by the desire to reduce risk. So, “just in case” you might be away from home longer than you planned for, you top up the charge on the cell phone, even though it’s at 60% and nine times out of ten it will usually last the rest of the day and night. If you have a spare power source with you, you can skip the top up charge and be confident that you won’t be stuck somewhere with a dead phone. This reduces the number of times that you charge the battery, and it ends up prolonging the service life of the device. At least that was my argument when a family member bought her most recent phone, a Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD. Its 3300mAh of battery capacity dares you to try and use up the battery in a single day. I’ve never seen it happen in a year’s worth of almost constant use.
Performance of the ADATA PV100 Power Bank is just what you would expect, or hope to expect. It’s a simple device, and it does everything it’s supposed to do, the way it’s supposed to do it. You don’t want any surprises in your backup power system, and the PV100 always delivered reliable, consistent performance. It charged up as quickly as the 1A limit on the input allowed

I like the appearance of the PV100 best, out of all my battery packs. It has a simple elegance that has somehow eluded most of the competition. The thin profile helps give it a very modern look that I appreciate. The four color choices seem spot on for the current fashion trends, which are always a moving target. The two tone design also emphasizes the slimness, which is real – not imagined. The only marks I can deduct from the appearance category are for the front panel. Like all shiny, dark objects it shows fingerprints and smears in horrifying detail, just like your phone does. It also shows small scratches from normal wear and tear, just like we all used to see on our smart phone screens before the widespread adoption of Gorilla Glass.

I’m more likely to treat a portable battery pack roughly than I am my phone, or other expensive portable electronic device. I’m not kidding when I say, “I generally just throw it in my bag.” I’m not going to intentionally beat on it or drop it on the ground, but human nature says I’m not going to treat a $30 device the same as a $300 one. I’m happy to report that the ADATA PV100 Power Bank suffered no ill effects after several weeks of constantly following me wherever I go. Pockets, purses, backpacks, glove boxes, and my trusty messenger bag were all fair game for travel. All the seams are still solid, there are no dents or gouges in the surface, it doesn’t rattle if you drop it onto the desk, and all the lettering is still intact. The only wear that I’ve seen is some fine scratch marks on the glossy front surface, probably caused by me wiping it on an assortment of surfaces to remove fingerprints and smudges. Unlike my phone, tablet, etc. I wasn’t particular about the materials I used to clean it.

Functionally, the PV100 Power Bank ticks most of the required boxes. It fits a decent amount of energy into a small, light, attractive container and it has all the required inputs and outputs, and controls to make it work. The only two shortfalls I see are the single charging port, where many competitors have two, and the very short charging cable that was include in the package. This cable is optimized for portability however, so it’s more of a tradeoff than a deficiency. You can probably say the same about the single charging output port, too. The PV100 slides easily into almost any pocket and doesn’t weigh you down, so it’s a perfect design for daily use. I’ve got bigger battery packs that I’ll still use when I need more power, but the PV100 is what I carry every day.

The ADATA PV100 Power Bank is currently listed for $34.98 at Amazon, which is close to a median price for similar devices. There are over 5000 products in this broad category, so you’re spoiled for choice. For me, anytime the word “backup” is part of the functional description for an item, I automatically eliminate the low-cost, no-name products on principle. Then I start researching the rest of the field. From a value standpoint, the PV100 belongs on the second list and I suspect that further research will illuminate its strong points as more people have a chance to put it into use and share their experience on Web 2.0.

There’s a saying from another interest group that goes something like this: “The best xyz is the one you have with you, when you need it.” In other words, features, performance, looks, brand appeal, capacity, etc. – none of it matters if something about the product discourages you from carrying it with you at all times. The ADATA PV100 Power Bank is designed and built to maximize the possibility that I will have backup power with me, when I need it. Sometimes, there’s a very fine line between convenient and not convenient, big enough to be useful v. why bother, and glad I had it with me v. I can’t believe I left it at home. For me, the PV100 Power Bank sits firmly on the correct side of that line.

+ Works exactly like it should
+ Just the right size, shape, and weight to carry all the time
+ Attractive design with four color choices
+ Solid Construction
+ In-line charging of battery pack and device w/ one USB port

– Very short cable (Small & portable, though…)
– No AC Adapter included
– Glossy finish is fingerprint magnet

• Performance: 8.75
• Appearance: 9.25
• Construction: 9.00
• Functionality: 8.75
• Value: 8.50

Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.