Nitecore’s newest energy financial institution is the lightest and most compact but

There’s two issues it is best to find out about me, your intrepid reviewer: I hate the function creep related to fashionable energy banks, and I like shaving grams off the gear I carry when backpacking, bikepacking, and path operating. So think about my delight when Nitecore launched a brand new era of its ultralight NB10000 battery. After a number of weeks with it I can confidently say: Haribo be damned!

The $83.95 NB10000 Gen 4 weighs simply 146 grams, in line with my scale, and measures 1.45 x 11.6 x 4.68cm (0.57 x 4.57 x 1.84 inches), in line with Nitecore’s spec sheet. That makes it the lightest and most compact 10,000mAh energy financial institution I can discover. Even when factoring within the additional 6 grams added by the included USB-C lanyard, it nonetheless beats the earlier ultralight champ: Nitecore’s NB10000 Gen 3. The key to the Gen 4’s spectacular weight is a silicon-carbon anode, the identical battery tech more and more showing in flagship smartphones, together with Samsung’s.

As small as it’s, the Gen 4’s 39Wh battery nonetheless totally recharged my getting old iPhone 15 Professional twice, with a number of watt-hours left within the tank. And with as much as 22.5W of output, it may possibly even top-up my 14-inch MacBook Professional when wanted. It additionally helps pass-through to cost your devices as the facility financial institution itself fees.

Have I discovered energy financial institution perfection? Virtually.

I like that the NB10000 Gen 4 will get all of the fundamentals proper. It has a easy, four-element indicator to indicate the battery stage, which I a lot favor over a elaborate show. It’s constructed out of carbon fiber sheets and affords IPX7 safety towards water ingress, permitting it to face up to rain and even non permanent submersion – precisely what you need from an journey battery.

In my testing, I measured 33.58Wh of the claimed 39Wh capability for an 86.1 p.c effectivity. That’s a reasonably good outcome for a premium energy financial institution and a slight enchancment on the 33.33Wh we measured on the Gen 3 mannequin. That works out to 229.98Wh/kg of delivered vitality, or 220.90Wh/kg with the cable — class-leading outcomes, both approach. The NB10000 Gen 4 helps PD, QC3.0, and Huawei’s SCP charging protocols.

The Gen 4 mannequin additionally didn’t endure from the overheating and shutdown points we noticed when the Gen 3 would run low on juice. I did, nonetheless, see a brief interruption in energy supply when the Gen 4 unit was nearly totally depleted, however that’s solely as a result of I had a meter hooked up — in any other case I wouldn’t have identified because it continued charging nearly instantly.

The one factor that may very well be thought-about superfluous is the animated RGB lighting that flows across the twin USB-C ports. The lights are there to information you to the USB-C ports in a darkish tent, says Nitecore, however you too can… really feel them. Give the battery a double-knock close to the highest and the lights (and battery indicator) illuminate. This may be useful if carrying gloves since Nitecore inexplicably opted for a touch-sensitive wake button on the Gen 4. Luckily, that so-called “Contact Button” did reliably sense my moist finger in testing. The knock-to-wake function appeared to solely work about 75 p.c of the time, however it, and the RGB lights, may be disabled if you would like.

The lights will even glow yellow (common mode) or inexperienced (eco) after an extended press of the facility button if you wish to toggle between full energy and prolonged life, respectively. Eco mode works by dropping the output to a gradual 5W (5V at 1A) max. This will maintain the facility financial institution from routinely shutting off when charging low-draw gadgets like headlamps, watches, or wi-fi earbuds. It may well additionally yield a bit of extra complete cost capability by producing much less warmth waste, and permit the battery to function nearer to its native voltage leading to much less conversion loss.

The Nitecore NB10000 Gen 4 is the best energy financial institution for endurance athletes, backpackers, or anybody in search of an ultralight and ultracompact energy financial institution that largely avoids function creep. The one actual unfavorable is the value, having gone as much as $83.95 for the reason that launch of the $64.95 Gen 3 mannequin two years in the past. That makes the Gen 4 energy financial institution two to 3 instances costlier than the everyday 10,000mAh energy financial institution, however it may possibly prevent 50 grams or extra. That’s a worth premium I can see numerous lively, outdoorsy individuals fortunately paying for.

All pictures by Thomas Ricker / The Verge