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- Fast 30W wired charging speeds
- Integral USB-C and Lightning cables
- Charges up to four devices at once
- Larger than the A1259 Nano
- No wireless charging
The Anker Zolo A1680 is a power bank with a difference. Beyond the usual USB-A and USB-C ports for charging your devices, it has captive cables for charging via USB-C and via Lightning, meaning you can charge up to four devices at the same time.
This is particularly useful if you have an older iPhone or iPad that doesn’t have a USB-C port, and potentially one of the most flexible compact power banks you can find. But how effective is it in its charging? I’ve spent the last week using the Zolo A1680 to get a good idea.
What do you get for the money?
A compact charger available in black, white, light blue or pink, with some interesting moulding on the top surrounding a glossy panel. This turns out to house a sub-surface digital display, which indicates the current charge level.
The power bank’s most eye-catching features, however, are the two captive cables, each one terminating in a sculpted plug that loops into a special socket above. One is a Lighting cable, while the other is USB-C. Both the braided cables and plugs feel tough, the unit as a whole is very robust, and at 200g, it’s not a particularly heavy power bank. It is, however, a little bigger most other 10,000mAh units, with a 65.5 x 110mm footprint and a thickness of 24.9mm.
What do we like?
Anker claims maximum charging speeds of 30W and it isn’t too far wrong. It reached 17.7W with my test smartphone over USB-A and 18.08W over USB-C, but 29W when set to charge a laptop. With both the USB-A and USB-C connections, it charged the test smartphone by 25% in 15 minutes. That’s one of the best results I’ve had with a compact charger.
What’s more, the Zolo A1680 really can charge four devices at once. I had it connected to two Android smartphones, an iPhone and a set of Bluetooth bone-conduction headphones, and it charged them all at once, albeit with charging speeds reduced to 5W on the two Android phones.
True, you don’t get the convenience of wireless charging, but having the cables built-in gives this power bank a convenience all of its own. You won’t be stuck running out of charge just because you forgot to pack a cable.
What didn’t we like?
The main downside of captive cables – that your charger becomes useless if they break – is ameliorated by the fact that they’re so flexible and well-reinforced, and that you still have ports to plug another cable into if the worst does happen.
I could complain that the display only gives you the charge level of the battery and nothing else, but it’s still a big improvement on the basic LED indicators you typically get at this price point.
Should you buy the Anker Zolo A1680?
Yes. The Anker A1259 Nano gives you slightly faster charging, but it’s more expensive and can’t charge quite as many devices at once. Other rivals are slower, and come without the A1680’s convenient integrated charging cables. All in all the Zolo A1680 is one of the best everyday power banks around.
