We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More ›
In my test of the best power banks for camping, there was one charger that I picked up over and over again: the Anker Powerhouse 90. It has everything you need to keep your must-haves charged in the outdoors: two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, and an AC outlet. During testing, I found that this charger (24,000 mAh) was plenty to keep my family’s phones charged for a long weekend, while the AC outlet time and again was a lifesaver when we need a quick boost to inflate an air mattress.
Amazon 2023 October Prime Day, the best Anker power bank is 35% off.
Anker Powerhouse 90 Portable Power Station
Key Features
- Weight: 1.9 pounds
- Internal battery: 27,000mAh
- Up to 100W output
- Ports: two USB-A, one USB-C, and one AC outlet
- Included cables: one USB-C to C and one USB-A to C (also includes a 45W USB-C wall charger)
- Built-in flashlight
- Warranty: 18 months
Pros
- AC outlet means this power bank can handle a wider range of devices than USB-A and USB-C ports alone
- Fast charging time with the provided wall charger
- Built-in flashlight
- About the size of a paperback book
Cons
- Display was less intuitive to use than the Scosche PowerUp 32K
There can be a fine line with power banks for camping. We’re trying to get off the grid, but we need a bit of the grid to come with us: for camping fans, air pumps, lanterns, and, of course, our phones. And when the smaller, smartphone-sized power banks stop cutting it (try sharing one of those with a loved one for more than three days), it can be tempting to upgrade to a real beast—a power bank that could maybe also serve as a home generator. Which, sometimes, can start to feel like it’s defeating the point of getting off the grid at all.
The Anker 511 Portable Powerstation is the perfect middle ground for your power needs. It’s got enough juice that you’ll never have to worry about your phone charge, but not enough that you’re tempted to stream all of Gray’s Anatomy when you could be sitting around the campfire. It’s big enough to include some extras, like a flashlight (handy) and an AC outlet, which was a feature I didn’t even realize I’d want until I made it to camp.
But even with all that it’s still small enough that you won’t have to account for its size when fitting all your gear into your car. It would have been nice if the Anker 511 included a digital display that showed how much power it had left, rather than relying on a kicked-up version of the light bars of the smaller power banks, but it still provided the information I needed—that there was plenty of juice left in this bank for the rest of my trip.
Read Next: The Best Power Banks for Camping of 2023