Cheap Power Banks

Looking for a cheap power bank that is still good? You have come to the right place. Cheap power banks are aplenty in Malaysia. In fact, if you dropped by the pasar malam and most shopping malls, you are able to find cheap power banks available in abundant.

But the question is, are these cheap power banks actually good? This is the issue that we here at TechGarage hope to solve for you.

You see, with power banks, the adage, "cheap, not good and good not cheap" holds true. While we might feel that we could get a bargain while shopping in various pasar malam or Malls in Malaysia, there are consequences of purchasing a cheap power bank.

Be careful when buying a cheap power bank

1) Cheap Power Banks Don't Last

The reason why TechGarage got into power banks was because of our frustration with buying inferior power banks that stops working after a short while. And it is not because of some manufacturers' defect, rather due to low quality materials, the batteries rapidly degrade after a few charges.

And unlike branded goods like those found on TechGarage, the cheap power bank store might not be around anymore the next time you visit the mall or pasar malam to look for a refund. In comparison, Anker power banks on TechGarage comes with the official 18 months warranty from Anker; Yoobao power banks comes with 12 months official warranty as well.

2) Cheap Power Banks Don't Perform

Having sold a number of power banks for the last year, we've been getting a number of glowing testimonies from users that converted from their cheap power banks. Among the most common was that they found premium power banks like Anker and Yoobao, charged much faster than the cheap power bank that they have.

a) Quality Of Batteries

A number of things could be found in that statement. First and foremost, no matter how much we try to save on costs, there are different quality batteries. Cheaper battery, which makes up the raw materials for cheap power banks, usually have lower charge and could not last as many charges as a branded one.

b) Rejected Batteries

There is also the problem with rejected batteries which some unscrupulous manufacturers might use, which your dealer might or might not have known about. Rejected batteries can be a danger to your phone and to you personally.

c) Lower Grade Electronics

What makes a power bank really good, if the battery cells are comparable? The quality of electronics on board the power bank. With quality brands like Anker and Yoobao, you can be sure that much research, time and effort has gone into improving the quality of the power bank.

Quality electronics in good power banks also to ensure that the power bank does not over charge your phone, cutting short your battery life. If you have a removable battery, you can find this issue when your battery suddenly bloats like a balloon after charging.

d) Swapped Batteries

In some cases, on marketplaces like Lowyat, Lelong, shopping malls and pasar malam you might find the power bank manufacturer swapped out the battery with makeweights. This happens regularly with low end power banks as the cost of a power bank with swapped batteries is much lower than a quality power bank.

However, having swapped batteries means that the capacity of your power bank would be much lower than the stated capacity on the box.

e) Inflated Capacity

The biggest problem we have with cheap power banks are that most of the time the capacity is inflated. What do we mean by that? A browse through power banks on Lelong would show you power bank with a 50,000mAh capacity. However, many times the size and price of the power bank does not correlate with the capacity.

How do we know that? Simple, because we have bought some ourself and then found the power banks purchased from these sellers don't perform as we would like to. In short, we were conned before as consumers. And that is why we started bringing in quality, original brands with official distributors like Anker and Yoobao to TechGarage.

3) Cheap Power Banks Are Not Really Cheap

Is your cheap power bank really cheap? As in, do you really gain from the performance versus price? Many times, in a bid to save money, we tend to purchase something cheaper with hopes that it will perform as good, if not better than premium products.

However, if you need power banks that are reliable or if you need your smart phone to be available as you do not want to miss important calls, then what is the value of a power bank to you? After all, the power bank only serves a purpose to ensure that your smart phone stays alive at all times even more so at critical situations.

We have heard many cases whereby people get lost or stranded as their iPhone / smart phone runs out of battery. Imagine being lost in the middle of the night, in a place that you do not know the roads. Without a reliable power bank plus with the state of public phones in the country, it would be hard to find your way out.