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Kickstarter project- "Voltus" battery + USB 3.0 hub for MacBook

C

cmagno

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 22, 2015
14
0
Portland, OR
Came across this TechCrunch article about a new Kickstarter project for our rMB's:

http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/19/voltus-gives-the-12-inch-macbook-a-battery-boost-two-new-usb-ports/

The combination battery + USB hub is pretty attractive and I'm considering backing the Pro model. I was thinking the battery would be nice for traveling, and I need a hub anyway so it would be nice to combine the two. It charges at the full 29W rate and does USB-C passthrough too. Has anyone backed it? Any thoughts?

Edit- here's the Kickstarter link- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/voltus/voltus-mobile-power-expansion-for-your-macbook/

A7hqx0v.jpg
 
Last edited:
bmclaurin said:
No, I don't think so. The Anker announcement was for a new line of USB-C adapters. No mention of an integrated battery pack.

http://9to5mac.com/2015/05/22/anker-usb-c-cables-lightning/
Click to expand...

Yes there is, check the 3rd tab on the Anker site.
The issue is that the build isn't very nice with Anker products and it only has one USB-C port, The voltus can be powered through USB-C while it's also powering the MacBook, I backed one :)
 
Nice!! I missed that in the announcement. Not sure what you mean by poor Anker build quality. I've had nothing but top notch stuff from them in the past.
 
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cmagno said:
Looks like the Anker products are just batteries- no integrated USB hub.
Click to expand...

- Could be. I just can't see the utility of having three USB-A ports to power three extra devices (in addition to the rMB). Which is why I'm guessing it's a hub.

And if you look at the short description: "Fast charging, high capacity portable chargers for USB-C devices". You could infer from that that they're not for charging USB-A devices. And then what would the USB-A ports be for if not for hub functionality?
 
cmagno said:
Looks like the Anker products are just batteries- no integrated USB hub.
Click to expand...
It's hard to tell, but based on the brief product description and photo, it appears you're right. And, as mentioned previously, unlike the Voltus, the Anker appears to only have a single USB-C port, so apparently no pass-through charging. The Voltus Pro looks like a great solution. I decided to back it, so we'll see. Thanks for posting this.

However, I do wish the Voltus was offered in even higher capacities than the Pro model, which is rated at 55 Wh. I currently have the Anker Astro E7 25600mAh 3-Port 4A battery pack, which equates to 128 Wh (about 133% more capacity than the Voltus Pro).
 
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Well, after running out of battery in the middle of a meeting today, I decided to back the Voltus Pro. Looking forward to trying it out!
 
I finally decided to back this one over the others. Simple design, but with what seems like good functionality.
 
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