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Review: Mophie's Juice Pack Reserve & Power Reserve Offer Power in Small Packages

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Apr 12, 2001
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Back in September, Mophie launched two brand-new battery products, the Juice Pack Reserve, a $59.95 battery case for the iPhone 6 and 6s, and the Power Reserve 1X, a small $34.95 external battery for smartphones and wearables. I have been testing both for the past two weeks in regular daily use and at a wedding, an environment that tends to be more smartphone-intensive than a typical day.

mophie.jpg

Mophie says the Juice Pack Reserve is the most compact battery case it's ever created, adding just 0.3 inches of thickness and 75 grams of weight to the iPhone 6 or 6s. In my testing, I found that Mophie's claim that the case is in a form factor that "you'll barely notice" is mostly true, although with a caveat. Its soft-touch back provided a comfortable and easy-to-grasp grip despite feeling noticeably more dense. However, the case's lower lip, where the speaker grille resides and the case plugs into the iPhone, is far more noticeable and users not accustomed to the extra length will have to spend some time acclimating to it when scrolling or typing.

The case's extra mass was not a hindrance when attemtping to quickly capture moments at the wedding though, as it slipped in and out of tuxedo pockets fairly easily. In fact, the in-pocket feel of the case was barely noticeable in tuxedo pants, even during more intensive activites like dancing. The extra mass of the case is, however, more obvious visually. In more regular daily use, the case was even less of a hindrance.

mophie2.jpg

Mophie claims the Juice Pack Reserve will provide an additional 60 percent charge to an iPhone 6 or 6s, with the latter carrying a 1,840 mAh battery. This claim was actually conservative in my testing, with an iPhone 6, as I was able to consistently get a full charge from the case. For example, I was able to go from 10 percent to 100 perfect battery in just about two hours and six minutes and then 4 percent to 93 percent in about the same time.


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Article Link: Review: Mophie's Juice Pack Reserve & Power Reserve Offer Power in Small Packages
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/review/mophie-juice-pack-reserve-power-reserve/
MacRumors said:



Back in September, Mophie launched two brand-new battery products, the Juice Pack Reserve, a $59.95 battery case for the iPhone 6 and 6s, and the Power Reserve 1X, a small $34.95 external battery for smartphones and wearables. I have been testing both for the past two weeks in regular daily use and at a wedding, an environment that tends to be more smartphone-intensive than a typical day.

mophie.jpg

Mophie says the Juice Pack Reserve is the most compact battery case it's ever created, adding just 0.3 inches of thickness and 75 grams of weight to the iPhone 6 or 6s. In my testing, I found that Mophie's claim that the case is in a form factor that "you'll barely notice" is mostly true, although with a caveat. Its soft-touch back provided a comfortable and easy-to-grasp grip despite feeling noticeably more dense. However, the case's lower lip, where the speaker grille resides and the case plugs into the iPhone, is far more noticeable and users not accustomed to the extra length will have to spend some time acclimating to it when scrolling or typing.

The case's extra mass was not a hindrance when attemtping to quickly capture moments at the wedding though, as it slipped in and out of tuxedo pockets fairly easily. In fact, the in-pocket feel of the case was barely noticeable in tuxedo pants, even during more intensive activites like dancing. The extra mass of the case is, however, more obvious visually. In more regular daily use, the case was even less of a hindrance.

mophie2.jpg

Mophie claims the Juice Pack Reserve will provide an additional 60 percent charge to an iPhone 6 or 6s, with the latter carrying a 1,840 mAh battery. This claim was actually conservative in my testing, with an iPhone 6, as I was able to consistently get a full charge from the case. For example, I was able to go from 10 percent to 100 perfect battery in just about two hours and six minutes and then 4 percent to 93 percent in about the same time.


Click here to read more...

Article Link: Review: Mophie's Juice Pack Reserve & Power Reserve Offer Power in Small Packages
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I won't deal with micro USB ever again.

I MIGHT consider if it charged with USB C.


Design fail.
 
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http://www.amazon.com/Anker-Generation-High-Capacity-Fast-Charging-Techonology/dp/B00BQ5KHJW
anker is much better priced and lasts just as long.. i don't work for them, just better bang for the buck..
and is the same price. haven't we seen this before.. oh yea.. ALL OVER CHINA. had a mophie for awhile, then switched it for my business and travel - I can't afford to spend what they are charging.. get it? . . have an anker now and no problems.. also the mophie case makes my phone so thick.. i am surprised apple lets them get away with the size they make these things.- i thought it was a race to be thinnest.. this defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
 
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I think the careless people who forget to charge their phone for a day's use will also forget to even bring this thing along, let alone charge it. If you need a product like this you might be a smartphone addict. That's a much bigger problem.
 
iPhone 6S+... I get minimum 36 hours usage out of 1 charge without a need for a spare battery device. This is all day usage - games, phone, videos, email/sms. I never worry about running out of juice. Really pleased with the engineering Apple put into this phone.
 
I play a real-time augmented reality game called "Ingress"*, which has you go out and walk around to "capture" your neighborhood (plus, as far as you want to go - it covers the whole world). The game eats battery power, especially when you're out walking around for many hours. ALL of the folks who play for any length of time end up getting external batteries. Probably half the players use Anker batteries, they seem to be the most popular (though I've seen numerous other brands, often based on what Amazon has on discount at any given time). Out of hundreds of players I've met, I think _one_ person had a Mophie case. When folks ask for battery recommendations on the forums, Anker gets recommended all the time. Mophie never does. Yet it feels to me like MacRumors reviews every new Mophie battery, but very few others.

(For the folks wondering why people "aren't smart enough to remember to charge their phone overnight" - this type of use has people sometimes using their phone's full charge two or three times over in a single day. Can't exactly stop for an hour or two to recharge. So, we just plug in the external battery and continue to play while the phone is recharging. The game is making continual use of the CPU, GPU, GPS, cellular radio, screen, etc. - like I said, it eats batteries... but it's really fun.)

Currently you can get an "Anker PowerCore+ mini", about the same size as the "Mophie Power Reserve 1X", but containing a 3350mAh Panasonic Li-ion battery (vs. 2600?), from Amazon for $9.99. The Anker has an anodized aluminum cylindrical case and one battery-level LED (all their larger models have more), while the Mophie has a box-shaped soft-touch case (what are they using the extra space for? the battery inside is almost certainly the same size 18650 Li-ion cell), and four battery-level LEDs. They both have a check-the-battery button, a USB port for charging your phone/device, and a Micro-USB port for charging the battery itself. They both have circuitry for determining what kind of device is attached and delivering the fastest possible charge to it (this circuitry has been one of Anker's selling points for a long time, but it's the first time I've heard of Mophie using it). It feels like Mophie is venturing away from their battery/case/sled product line, and into Anker's territory (external plug-in batteries), and isn't doing as good a job. Oh, but they are charging three times as much. Hmm.

(FWIW, my personal favorite is an "Anker PowerCore+ 10050", with a bit over 10kmAh, in a little jogger's pouch on my belt - currently goes for about $33 on Amazon.)

*: ( Available for iOS and Android. Completely free, it only costs all your free time [and some of your data plan]. You can play as much or as little as you want, and it will help you learn interesting things about your neighborhood - parks you didn't know were there and such. Great for getting exercise, having fun, and meeting new people. if you try it, join the green team, we have more fun than the blue team. )
 
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I picked up the Anker PowerCore 10400 a couple months ago for $15 and really like it. It has dual USB charging ports and can charge an iPad at full speed. It's about enough to charge my iPad Air 2 once and my iPhone 6s twice, or only my iPhone 6s exactly six times. It's a little bulky but not big.

It easily fits in my small Incase Point and Shoot Field Bag—which is barely bigger than the iPad Air 2 itself. I can tote my Air 2, some accessories such as lightning cables, drawing stylus, headphones, adapters; my 4TB Raid 0 portable external drive (full Lightroom catalog), the PowerCore, and a point and shoot such as my Sony RX100 for casual shooting or a mirrorless camera. It's a nice little setup on the go!
 
Looks nice, but silly price to pay compared to what you can get off amazon for much less.
 
"Mophie claims the Juice Pack Reserve will provide an additional 60 percent charge to an iPhone 6 or 6s, with the latter carrying a 1,840 mAh battery. This claim was actually conservative in my testing, with an iPhone 6, as I was able to consistently get a full charge from the case. For example, I was able to go from 10 percent to 100 perfect battery in just about two hours and six minutes and then 4 percent to 93 percent in about the same time."

Was the battery empty after these charges or was it able to completely get you from 0-100 in let's say 2 and a half hours?
 
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