I had been looking for a new external battery pack for my phone. The battery on my Samsung Galaxy SIII is worn out after a year, and some of the apps I use are demanding more and more energy to run. When I was asked to take a look at the Neptor ET-NP056K-OR by Eagletech, it was a relief.
The Eagletech Neptor ET-NP056K-OR 5600mAh battery pack has many features, some that you just won’t find on other mobile device chargers. The best feature is the dual USB ports that allow you to charge two devices at a time. It also includes an LED light that turns on with two clicks. This feature has become much more handy than I originally thought, but I’ll get to that later.
First, let’s talk about practical uses for this device. I can get three full charges and more than a half fourth charge out of this with my GSIII. I go to a lot of conferences with other techies. At said conferences I use Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube uploads quite frequently. With heavy use in those situations, I can only get about 3-4 hours out of my battery.
Even if the venue has a way to charge, I’d be fighting for the wall plug or USB port with other attendees—not to mention I’d sometimes have to leave my phone unattended while it charged. I can get through any conference day with this charger, and have a full charge left when I hit the afterparties.
I am also a DJ. I love to have a portable music system available to me for different occasions, like the Slow Roll bike ride that happens on Mondays in Detroit. I keep a good library of mixtapes on my smartphone, and on a long bike ride, I can run out of battery before the end of it. For such occasions, I also have a USB powered speaker that attaches to my bike. With dual USB outputs, I can keep my smartphone and my speakers running for hours on end, without interruption. This might be one of my favorite uses for this product.
This device may have also saved my life. Hyperbole, perhaps, but at least allow me to explain. I am writing this review from my hotel room in Tromsø, Norway, in the Arctic Circle, where I’m on vacation. Yesterday I decided to summit a small mountain called Mount Fløya. I knew it would get dark out there, so I brought the Neptor along with me just in case. After I reached the summit and started my descent, I came close to a cliff. I realized that I was not going down the same way I came up. I used the bright LED light on the Neptor to trace my steps back to the summit, and then further traced my steps back down the mountain to my starting point.
This got me thinking, not only is this a great product to have for use with technology devices, it has its purposes in nature as well. I’m not sure how long the LED can last on a full charge, as I have yet to test that out, but the amount of energy the LED uses is really not that much compared to a smartphone. I’d love to have this with me in future survival situations. (Even if they are self-inflicted) Whenever I go out on an adventure, I always cache my Google Maps on my phone in case I can’t get a signal. With the cached maps and the Neptor charger, I could easily find my way to safety in almost any situation. It’s one of those extra features that may seem head-scratching at first, but when you need it, you appreciate it.
The Neptor NP056K battery pack runs about $50 and is available on Amazon or directly from EagleTech.
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