Pros & Cons
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- Inexpensive.
- Attractive design.
- Large capacity.
- Supports USB-C, pass-through, and fast charging.
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- Bulky.
- Only works with certain cables.
- Included cable doesn't charge at USB-C speeds.
- No Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.
Monoprice Select Series Power Bank Specs
| Added Battery Life | 17 hours, 16 minutes |
| Capacity | 10000 |
| Dimensions | 5.4 by 2.4 by 0.9 inches |
| Fast Charging | Generic |
| Pass-Through Charging | |
| Voltage | 5V/2.4A |
| Weight | 9.3 |
| Wireless Charging |
The Monoprice Select Series Power Bank is a 10,000mAh backup battery with USB-C support. At just $24.99, it seems too good to be true—and it sort of is. For starters, the battery is quite hefty. That would be forgivable at this price if it worked well, but it comes with some other major caveats. The Power Bank only works with certain cables, and the included cable didn't actually charge at USB-C speeds in testing. If you want USB-C in your battery pack, the pricier Mophie Powerstation USB-C is a better bet.
Design and Features
The Select Series comes clad in attractive black and white plastic, with ridges at the top and bottom edges. An all-black version is also available. At 5.4 by 2.4 by 0.9 inches (HWD) and 9.3 ounces, it's significantly larger than the Anker PowerCore 10000 (3.9 by 2.5 by 0.9 inches, 7 ounces), coming closer in size to the Mophie Powerstation USB-C (5.2 by 2.7 by 0.9 inches, 7 ounces). It will fit in your bag or purse, but not your pocket.
Both ports are on the top. You have a standard USB port that lets you output at 5V/2.4A for fast charging. There's no support for Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 standard, so you won't see any added benefit for phones like the ZTE Axon 7. Next to it you'll find a USB-C port. Monoprice includes a USB-A-to-USB-C cable, which turns out to be the only one you can use with the battery—in testing, we discovered that all other USB-A-to-USB-C cables are incompatible, including ones from Google, Mophie, and ZTE. USB-C-to-USB-C cables, on the other hand, can be used.
More troublingly, the included cable doesn't work at USB-C speeds. It should be capable of charging at 5V/3A, but in testing it was only capable of pushing out 5V/1.3A, which is substantially slower. Using a USB-C-to-USB-C cable remedied this problem, but the include cable should work at top speeds.
On one side you'll find four blue LEDs and a power indicator button to help you keep track battery status. Charging starts automatically when you plug in a device into one of the ports. The LEDs blink when charging.
Performance and Conclusions
With its 10,000mAh cell, the Select Series can charge most phones to full three times over, with juice left to spare. The average tablet can be charged twice. In testing, it added 17 hours, 16 minutes to a Google Pixel XL streaming a full-screen video over LTE at maximum screen brightness. That's an hour less than the Powerstation USB-C (18 hours, 22 minutes), and several hours behind the Anker PowerCore (23 hours, 44 minutes), but it's still plenty of power to keep your devices charged on the go.
The Monoprice Select Series Power Bank gets you a high-capacity battery with USB-C compatibility for $10 less than our Editors' Choice, the Anker PowerCore (which doesn't support USB-C at all). That said, the Power Bank is rather bulky, and you need to make sure you have the correct cables if you want to actually take advantage of USB-C charging speeds. That makes the PowerCore a better option. If you need USB-C, you're better off paying the premium for the Mophie Powerstation.