I thought today I’d do a review post, since I’m still working on my next Wilson blog (he went out last night and had a BLAST!).

So, today, I want to tell you about what I call my Juicebox. It is the most important travel accessory I own.

I bet you thought I was talking about this, huh?

But no. What I am talking about is this:

This is the Anker Astro 15000 mAh external battery pack with dual USB ports for charging most (if not all) of the electronic devices you might carry around with you. That there’s a handy link to the item on Amazon which will tell you all the detailed specs about it. If you want something that gives you multiple charges, make sure to get the 15000 mAh and not something smaller.

I got this a while back because I was forever running out of batteries on my phone and my iPad when traveling or out and about. So I got this little bad boy to keep in my purse and laptop bag to keep all my devices charged. Pretty much anything I have that charges with some sort of USB-based cable can be charged with it.

In size, it’s about the same length as my iPhone 5, but about 3/4″ thick and a little wider than my iPhone. It’s pretty heavy too, so be aware of that.

It has two USB ports on the top, a 2A and a 1A. I am not sure exactly what that means but it appears to be a difference between the power put out of the socket. Everything I can find online seems to indicate that something plugged into the 2A port will charge faster than one plugged into the 1A port. However, if you have a smaller item that you don’t want to overcharge, maybe you use the 1A instead of the 2A. I use the 2A for my iPad or iPhone and the 1A for my bluetooth headset. I also use it to charge my electronic cigarette battery, video camera, regular camera, pretty much anything that plugs in via a USB port.

The other cool thing about it is that it has a flashlight! Click the silver power button two times, and you get a handy LED flashlight. Click it twice again to turn the light off.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used that light to find something in my purse. Also comes in handy for looking at the karaoke song list in a dark bar. Just throwing that out there.

My friends love that I carry this too because as long as they have their charge cables with them, I can charge them up if they get low on batteries. Because who wants to leave an evening out early because you’ve taken so many selfies that your batteries are dead?

Positives: it’s durable, fairly compact, and will charge my iPhone 6 or 7 times (to a full charge) and keep my iPad alive long enough for a plane ride, and almost fully charge my iPad if I don’t use it while it’s charging. It charges my electronic cigarettes and Bluetooth headset up many many times each. In operation it’s pretty simple, press and hold the silver button to turn it on and off. It will automatically turn off when either the attached devices are fully charged or it’s not being used. It charges via a USB cable that you can plug into the wall or a computer/USB port, and it comes with a wall adapter that is pretty handy for when you don’t have a USB port to charge it from. I’ve also used it as a sort of extra USB – I plug it into the wall, then plug 2 devices into it to charge overnight. It charges, and it charges them too!

Negatives: The only negatives I can say about it is that it’s a little heavy – so carrying it in my purse it ends up being a little heavier than normal and means I can’t take just my little wristlet purse as often. Also sometimes the flashlight will get accidentally turned on while still in my purse which can drain the battery.

Right now, it’s selling on Amazon for $40 which is a great deal, I got mine for $60 or $80, I can’t remember which. And it’s on Prime! And it also comes in black if you’re not an Apple-phile like myself.

If you’ve ever run out of phone batteries while out and about, consider getting something like this. Pretty sure you won’t regret it!