Travel Essentials - Lewpow Moonstone

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I thought I'd practice making another blog post since our trip is tomorrow and I have only done a test.

I came across, what I believe to be, one of the best things to take on a trip: the Lepow Moonstone. My iPhone will absolutely come in handy when getting lost, taking pictures, and checking TripAdvisor since we'll be in a strange new place; however, it doesn' even come close to making it through a full day anymore. Almost everyone with a smartphone has heard about external chargers that can keep you connected while on the go, but finding an affordable, quality device isn't so easy.

Amazon is my go-to place for this type of thing anymore so searching for one, then sorting by 'customer review' is really all it took to find this. I didn't want anything that was too big and bulky since I'd be using it mainly for travelling. Balancing that with the need for it to be high capacity quickly narrowed the field. When it came right down to it, the Lepow Moonstone with 6,000mAh was the perfect choice for me. Too be honest, I can sometimes be...er...'thrifty', we'll call it. I figured I'd put off the purchase until closer to my next trip. That was until I saw they marked down the green ones to $19.99!

Ok, the green is definitely not my color. It's somewhere between Granny Smith apple green and Exorcist head-spinning scene green. The good thing is that it comes with a nice little gray wool case so I don't end up looking at it much. It has dual USB charging capabilities, one with a higher output (which is the one I always use). I think it's meant for something with a higher draw like an iPad, but I'm always looking for ways to save time.

I've used it a handful of times, but actually kept track of it with a full charge this last time. It does take a long time to get it to full capacity, but after that I ended up getting 323% worth of charges for my iPhone 5. The phone has a capacity of 1,440mAh so you'd think I would have gotten over 400% (only because I did the math do I know that), but two things came into play here. First, I was using my phone somewhat while it was charging. Second, I know of no battery charger having a 100% conversion rate; there is an inherent loss of some energy. The Lepow has a more efficient transfer rate than many, which is one of the reasons I ended up going with it.

So in conclusion, I have the posting thing under control now. Oh, and if you like a little extra juice while you're in the road...get a Moonstone.

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