Just last week in the middle of the night we had a train derailment about a block up the road from my house which took out the power for a day. While I had a few lights I could run, I let all of my UPS’s run down not knowing it would be a long outage. I ended up being not prepared at all to keep my mobile devices charged up. I ran my phone down not being able to sleep watching videos so in the morning without power I couldn’t charge it. I was able to charge it in the car as well as my drone which even with three batteries was also completely dead. But it left me wondering what I could do differently. The typical USB battery backup is nice but I’m the worst at keeping them plugged in. I came across an option from Anker that I thought might help me though, their 733 Power Bank (GaNPrime PowerCore 65W). It is essentially a three-port 65-watt USB adapter but with a battery built in as well and the idea for me at least is that I would keep it plugged in using it as a charger and have something fully charged and ready to go if the power goes out. Today I’m going to check it out and see if it will fit the bill, so let's dive in!
Product Name: Anker 733 Power Bank (GaNPrime PowerCore 65W)
Review Sample Provided by: Anker
Written by: Wes Compton
Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE
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Specifications |
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Specifications |
Specifications |
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Number of USB-C Ports |
2 USB-C Ports |
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Number of USB-A Ports |
1 USB-A Ports |
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Number of Outputs |
3 |
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Battery Capacity |
10,000mAh |
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Dimensions |
4.36 × 2.48 × 1.22 in / 110.8 × 63 × 31 mm |
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Weight |
11.29 oz / 320 g |
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Inside the Box |
Power Bank Type-C Cable Documentation |
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Warranty |
24 Month |
Photos and Features
The packaging for the 733 Power bank has the same dark grey to white fade that other Anker GaNPrime lineup products have had. This features a picture of the charger and battery combo in the middle with the model name right below the picture. Up top, you have the Anker model name and the series number which just lets us know where this fits in the Anker lineup. Down at the bottom, they let you know that Apple and Samsung devices are both supported which is good and it tells you that this is a 2 in 1 charger and power bank with a battery capacity of 10,000mAh and it uses Ankers PowerIQ 3.0 tech for the charger. The back has the GaNPrime branding again which also breaks down what makes it a GaNPrime device. As the name indicates the charger uses gallium nitride rather than silicon on both the AC and DC sides which improves efficiency, the stacked design keeps things compact, Active Shield 2.0 monitors temperatures to keep things safe, and then PowerIQ handles power distribution and support for fast charging on devices.
When you open the box up the 733 comes sitting right up on top in a formed tray keeping it from moving around. Then under that tray, they have the accessories and documentation.
So like with other Anker battery packs the 733 comes with a nice carrying pouch and a USB cable as well. But I did find this interesting because this isn’t like a standard battery pack that would be packed up most of the time and it has its own built-in AC/DC charger so the Type-C cable may seem like an unusual one but there is a reason they included it that I will cover. Plus you can never have too many Type-C cables around so I won’t complain. For documentation, everything comes in a small plastic pouch. You get a quick start guide and then a second small booklet with legal warnings in it.
The 733 Power Bank does follow the same styling that other GaNPrime products have had as well with its black finish and dark grey accents. This includes the Anker branding which is in black or a dark grey on the grey and the GaNPrime branding which is black on black. In the past, most Anker products have been white but with this look and with some lineups they have colors as well that have changed. The 733 looks great though.
The front of the Power Bank has the three USB plugs down in the bottom half. There are two Type-C connections at the top and then one Type-A at the bottom. With new phones and a lot of laptops and other devices using Type-C this configuration makes sense and having the Type-A still is nice because you never know what you might need to plug in. The top plug is listed as C1 and has a laptop icon to let you know that this is the one they would prefer you to use for your higher-wattage laptop charging. PowerIQ will favor this port when charging. This is also an in and out port which surprised me, using the included Type-C cable you can charge the power bank built into the 733 through this port if for some reason you don’t have a power outlet around. The second Type-C plug is just an out and the Type-A below that doesn’t say. Then up top the 733 has just one button. This has four pinhole LEDs built in to show the charging status. This also can activate trickle charge mode for charging earbuds and other small devices. This lowers the charging speed down to 7 watts and also disabled the auto-off which will prevent these small devices from getting a charge above 80%.
The Anker 733 Power Bank is 4.36 inches tall, 2.48 inches from the front to the back, and 1.22 inch thick, or if you prefer 110.8 mm tall, 63 mm wide, and 31 mm thick. Beyond the branding on the sides, there isn’t anything going on there at all but the back does have a few things. This is where Anker has hidden all of the model information and the required certification logos. It is also where the 733 can plug in. The back has a two prong flip out plug for AC power which only works for the US, any other plug design wouldn’t be as compact. This flip-out design is what makes this a 2 in 1 design, the 733 is a battery bank or pack but it is also your standard GaNPrime 65-watt capable AC to DC USB charger.
Performance
For testing, I swapped the Anker 733 Power Bank out with my standard charging adapter and have been using it to charge all of my devices. This includes my Samsung S21 Ultra, Razer Blade Stealth laptop, and anything else around my desk. Unlike with the 727 Charging Station that I previously took a look at from Anker which wouldn’t charge my phone in its fastest charging mode, I didn’t have that problem with the 733 Power Bank. This is huge for me because my phone is of course what I use and charge the most. Using a 100-watt capable USB Type-C charging cable with a power meter built-in I did some testing with the 733 both with it plugged in and then also unplugged to test out the battery pack as well.
With the 733 plugged in the Samsung S21 Ultra charged at 24-26 watts. Switching over to my laptop it pulled even more at 51-53 watts showing that the 733 which is rated at 65 watts is capable of charging at that rate. This of course was with the 733 plugged in and just one device.
From there I unplugged it and redid those same tests. The S21 Ultra charged at the same 26 watts which is good. But when on battery power the Razer Blade Stealth struggled. It peaked at 30 watts but my laptop itself seemed to struggle to know if the charging source was enough to power things. The laptop would dim the screen in power saving mode and then come out of it, going back and forth. Most of the time pulling just 10 watts. This was still enough to keep charging it, but not ideal if you are trying to charge and use the laptop at the same time. The reason for the lower wattage when on battery is because the 733 Power Bank is 65-watt capable only when plugged in, on battery, it is limited to 30 watts. This is more than enough for charging most devices including my phone which charged at its fastest rate, but for my laptop which can pull more, it struggled. This is most likely a limitation of the power that the batteries can output and will be a downside for some people, in my specific case I’m not as worried about charging my laptop. But having a little more capability would be nice to help cover a portable device like the Steam Deck. 30 watts is enough to handle your phone, Nintendo Switch, and most other smaller devices though.
From there I did dive into checking out how the 733 handles more than one device being plugged in. But before covering how that worked I should run through what Anker has listed as its capabilities. For single port charging when plugged into a wall either Type-C plug can handle 65 watts and the type-A connection is capable of 22.5 watts. Switching to battery power drops the Type-Cs down to 30 watts and the A stays at 22.5 watts. When plugging in two devices you can see that they have ports tied in together sharing power. So when plugged in if you use the top Type-C connection and the bottom Type-A you can get 45 watts from the C and 20 watts from the A the same goes for if you use both Type-C plugs. But using the middle Type-C and the Type-A is only capable of 15 watts on either. On battery power no matter the combination you are limited to 15 watts for each port. Anker’s 3 port charging picture is a little more confusing because this just shows that when plugged in you get 65 watts total or 15 watts total when on battery. This just means that the power will be divided across the three devices plugged in.
So how did testing charging multiple devices at once go? Well, when plugged in and having my laptop and phone both plugged in charging went well. My laptop pulled 31 watts while my phone would charge in “fast charging” mode which isn’t the faster “super fast charging” mode which means it was charging at up to 15 watts, not the 25 that I would normally see. Unplugging the 733 to try to charge both devices on battery on the other hand caused a mess. With this setup which was using the two Type-C connections, neither device would charge. The charger went into a reboot loop over and over. Closing my laptop did help though. When running my laptop was demanding more power than the 733 would put out. But when the laptop was closed it would at least work. Of course, the 733 can only output 15 watts in that situation so power was limited and I was seeing 15 watts total across both devices, not per device as the Anker website implied. Unplugging my laptop also didn’t increase the charge speed until after I also unplugged the phone so keep that in mind as well.
As far as battery capacity goes the 733 Power Bank has 10,000mAh in total capacity. You can look at your device battery capacities to get an idea of how much this can potentially help you. For example, my S21 Ultra has a 5500 mAh capacity, so I would get just under two full charges from the 733 before it would need recharging. The standard iPhone 14 is rated at 3279 mAh and the iPhone 14 Pro Max is 4323 mAh so you would get three charges on the standard iPhone and two on the Pro Max. The Nintendo Switch is 3570 mAh so almost three charges for it as well. Laptops, even the smallest on the other hand will get you at most one charge and often less than one. This shows once again that the 733 Power Bank is great for charging them when plugged in but is still best for your phone and other devices on battery. The front of the 733 does have a battery indicator with the small pinhole LEDs on the front button that will show capacity in 1/4s. You can also use this button to put the device in trickle charge mode, which will turn on a green LED and limits charging rates to 7 watts no matter what. This is good for charging things like earbuds that will sometimes only charge to 80% without this mode.
Overall and Final Verdict
With the one exception being the Anker 727 Charging Station that I tested previously, Ankers charging options have been my go-to for recommendations and for my own use. Especially with their GaNPrime lineup adding in much higher wattages opening up their charges to not only fast-charging phones and other devices but also laptops with USB Type-C power connections. The 733 Power Bank is no different in that aspect with its 65-watt capabilities, it had no trouble when plugged in charging anything I plugged in including my laptop. That in itself is great, but where the 733 stands out is that it also combines a portable power bank into its design. So you can use it to charge all of your devices and at the same time just being plugged in will keep the built-in 10,000 mAh battery will stay charged. For me, that is the big feature because I’m the worst when it comes to keeping any battery-powered device charged up. I was reminded of this when we had a day-long power outage and after letting both of my UPSs discharge thinking it would be a quick power outage I was left with a nearly dead phone, laptop, completely dead drone, and a battery power bank that was also dead. Thankfully I did have my car to charge things back up, but if I had the 733 Power Bank in the mix as a charger I wouldn’t have had to worry about that, at least for my phone.
That last distinction is important though because while the Anker 733 has been great it does have a few big limitations that when it comes to on battery usage it isn’t ideal for laptop use. When running unplugged and on battery power, there are big limitations on the wattage it can output, specifically 30 watts to one device, or when using more than one device you are limited to 15 watts in total. That is fine for charging a phone or two at the same time but won’t be enough to power a laptop. The other big one is its 10,000 mAh capacity which is enough to get two or three full charges on a phone but isn’t enough for one charge on a lot of laptops. None of that is too big of a deal as long as you know it going in and for me, it’s still perfect. I can use it to charge my laptop when needed but when the power is out or if you are traveling I only really care about keeping my phone or potentially a gaming device like the switch charged and the 733 can handle those.
For pricing, none of the higher wattage capable USB adapters are cheap and the Anker 733 Power Bank is no exception there. The 733 Power Bank has an MSRP of $99.99. For comparison, the Anker 735 Charger which has the same three-port layout and 65-watt capacity has an MSRP of $59.99 (but is on sale for a great deal of 438.41 right now, check it out!) and you get the 10,000 mAh battery pack on top of that. The 733, like the 735 is also on sale right now as well on Amazon where you can get $30 off with a coupon. Which with the coupon makes this a good pickup for anyone who might need a charger and battery pack for traveling or like me for a little protection from power outages.
Live Pricing: HERE
