realme Power Bank 2 Review: Affordable, Safe, High-Capacity

My electronic money payment won’t go through because my battery is dead…

I forgot to charge my earphones…

A power bank can solve these kinds of problems. It has now become an essential item for modern life.

While we call them power banks, there are many types—from small, portable models to those that offer rapid charging. They each have their own unique characteristics, including differences in charging speed, capacity, and other features.

The “realme Power Bank 2” that we are introducing today offers a large 20000mAh capacity for just 2,980 yen. If you carry this one device, you will never have to worry about running out of charge in your daily life!

In this article, I will summarize the important points for choosing a power bank, provide background on the brand, and explain who this product is recommended for.

Basic Information on the realme Power Bank 2

What kind of company is realme?

“realme” was originally OPPO‘s sub-brand targeting younger generations. Now independent from OPPO, they primarily sell smartphones and IoT products aimed at young people in emerging markets.

Data source (September 2022)
https://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/worldwide

The pie chart above shows global smartphone market share (as of September 2022). realme boasts a 7th place global market share and is highly regarded worldwide.

They only entered the Japanese market in April 2021 and are still relatively new here. They do not sell their flagship smartphones in Japan, focusing instead on IoT products such as smartwatches and earphones.

Specs

Battery Capacity	20000mAh	Colors	Yellow/Black
Input	18W	Dimensions	Approx.  150mm×72mm×27.5mm
Output	18W	Weight	Approx. 495g
Number of output ports	3 (USB-C×1/USB-A×2)	Actual weight	427.7g (Measured by this site)

Input (USB-C)	5V 3.0A (Max) 9V 2.0A (Max) 12V 1.5A (Max)
Output Single port (USB-C)	5V 3.1A (Max) 9V 2.0A (Max) 12V 1.5A (Max)
Output Single port (USB-A)	5V 3.1A (Max) 9V 2.0A (Max) 12V 1.5A (Max)
Output Multi-port	5V 3.1A (Max)
Fast charging standards	USB-PD/QC/PE/AFC

Additionally, it features a low-current mode for IoT products like the wireless earphones and wearable devices offered by realme.

Keep these points in mind to choose a battery that fits your goals and usage.

Keeping these points in mind, here are the features of the “realme Power Bank 2”:

Also, there was a discrepancy of about 70g between the actual weight and the official spec value.

The actual weight of the “realme Power Bank 2” was 427.7g. Honestly, even this is quite heavy.

The phone in the photo is the nostalgic iPhone 6s. In terms of size, it feels about the same as or larger than recent smartphones.

Included items

The manual was fully provided in Japanese.

The cable is not a standard Type-C cable, but a 2-in-1 cable that can also be used with MicroUSB Type-B.

Since many devices like earphones still use MicroUSB Type-B, this is a thoughtful touch typical of realme, considering the charging needs of their IoT products!

Appearance

Sometimes when you buy cheap power banks on Amazon, they are illegal and do not have the PSE mark, but this “realme Power Bank 2” certainly has the PSE mark.

Actual Usage Experience

Super high capacity and 3 ports make this one device fully satisfying

The “realme Power Bank 2” has a super high capacity of 20000mAh and 3 ports, so this one device will basically solve your worries about running out of charge during the day!

For reference, the iPhone 14 Pro is 3200mAh, so just looking at the capacity, the “realme Power Bank 2” has about 6 times the capacity. Although the battery capacity is about 6 times larger, losses occur when converting voltage during power delivery. Therefore, in reality, you can only deliver about 60-70% of the rated battery capacity. For the iPhone 14 Pro, that’s roughly 4 full charges. However, this occurs not just with the “realme Power Bank 2,” but with any battery.

Since it can charge three devices at the same time, it becomes possible to charge, for example, your wireless earphones, smartphone, and tablet simultaneously!

Reliable safety design and circuit protection

You can see that it has various protection features! I have never seen a power bank with 14 types of protection features.

As I mentioned earlier, not only does it have the PSE mark, but realme is a brand with the 7th largest global smartphone market share, so its reliability is different from brands you’ve never heard of.

Power banks carry the risk of exploding or catching fire. Personally, I think it is better to choose a reliable brand for anything with a battery, not just power banks.

Low-power mode to prevent battery degradation

If you read manuals carefully, it is usually written that wearable devices like earphones and smartwatches prefer charging at low power, such as 5V/1A.

This feature protects the batteries of such devices from degradation. It’s easy to use: you can switch to low-current mode simply by pressing the power button twice.

However, note that it only lasts for a maximum of 2 hours, so caution is required.

Maximum output is a modest 18W

It is reasonably fast for charging smartphones, tablets, and other IoT products, but it feels underpowered for charging laptops.

It supports fast charging standards including USB-PD/QC/PE/AFC. Personally, support for QC and PD is sufficient, but if you are concerned about other standards, please check carefully.

It’s big and heavy, so for portability…

As I mentioned earlier, this power bank is honestly heavy and big. As shown in the image above, it weighs over 400g, roughly the weight of a commercial bottle of water, and it is as big as a recent smartphone.

There are lighter power banks that are 10000mAh and around 180g, and it feels a bit questionable whether a power bank over 400g can be carried around easily.

This depends on how you use it, and it feels like having a full bottle of water in your bag at all times, so I think people will be clearly divided between those who care and those who don’t. Portability is a trade-off with performance and safety…

Summary

The incredibly cheap realme Power Bank 2 is a must-buy

What did you think? At the time of writing, it is 2,980 yen, which is very cheap, yet it is truly surprising that it has such large capacity, high performance, and high safety.

When buying on Amazon, you can select Amazon.co.jp as the seller rather than a marketplace seller, which reduces the possibility of having to deal with malicious sellers.

There are power banks from obscure manufacturers in the same price range and with the same capacity, but when considering safety, as well as comparing fine features and performance, there is likely no power bank that can beat this “realme Power Bank 2.”

If you want to buy a power bank that is high-capacity and usable within a limited budget, this is the one to choose.

Recommended for these people

Thank you for reading until the end!

• Product prices and information are current as of the time the article was written.
• Please note that this site cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in this information.

This article was originally written in Japanese and has been translated.