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Spending $20 or less on a portable charger sounds like a steal, until it dies faster than your phone
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So today, we're putting some of the internet's favorite cheap chargers to the test
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This is Value Verified, the series where we buy the most popular, best-reviewed, and aggressively cheap gadgets
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and figure out if they're actually worth your money. We grabbed a few of the top portable chargers under $20
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These are the ones that show up first on Amazon, have thousands of reviews, and at least a four-star overall rating
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Here's how we tested them. Every charger gets plugged into the same phone running at 100% brightness on 5G
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We tracked three things, and we'll go through the results one by one
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First, how long can all of these actually keep a phone at 100%
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This one tapped out after three hours and 11 minutes, which is not amazing compared to the others you'll see in just a moment
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But in its defense, this is the only one on the list with a 5,000 instead of 10,000 milliampere battery
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We wanted at least one MagSafe option on this list. At the middle of the pack, get it
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This one lasted five hours and 17 minutes, pretty much the average
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And this one, the best at five hours and 57 minutes. For context, this one has the highest quantity of ratings almost 80,000 people have reviewed with 80% giving 5-star ratings
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Before we move on, let's take a look at the results for all 5 in this first test
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Next, how long does it take each charger to go from 0 to 50% on a 65-watt charger
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We definitely appreciated the chargers with actual percentage readings for this one
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This one was the worst, which in this case is the longest amount of time, right
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1 hour and 44 minutes ended up being over 3.5 hours for a full recharge
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These three were pretty much all the same just a couple of minutes difference to 50 But then this recharged significantly faster 50 in just 46 minutes A full charge under an hour and a half
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Not too bad. Here's one more look at the results for the second test
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Finally, how long does it take each charger to take a dead iPhone to 100% charge? We ran this
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test in increments of 25, 50, and 100%. Gonna start with the loser here. No surprise, really
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it's the 5000 mAh battery. Respectable to 25 and 50%, but at 79%, it just had no more juice to give
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This was actually the slowest charger in every single increment, taking nearly 2 hours and 20
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minutes to fully juice the phone. But 44% left on the charger is interesting. The other three were
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not only the best, but pretty much the same with really just a few minutes difference at
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every marker. All also had about 40% left on the charger. So are portable chargers under $20
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actually worth it? Let's recap. Fast, lasts the longest, actually delivers. Amazon reviews did
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good on this one. Not fast, but reliable for a long charge, plus the integrated AC plug and
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cables are added convenience. Landed in the middle of pretty much every test, another integrated
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cable here is nice, another safe option. Basic is in the name and it's just that. Boring, even
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Results were solid, but you need your own cables. No display. Reliable, but no frills
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As far as MagSafe chargers go, this is probably the best you'll find for the price
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but don't expect it to be a real game changer when it comes to charging your phone
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Overall, all turned out to be better than expected for the price. Cheap tech isn't all bad
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but it can be inconsistent, and that's exactly what we're testing on Value Verified
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Tell me what you want us to test next. The more suspiciously cheap, the better
