myCharge Hub 6000 portable iPhone 5 and Android charger review
The myCharge Hub 6000 is a portable charging solution that includes the Apple iPhone 5’s Lightning Connector, along with a standard micro USB connector for most Android devices. I’ve been using the MyCharge line of chargers to make myself the battery life of the party ever since I got the myCharge Portable Power Bank 6000 over a year ago. Following that one, I reviewed and have been using the myCharge Peak 6000 portable power vault.
A combination of those two myCharge power banks and the Accell travel charger enabled my wife and I to remain in contact with the world, and also film my baby’s first minute on this planet. But I digress.
As with most of the myCharge portable power things, I have my likes and dislikes of the thing. I’ll get the dislikes out of the way up here – they’re few but worth noting.
myCharge Hub 6000 problems and dislikes
The first problem I have with this is something that the original Power Bank 6000 did not have. It’s not a defect, but it is an oversight in thinking about charging. If you have a phone that uses an iPhone 5 Lightning connector, perhaps you should be able to charge the phone with an iPhone 5 Lightning connector. On the original Power Bank, if you had a micro USB cable and a computer, you could charge it.
Having the ability to charge from what you charge is useful for people who want to charge off of a car adapter, or who want to have it inline like the original Power Bank could do. It made it incredibly easy to charge the charger in the car and just pop it out and continue charging your phone afterwards. It’s great for music festivals like Bonnaroo, where you’re not going to see an electrical outlet for a while.
The downside was it took forever to charge. The Peak 6000 added wall charging, which significantly sped up charge times and kept you from being tethered to yet another wire. The Hub 6000 follows the Peak’s lead, and the only way to charge it is a wall outlet.
There’s also this issue that’s gotten worse with each new myCharge product: It looks like you’re twisting your cords into a pretzel and not having a place to sit the phone on the charger. With the previous two, you could at least twist the cable around and sit a phone on top of the thing. The Hub 6000 is a bit sleeker, and the cables are tighter, so you end up with the phone at a 40 degree angle if you want to sit it on top of the charger.
One of the things I liked about the manufacturer’s other products was that each one had a power indicator that made sense with multiple lights indicating charging, as well as how much of a charge remained. This has one light. It looks like a battery. I guess it works, but I don’t know how much longer I have on a charge.
myCharge Hub 6000 improvements and likes
The last myCharge device I had, which is still in use, thought it would be cool to speak to you. “Charging Apple device” is useless, especially with no way to control the volume. Plugging it in was annoying if you didn’t want to wake anyone. The Hub 6000 returns to its non-speaking roots and continues to pack a good two or three solid charges of a phone into a run.
The new design seems to be more lint-resistant than the older models, as there’s nothing that’s exposed any more. With the previous versions everything was tucked away, but pocket lint still managed to permeate every connector. The only downside to this is it’s a little more difficult getting to the fold-out wall plug.
The profile is smaller than the previous units, feels lighter, and looks a lot like it was inspired by a circa 2006 silver tower Mac. It actually might be designed to go with the new HTC One’s silver body for that matter. It looks to me quite a bit like a perfect companion for either.
For me, it seems like a worthy product evolutionary step and a rather nifty little device. You can also plunk it down in almost any direction and it hits something rubber, not that dropping it is probably a good idea.
myCharge Hub 6000 specs
- 120 volt fold-out wall plug charging
- 1 x USB port for maximum compatibility / unknown devices
- 1 x Apple’s Lightning connector
- 1 x micro USB port for most Android devices
- 6000mAh internal rechargeable battery
How well does it work?
One of the most important questions to ask, is how many times will this charge my phone? I can’t answer that accurately, and neither can the manufacturer, but you can figure it out yourself.
You’ll need to know the mAh capacity of your phone. For example, the iPhone 5 has a 1,440 mAh battery – divide 6000 by 1440, and you’ve got 4.16, which would mean 4.16 charges in a perfect non-heat loss/energy conversion world.
I’ve been told a good rule of thumb is assume 75-80% of whatever number you get (in that case 4.16) and you can bet on that … so three charges.
HTC EVO 4G LTE owners would get about two and a half full charges. Your phone will vary depending on battery capacity and whether you’re charging while the phone is on and using juice, or off and not. Other factors include kernel level charge management, and aliens. So just bet on 75% and you should be fine.
But Paul, you’ve gone through two of these already…
Somewhat true. The Power Bank 6000 just left me, but that was due to a friend bending the micro USB connector to the point that it’s useless. That’s not a myCharge issue, and that charger went off to live with an iPhone family and is still going strong.
The Peak 6000 is still in active use – it still functions the same as day one, except I found the mute button. It seems to be used mostly by my wife and visitors who want to sit on the couch, charge their phones, and text people. So it’s pretty useful even in house.
So, both are going strong to this day, and did what I wanted them to do in the first place. My hope is the myCharge Hub 6000 will continue along in the footsteps of the previous product.
The myCharge hub 6000 has a MSRP of $99.99, and oddly is the same price on Amazon as well. According to the manufacturer’s site it’s available in 3000mAh, and 9000mAh varieties, as well.
As a note, I’m told that the myCharge Peak 6000 (my second charger from them) will be getting a $20 price slash off the original MSRP shortly. I’m guessing this is to make room for the Hub 6000. So if you’re more interested in that, it should soon be available for less from Best Buy, Amazon, and select retail partners at the reduced price.
