Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are several reviews that complain of two faults with this external battery, and the reviewers downgrade it as a result. I have found that these issues are not really problems. 1st Reported Issue: The USB port doesn't work. Yes, it probably does - it just doesn't work automatically. Unlike the 12v,16v and 19v pin output which begins charging your device as soon as it is plugged in, the USB output port has to be turned on by pressing the front panel button on the battery. This can be confusing and I believe several people just decided the USB charge port didn't work when it didn't begin charging their USB devices. Just push the button and it will work. 2nd Reported Issue: The battery can be shorted making it useless I thought this too after I accidentally connected the input and output ports on the battery. It went dead immediately and nothing would get it to start. However, Anker support suggested I connect the battery to the wall charger. As soon as I did this the battery began working again. Connecting the battery to the wall charger resets it. So again, no problem. Neither of these tips are documented in the battery's instructions so I can understand how people would think the battery was defective when it was actually fine. I really like this external battery. It is easier to carry around than a wall charger and you can recharge almost every electronic device you own anywhere. It has a lot of capacity and once you know its two quirks it's foolproof to operate. Support from Anker has been great - they are very responsive. I would like to see Anker redesign the input and output ports so they are not so similar. it is very easy to confuse input and output since they are both pin plugs right next to each other. I ended up putting a piece of electrical tape over the input port just for safety.