Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Stopped working after 8 weeks. This was a great charger while it lasted - it as monster capacity and will charge my iPhone 4 and my 3rd Generation iPad simultaneously. The first thing to fail was the flashlight - it stopped working in one week. The second thing was the 2.1A USB port - that one stopped working in 5 weeks (not able to return it). I only need this thing to charge 1 device at a time and the 2.4A USB port was still working well ---- until the 8th week when the port only charged a device if you wiggled and held it in a certain position. The unit can take and hold a charge, but with both USB ports not working, the unit is basically useless. Since I could not return it, I pried the unit apart (its not easy as its together so it can't be opened with tools) and what I suspected was that the USB ports are hard soldered to the PCB/PCM/BMS board and the solders break after certain number of stress cycles. I've seen the kits on eBay for making your own charging unit and I am very disappointed in the build quality of this unit. There is absolutely ZERO chance this unit will survive a long period of time if you use it frequently, as the charging board simply takes 100 percent of the torsional stresses you apply to your USB female plug. This lack of stress isolation of the board from the USB ports is a MAJOR DESIGN FLAW of this device and RAVPower could have easily solved this issue by either supporting the USB Ports in the case so they don't move at all (you can wiggle the port easily 1mm-2mm or more if you push your female USB charging cord end in any direction) or connecting the USB ports to the case and using flex wire to connect to the board. Just for you DIYers out there - here are the things I noted on the inside of the unit: Batteries: -5 Lithium 18650 batteries: Wrapped in light green plastic and 3 lines of characters on it - Line 1 - "ICR18650-30B Line 2 - "SAMSUNG SDI Line 3 - "2E94" -1 board with a sticker indicating a 10-2014 production date: Here are the symbols on the board - A No Lead symbol (looks like a circle with slash through it and the letters "PB" in it) - On one line the printed text: "E357278" - On one line the printed symbol of a backwards "RU" (combined as one symbol) and the text "97V-0 - On one line what looks like a symbol of a less than sign "<" and a "T" - On one line the number "1442" What's too bad is that this appears to be using decent components - all to be let down by the fact that the USB ports are left unsupported - think what happens when you bend a metal wire coat hanger to many times ----- it eventually breaks. Well, that's what's happening with the USB ports hard soldered to the board. Without support to ensure the NEVER move, it is impossible that these units can ever last long. It is only WHEN the USB ports will break their soldering points - not IF. I've scavenged the batteries from this unit and I soldered them to a cheap board I got on eBay - even used the case with a little dremel work on the front fact and using kneadable expoxy to ensure that USB ports can never move. So I got this thing working again for another 10 bucks. If I could take this unit apart easily, I would take I apart as soon as I got it and fill the case cavity with the board with kneadable epoxy (covering the holes in the USB plugs with cling wrap to keep them clear). RAVPower could make a durable unit with just a few changes ---- too bad they didn't. I would AVOID this unit like the plague due to the fatal design flow ----- THOSE USB PORTS WILL BREAK DOWN ON YOU ----- GUARANTEED. For those that have not had this happen, its just a matter of time ====================================================================== Updated April, 2015: I was contacted by RavPower Customer Support about my negative review and I explained to them in detail what I've stated here. I already scavenged the 5 superb Samsung batteries out of this unit and made a new charger from a kit I made bought on eBay (I originally reused the RavPower case, but I wanted something that did not look like I dremeled it together and the board I used did not fit as snugly in the case as I liked). RavPower asked me to send the charger back and I'd get a refund, but I told them that I threw the box and case away and I could not give back the batteries as I repurposed them already. Even with that, RavPower fully refunded my money AND send me a replacement charger for free. So I ended up with a new charger and the one I cobbled together from a DIY kit. I must say that I am totally blown away and impressed by RavPower's commitment to making this right. I've learned to be very careful with this unit and to not let the cord plug stress out the USB port - which will cause the unit's board to break its solders. If I am careful, I should be able to use this unit for a long time.