Summary: A very heavy duty backpack / book bag targeted to students, with much left to be desired in integration of the battery pack the sum of parts is less than the whole.I went on a week long vacation in Jamaica recently and after returning was going to be a lot more critical of this backpack / battery combo, but then after some thinking, concluded that I'm probably not the target customer. The person who would benefit most from this combination is using the backpack to lug their books and stuff to class or work on a daily basis.
The hook is that they've built in a 3000 mAH battery with cables to charge any portable devices to give you some extra life for phone calls when riding home on the train or sitting in a Starbucks flipping through your iPad. If you're getting on a long flight, this isn't going to do much at all for you. The external charge port means you plug in your backpack, rather than having to plug in a device and remember to put it in your backpack.
So what's my beef?
1) Far more of a cool looking consumer backpack than something functional. Adjustable sternum strap is nice, but they prioritized this over a hip strap? Mesh shoulder straps nice but the back part does NOT have mesh which means it really isn't going to be very comfortable for carrying for long at all. As a student daypack for books, that's fine, but I'd also want to be able to take it on a short hike now and then. Lots of padding and stiching which does nothing but make the bag heavier and bulkier.
2) Padded laptop compartment...isn't padded on the sides. They designed a really cool pocket for a laptop but the padding is ONLY on the large flat sides of the laptop, not on the sides and bottom where you really need it. FAIL.
3) Proprietary battery replacement / upgrade battery inserts cost several times more than compete external battery packs from other makers. Did Sony make this backpack?
4) There's a really nice slot for a tablet, but forget about charging it with the supplied cords they're too short and tied to the charging slot on the side you'll have to bring your own cord.
5) 3000 mAH is good for phones, MP3 players and the like, useless for tablets. (Also see complaint #4.)
6) Charger doesn't deliver. Plugging in my HP Touchpad I went from only 12% to 23% charge. Had it been able to deliver it's full 3000 mAH of electron goodness, it should have gone to 62%. BTW, this is less than the charge I was able to get from the 1000 mAH Belkin Portable Power Pack 1000 for Tablet, Smartphone, and more
7) Charging lights barely very visible. In the video you can very clearly see the blue status lights, however on mine, the white status lights shining through the heavy black nylon are *just* visible in side, and basically invisible outdoors.
To recap the backpack itself has some cool features but overall lacks the capability of offerings from companies like Case Logic, Jansport, Deuter,, etc. The battery pack performance is lacking and integration has limitations. I'd recommend getting a good backpack and separate battery pack.
Here are a few battery packs if you're just charging a phone, 2000-3000 mAH is fine, for a tablet, 5000-7000 is better.
Lenmar PPW66 PowerPort Wave 6600 Portable Battery and Charger for iPad/Tablets, Smartphones, and Other Devices
New Trent ifuel IMP500 5000mAh External Battery pack and Charger for Apple iPhone 4S 4 3Gs 3G (AT&T and verizon), iPod Touch (1G 2G 3G 4G 5G), Motorola Droid, HTC Android EVO, Blackberry, Samsung EPIC, Samsung Galaxy Tablet, Samsung Galaxy S and much more
PowerGen External Battery Pack 5200mAh High Capacity Power Bank Charger 1A output for Apple iPad 2, iPhone 4 4s 3Gs 3G, iPod Touch / Samsung Galaxy S S2 S II, Galaxy Nexus, Epic 4G / Blackberry Torch Bold Curve / HTC Sensation 4G, XE, XL, Thunderbolt, E...
The bag has 2 main pockets, one of which should accommodate any laptop (my 15 inch Macbook Pro fits easily) The other compartment has a zippered pouch which includes the removable rechargeable battery and pockets to hold an iPhone or iPod as well as a larger pocket for an iPad with a velcro closure with a hole in it to allow hookup for charging in the pocket. An iPad fits very snugly in the pocket any case on the iPad must be removed first. Also included are a couple pockets for pens and some small pockets which could accommodate credit cards. Any devices charged within the pack need to be hooked up to the USB port on the battery assembly with cables which you supply. There is also an outer pocket with the charging cables already run to it which can be used to charge an iPhone or other cell phone in the outer pocket. Included are Apple 30 pin, micro USB, and mini USB cables.
The battery itself is marked 7.4 V / 11.1 Wh (which I had assumed meant 11.1 watt-hours but I may be wrong on that) and can be removed and charged via the included charger or charged in place via the covered port on the back of the pack. That included charger is well designed with a flip out wall plug and case design to allow the cable to be wound around the unit. This is a very Apple-like touch which avoids messy loose cables.
The button on the back of the pack can be pressed momentarily to check charge state of the battery and must be pressed for 2 full seconds to start charging a device. Battery state is indicated by a series of LEDs which illuminate through the backpack material and when they are off are invisible.
Overall, I am very impressed with this backpack and would recommend it. With so many portable devices that we have needing to be re-charged, FUL came up with the idea of the Powerbag Back Pack, which combines a computer back pack with a removable/swappable built-in battery.
There is a regular USB 2.0 socket on the charger, located inside the front compartment, as well as three kinds of cables (micro USB, mini USB, and Apple 30-pin) that are pre-wired inside a zippered, small side pocket. The cables are not very long, probably designed that way to minimize entanglement. They are for charging small USB devices like cellphones, iPods, and MP3 players. The pocket is designed to hold them while they are being charged.
For larger devices like the Apple iPad or Amazon Kindle Fire, you should use the USB port and the appropriate, self-provided cable to charge them.
A proprietary 3000 mAh capacity rechargeable battery is provided with the Powerbag Back Pack. You can order additional batteries (@$40) at the maker's website (wwwdotpowerbagdotcom). There are also 6000 mAh ($50) and 9000 mAh ($60) batteries available. The battery can output a maximum current of 2.8 Amps, so you can charge an iPad which requires 2.1 Amps and another USB device at the same time. Theoretically, you can charge up to four devices at the same time, but charging time will be longer, because the charging current is shared by the devices.
What makes this bag special is the LED charging and battery state indicator embedded inside the fabric of the bag, and the battery power inlet on the bag that allows you to charge the built-in battery without taking the battery out of the bag. You can see what these look like by clicking customer pictures.
To begin charging a device, you first connect the devices to the appropriate cable, then press the power button on the front of the Powerbag for 2 seconds, until the LED's light up to indicate both the battery state and to commence charging. Pressing the power button again would turn off the charging process.
Of course you can also buy a USB battery charger and put it in a back pack to achieve the same function. What Powerbag does is giving you a more integrated and MUCH more convenient package. I also like the availability of additional and higher capacity battery packs that can extend the time I am away from AC power.The idea of the Powerbags is very neat, and I will agree with every positive review here on the great features of the bag, especially the integrated battery.
However, as a "rodwarrior" travelling in and out of airports all the time, I expect my backpacks to withstand "lots of torture".
All the benefits aside, this Powerbag has one very important weakness: the sides of the compartment on the back/spine of the backpack (where the laptop slides in), are just one layer of nylon providing no protection to the long-side-edges of the laptop whatsoever...Furthermore the seams between this nylon and the more robust "ballistic" nylon that cover the whole front and back facias of the backpack ripped in 2 months of use! My colleague mentioned that my laptop was protruding out the side of the bag in an airport as I was holding the backpack on one shoulder...little more and the laptop would have ripped through this tear and fallen/crashed on the terminal floor.
Until this issue is fixed, I don't even want the replacement backpack that Powerbag may be sending me. I cannot risk my equipment ripping & falling out of these bags.
Hope this helps. This is a great backpack, in its own right. It's quality construction and looks great. Maybe it could do with a little extra padding here or there, but for the most part, even without the battery integration, this would be a great backpack. It fits a laptop, but I think it's more suited to a tablet (since there is that battery).
The battery integration is done very well. It's easy to charge, and has been a great help with my battery eating HTC DROID INCREDIBLE 2 Android Phone (Verizon Wireless). I'm reminded of Ghostbusters where they had to carry their power packs around on their back... who would of think I needed to do that just for a little mobile phone? But that is indeed the case.
Personally, I felt the price to be high until I looked into the price of a normal backpack like Targus Drifter II Backpack for 16-Inch Laptop TSB238US (Black/Gray) and an external battery pack like PowerGen Black Mobile Juice Pack / External Battery Pack 2900mAh UltraSlim Power Bank Charger (with Built in Micro USB) for HTC Sensation 4G XE XL, EVO 3D, ThunderBolt, Inspire 4G, Sprint EVO, EVO Shift, Rezound / Motorola Arix, Triumph, Droid Razr X 3 .... It's actually quite fair, especially considering the convenience of the tight integration.
All in all, this really does stand out as a unique offering, and they did a great job!
[Update 2/6/2013] A new discovery about the bag: it also has a spot for you to plug in a USB cord if you have something exotic for which they don't have a standard connector. That's been REALLY helpful recently; a great feature! [End Update]
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