I see your Haribo gummy bear battery and lift you a Pocket Rocket as a substitute

Last month, my colleague Liz Lopatto defined how a gummy bear battery financial institution was taking on the ultralight backpacking world. I’m speaking full-grown, outdoorsy adults nerding out about gummy bear merch beating the battery execs at their very own recreation!

Liz and I rapidly agreed: We ought to put it to the take a look at. Could the gummy bear firm actually have the most effective ultralight battery, and will I deliver some exhausting knowledge to show it?

I quickly discovered the gummy bear isn’t the one clear winner. If you’re on the lookout for the ultralight champ… it’s sophisticated.

The similar day Liz revealed her story, I secured three of the lightest “10,000mAh” batteries cash can purchase: the $25 Haribo gummy bear, the $65 Nitecore NB10000 Gen 3, and the $33 Iniu Pocket Rocket P50.

I readied the pair of pricy Mitutoyo calipers I’ve felt responsible about shopping for for months, an correct kitchen scale, and the Power-Z KM003C that lets me log a great deal of USB-C energy knowledge on to my pc. There can be no place for a mendacity gummy bear to cover.

Good factor, too, as a result of I rapidly noticed some deceptive specs.

Damned lies and specs

It’s not earth-shattering — each one in all these batteries is simply barely heavier, thicker, wider, or decrease capability than the advertising and marketing claims. Admittedly, I solely examined one in all every, not dozens or a whole lot, however a few of these variations are past my margin of error.

The Nitecore is certainly the lightest and smallest, however mine weighs 7 complete grams greater than Nitecore claims it ought to! The Haribo gummy bear is 2 millimeters thicker and weighs 1 gram greater than it advertises on Amazon, and 4 grams greater than it advertises in Japan. The Iniu is sort of 2 millimeters wider than marketed, in accordance with my measurements.

While all three batteries promote 10,000mAh of capability, they’re additionally a very good illustration of why “mAh” is a deceptive spec to start with, as you’ll discover that the Iniu has 36Wh, not 38.5Wh like its friends. (Watt-hours are the “real” measure of capability, as a result of amps can’t inform you capability with out volts, and the voltage of those batteries differs.) Even so, every of them consumed and delivered completely different quantities of cost in my take a look at. When I attempted to completely cost a Pixel 9 and a Galaxy S25 with every, logging knowledge the entire time, I noticed the Iniu switch round 31 watt-hours, the Haribo about 31.5 watt-hours, whereas the Nitecore transferred a complete 33.3 watt-hours that approach.

So: The Nitecore is the lightest, the smallest, and affords essentially the most electrical energy. Case closed? Not so quick — as a result of how are you going to cost your telephone and not using a cable?

Even although the Nitecore prices twice as a lot as its rivals, it doesn’t include a cable. The Haribo gummy bear is below $30 with a built-in cable, and the Iniu Pocket Rocket is simply over $30 with a light-weight removable cable on a detachable lanyard strap.

You may be pondering, “So, what about the price? As a backpacker, I’ll happily pay more for the lightest, most comfortable gear I can get, and I don’t need extra lanyards in my bag.”

But until you’re a backpacker who already owns extremely light-weight USB-C to USB-C cables, this implies the Nitecore and Iniu successfully weigh much more than the businesses declare. With the Iniu’s five-gram braided nylon cable and lanyard, it weighs 5.9oz (167g) in complete, not 5.6oz (160g). The Nitecore weighs the very same 5.9oz (167g) after I add the lightest and shortest 10-gram cable in my home, which appears honest on condition that Nitecore’s own lightweight cable, bought individually, weighs 10 grams as nicely.

And if you wish to cost the gummy bear battery whilst you’re out on the highway, you’ll want a second cable too. You can’t cost it with its built-in cable. That looks like an enormous oversight.

Overall, the Nitecore nonetheless affords barely extra power per gram than the gummy bear, assuming one cable per battery. But we’re speaking about 10 milliwatt hours per gram. And that’s if the Nitecore doesn’t overheat whenever you’re making an attempt to switch that power.

When I attempted to cost my Galaxy S25 twice with every of those batteries — the rationale I’d truly take them into the wild — I discovered the Nitecore would warmth up after which cease charging my telephone in the midst of its second cost of the day. As a end result, it delivered much less power than the gummy bear ultimately. I bought 1.72 expenses from the Haribo, however the Nitecore stopped at 1.42 expenses, after which gave me an additional 20 p.c (1.62 expenses in complete) after I plugged the telephone again in. To be clear, the overheating solely occurred when the Nitecore was working low on cost.

I don’t all the time hate the additional warmth. I suppose it may double as a pocket hotter within the wild — and talking of pockets, it’s the one one in all these batteries that’s slim and flat sufficient to fold in opposition to my telephone in a pocket with out producing an enormous bulge.

But the Haribo and Iniu didn’t overheat or pause whereas charging. Not even once I plugged the Iniu into my Steam Deck to make use of its personal distinctive function — the power to briefly present 45W of energy to a beefier gadget like a Steam Deck or light-weight laptop computer. I charged up my Steam Deck from 0 to 51 p.c that approach. It spent most of that point at a slower 30W, slightly than 45W, however the different batteries wouldn’t even start to cost gadgets that hefty.

I doubt the Haribo and Iniu are as sturdy because the Nitecore, with their eggshell plastic frames as a substitute of carbon fiber, and I respect the Nitecore’s bouncy rubber corners to guard in opposition to drops. It’s the one one of many three that claims IPX5 (learn: rain, splashes, small jets) water resistance, too. Overall, I definitely wouldn’t name the Nitecore a worse charger than the competitors; it’s simply costlier and has plenty of tiny tradeoffs.

At lower than half the worth, with extra dependable charging and a built-in cable, I’d most likely select the gummy bear as a substitute. And for only a few {dollars} extra, with a cable that lets it cost larger devices and be charged with no need a second twine, the Iniu Pocket Rocket is my choose. I purchased all three batteries with my very own cash, nevertheless it’s the one one I’m holding.