Flux Charger Plus review: UK price and availability
The Flux Charger Plus power bank costs $59.95, plus $9.50 to ship to the UK. That works out at $69.45, or £57.62. If you want to buy more than one shipping to the UK is free with orders over $75. Be warned that upon shipping the Flux Charger to the UK we were hit by Royal Mail with a customs bill for £17.76, which takes the total price up to around £75. And that is the only real downfall of the Flux Charger Plus: it’s incredibly expensive for a 10,000mAh power bank. But, if you have money to burn, it has a lot to offer. Also see: Best MiFi 2017.
Flux Charger review: Powering all the phones
Power banks are incredibly useful devices when your phone just won’t make it through the day, but the more power you carry the heavier and more cumbersome they become. We can’t quite believe the Flux Charger Plus on the desk in front of us has 10,000mAh of power – 2.5 times that of the standard Flux Card – and yet it’s just 135x70x12.8mm and 210g. By comparison the 4,000mAh Flux Card is 108×62.8×7.8mm and 88g. It will charge your phone once (or twice if it’s an iPhone), whereas this beast can handle three- (Android) or four (iPhone) charges. It’s not just the slim body and relatively light weight that makes the Flux Charger Plus an appealing travelling companion, though. Just like the original it builds in cables for Lightning and Micro-USB that slot into the corners out of the way. This means the only time you’ll need an additional cable is when you’re back home and wanting to refill its battery. Also see: How to charge your phone’s battery faster. Or, of course, if you want to charge a USB-C phone, tablet or laptop. To this end Flux has added two full-size USB outputs to which you can attach any cable you like; previously the Flux Charger was unable to accommodate USB-C devices or those with proprietary connectors. Most power banks with built-in cables require you to choose a connection type before you buy, so something we love about the Flux is that it will cater to anyone. Want to move from iPhone to Android or vice versa? You can take Flux with you. The maximum output of the device and the speed of its ports hasn’t changed, so you still get a 2.1A (10.5W) Micro-USB output and 1A (7.5W) Lightning output. If you want to use the two USB outputs at the same time then note that each output will run slower, with the exact speed dependent on what you’ve plugged in (Flux uses clever technology to recognise your device and deliver the optimum charge). One day we hope to see Quick Charge support or a higher maximum output on Flux chargers, but no-one is going to find its 10.5W output slow. Also see: What is Quick Charge? We’re pleased to see the feature set also remains the same, with auto-on and passthrough charging – the latter allows you to charge the power bank at the same time as any connected devices to save time and available plug sockets. This will be of particular necessity given that the 1.5A (7.5W) Micro-USB input also remains the same speed, so the Flux Charger Plus will take significantly longer to charge than the original Flux Card. You’ll probably want to leave it plugged in overnight. The Flux Charger Plus design is very much like that of the Flux Card, a rectangular device with a tough aluminium frame that comes in black or white. Slim and shaped like a phone, it will easily slips into a pocket or bag. Four blue LEDs are activated with a press of the button on the side to show you how much power remains. Of course, the jump between each LED is much more significant here at 2,500mAh against the standard version’s 1,000mAh. It’s fine at 10,000mAh, but when the capacity gets higher than this an LCD can prove more useful for letting you know exactly what’s what. Also see: How to improve smartphone battery life. For the Plus model Flux has added a rubbery soft-touch surface to the top and bottom of the power bank, and it now feels like a premium device that will withstand any number of knocks and scrapes. Read next: Best desktop chargers Marie is Editor in Chief of Tech Advisor and Macworld. A Journalism graduate from the London College of Printing, she’s worked in tech media for more than 17 years, managing our English language, French and Spanish consumer editorial teams and leading on content strategy through Foundry’s transition from print, to digital, to online - and beyond.
