Update: The Apple Watch Powerbank by Zens is now available at the Watch Store with free shipping!
Best List: Apple Watch Powerbank by Zens
Most external batteries for the Apple Watch are BYOC — Bring Your Own Cable — and have bulky winding systems for tucking the cable away.
Not the compact Apple Watch Powerbank from Zens, perhaps the most portable external battery pack on the market.
Hip to be square
Zens Apple Watch Powerbank is one of the only chargers with its own built-in magnetic power adapter. So no more tangle-prone charging cable.
Made by a Dutch startup called Zens, the Power Bank is small and portable. Available in either grey or white, it measures just over an inch cubed. It’s too bulky for skinny jeans, but is easily tucked into a bag or jacket pocket. It’s certainly the smallest, lightest battery pack we’ve come across.
Charge!
Charging is activated by a small button on the side. Four LEDs display the available juice. The Power Bank itself is charged via a microUSB port on the other side.
The Apple Watch charges when laid across the top, but the Power Bank works best if the watch band is closed around it. This keeps the watch firmly on the charger and allows it to be laid on its side for Nightstand mode.
The Power Bank features a 1,300 mAh battery, which Zens claims is good for up to three full charges. It’s only 500 mAh short of the Nomad Pod Pro, which is rated at 1,800 mAh and is much bulkier.
In testing, we got two-and-a-half charges using a 38mm Apple Watch, and two full charges with a 42mm Apple Watch, which has a slightly bigger battery. That’s plenty for short trips or a long weekend. I took it on a four–day camping trip and it kept my Apple Watch alive the whole time I was away.
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
Compact and convenient
The Powerbank offers passthrough charging, so it can be a full-time charging station. I have it on my desk at work. I charge my Apple Watch during the day, and it’s always charged up and ready for a trip.
The Powerbank is assembled from Apple-certified parts, so it’s not cheap. It costs an eyebrow-raising $49.99, which is kinda pricey for such a small accessory. However, it’s well-made and unlikely to burst into flames on your bedside table or a transatlantic flight. You’re paying for quality.
The Zens Powerbank is the most versatile and handy charger for the Apple Watch I’ve used. It’s the best travel charger I’ve come across so far.
Price: $49.99 with free shipping!
Buy from: Cult of Mac Watch Store
Check out the Cult of Mac Watch Store for a huge variety of curated straps, chargers and accessories for Apple Watch.
Zens provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See Cult of Mac’s reviews policy; and check out more stuff we recommend in our Best List reviews.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
One response to “Best List: Zens Power Bank is a great little Apple Watch battery [Review]”
Fifty bucks though.