[Review] Anker Astro 3e, the new 10,000 mAh External Battery that’s under $50
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We know that a whole slew of you have purchased the original Anker Astro 3 battery pack. If offered a heck of a lot for a marginal charge. With all those additional adapters and accessories, it was hard to say no really. I know I have personally used mine more than I should probably admit. There is a new battery pack out now from the company behind the other batteries. Meet the Anker Astro 3e.
Similar to its brother, the Astro 3e is a portable power bank packing a whopping 10,000 mAh of power for your gadgets. It offers much of the same features and functionality that we have come to love from Anker. First off, what is in the box?
If you picked up an Astro 3, the first thing you will notice is a much smaller packaging. Inside you will find the slick black Astro 3e unit, an instruction manual a warranty card, a small bag of adapter tips and a small curly USB cord. They send you a total of 4 different tips to help charge the most common devices around. You will see a mini USB, a micro USB, one for iOS devices and one for other potential devices that might take a single round plug. It looks like a fairly common plug, but I don’t have anything to test it on. You also get a nice little bag to carry the adapters in. Makes it nice for traveling so you don’t lose anything on your trips.
The Astro 3e’s design is a lot better than the Astro 3 in our opinion. It is a lot slimmer, coming in at only 0.62 inches. Physical size, the Astro 3e is 5.59 inches tall by 2.83 inches wide. This fairly small package carriers 10,000 mAh of battery power and only weighs in at 0.529 pounds. The whole unit is a solid black and makes it look very slick and visually appealing.
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At the bottom front you have your power level check button. This lets you see at a glance how much power you have left in the Astro 3e thanks to the LED’s. To the left and the right are 2 LED rings. Making a total of four. On average you should be able to get nearly 6 full charges out of the battery pack before it is dead. This is all dependent on if you are using it while it is charging or if you have an extended battery. All four LEDs lit means it is charged between 7500 and 10000 mAh, Three is 5000 to 7500 mAh and so on. You could also think of it in 25% increments if that works out better. A great little feature is that the Astro 3e will automatically shut off after your device reaches 100% charge. No worries about plugging in your Galaxy S III when you hit the sack camping to find a dead battery pack and charged up phone.
Unlike the original Astro 3, the Astro 3e is more focused towards smartphones and MP3 players. It offers two USB ports near the bottom. One for Apple devices and one for Android. There is a difference in ports and the Amps each puts out.  Both will charge anything, but the Apple port is designed specifically to charge at the right amps for the fastest charge for those device. If you plug an iPhone into the Android side, it might take a little longer to charge and drain more battery over time. The manual states that some GPS units and Bluetooth headset won’t charge off this device though. This is due to the input currents that those types of device pull can be lower than 80mA. So the Astro 3e might just power down if enough power isn’t being pulled from it.
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To charge the Astro 3e, all you need is a micro USB cord. Of course you can use the one included, but they don’t send you with a power adapter for the wall. Not a huge deal since almost all of us have multiple wall outlets available from previous devices, current devices and from other accessories. You can always just plug it into your PC or Laptop and charge it up that way as well. The LED lights on the front will flash while it is charging to let you know where it is at as far as charge. That is to ensure you get it fully charged, but also so you know where you are at before you unplug it and head out.
Words and pictures do a pretty good job of illustrating what this looks like, but we thought a short little video comparing it in size and function to the original Astro 3e would be beneficial as well. So check it out.
We know a whole lot of you guys have picked up the original Astro 3, heck we tracked nearly 20 orders a month. At $59.99, those were a steal. The newer version is currently available for purchase and costs a little less. Coming in at just $43.99 right now. That is a pretty awesome price for this much power. If you need more power than that, Anker also has a special underway. The Anker Astro Christmas Family Gift. It offers the Astro 3e 10,000 mAh, Astro Black 5,600 mAh, Astro Slim White 3,200 mAh and Astro Mini Silver 2,600 mAh. That is a total of 21,400 mAh of pure battery powering awesomeness. That is roughly $150 in battery power for just $99.99. Pretty slick Christmas offer. They have a number of other product s on special for the holidays as well. You can find those on their website at ianker.com. If the Astro 3e or the family pack is all you are really after, then please use the links below and go get em ordered now.
 
 
 
