When it comes to battery packs, there is one feature that is always sort of the holy grail that every brand wants to achieve. And that is being compact. The problem is clear, the more charge you want to carry, the bigger the pack has to be. That being said there are a couple of inventions out there that try to make the pack as small as possible while still outputting a decent amount of charge. One is the Anker PowerCore 5000, which is their ultra-compact battery pack under $20. We have come across another well known product and that is the iWalk linkpod, which is over $20. So the question for the price conscious shopper would be, is there anything about the iWalk that would make the extra price worth it? Let's do a comparison.
Below is the Anker PowerCore 5000. Currently going for $17.99 on Amazon and it has a 4.5 star score on over 29,000 ratings.
Next up is the iWalk LinkPod. The 4500 mAh version is currently going for $29.99 on Amazon and it has a 4.3 star score on over 26,000 ratings.
First thing worth mentioning is that we have a little bit of a yellow flag on the iWalk. When running it through Review Meta, they found that 43% of the ratings appeared unnatural. Now the score stayed the same at 4.3, so let's assume that the score itself is an accurate representation of the product, just on a lesser amount of ratings. The Anker on the other hand was only reading a 4% discrepancy in the reviews, which means the feedback is more reliable. That said, it did take a small drop in the score from 4.5 to 4.4. Which is fine because in the end it more or less confirms what we see with our two eyes that the feedback between the two products is more or less a wash. Neither product really has an edge.
Which brings us to the price. The difference of $12 is indeed pretty significant. For the person who really wants to watch what they spend, going with the Anker is a no brainer right? Well there is still a couple of things worth nothing. Namely the size. The iWalk is indeed smaller than the Anker. How much smaller? Well the iWalk comes in at 5.7 cubic inches. The Anker on the other hand is just about 7 cubic inches. Not the biggest different in the world, so as far as compact and portability the Anker is holding its own.
The only real factor that we can see that would make any real difference is that the iWalk does not need a cord. You can plug it directly into the phone while with the Anker you would need a cord. Expect when you think about it, that is a double edged sword. You would need the specific iWalk that is compatible with your phone. The one we featured in this case is one compatible for apple products. For androids you would need a different one. The Anker powercore though works with anything as long as you have the right cord.
In the end, we can't see anything about the iWalk that is so special it would be worth the extra $12. The Anker PowerCore for a product that is under $20 does an Amazing job and the results clearly show in the amount of sales it has.
NOTE: All price and review info is based on the time of posting. The numbers may have changed since the creation of this article. Don't forget to always research everything yourself before you buy it, don't just take our word for it. All links to Amazon on this page are part of the Associates program which gives us commissions, thanks for your support!