PowerAll Deluxe Review – Portable Power Bank

Thank goodness I had a PowerAll Deluxe portable power bank with me on my last 3 day hut trip, where conditions were constantly below -20 degrees.  Without this product the trip would have been a total disaster and possibly even unsafe. Below is a PowerAll Deluxe Review and my experience with it.

I knew things were going to be cold this trip and so I decided to pack the Powerall. That ended up being a good call because the battery pack was needed, 4 times, all in crucial situations. Just so you know, this is not a truck battery charger. That’s something different. The PowerAll will charge your electronics but for vehicles it’s main function is to boost.

Situation 1. Boosting truck in my own driveway.

Situation 1. Very first thing in the morning of the trip, I got out to start my truck and it won’t go. I was still at my house at this point, so resources were in quick supply, but nothing was easier than grabbing the PowerAll and putting the clamps on my battery nodes. The PowerAll is very small, Not much bigger than two iPhones stacked on top of each other and plugging in the boosters is simple and easy. I was skeptical that this little thing would boost my F250 5.4L Triton gas truck but it did. No problem. You don’t have to press any buttons or anything, it just works. It’s got 400 peak amps that can start big trucks. They also have a 600 amp version (Supreme) for diesels.

Realizing  that I might need this thing again I charged the PowerAll up. Remarkably, the truck boost only took one out of five lights off the charge rating. Within the time of me packing up the truck for the trip, the product was back to full power.

Midnight roop session about to commence. Cue completely frozen sled in the morning.

Situation 2. Sled electric start. Before I got to situation 2, I was having a blast in a midnight roop (playing around) session on my sled. We had a really good time and went until we couldn’t hold on to our handle bars anymore. But what this meant was that my snowmobile got really hot and then it froze in the almost -30 degree temps we had that night. When I got to my sled in the morning I knew I was in trouble. I’ve had an electric start on my sled for 2.5 years now and never had a problem but this situation was different. I could tell how cold the machine was just by looking at it. Sure enough my battery was dead and I couldn’t get it started.  I wasn’t sure if the PowerAll would work on my sled but it turns out that it did. As soon as I hooked it up: brrrrinnng, the sound of my engine turning over rang through the air.

Boosting the sled in the morning.

Situation 3. Rinse and repeat on situation 2 but a day later. I even removed my battery from my sled and kept it near the hut stove all night but when I put it back in the morning – not fun in cold – it wouldn’t start. I attached the PowerAll again and she started no problem.

Glad I didn’t miss this because my sled wouldn’t start.

While we were skiing these pillows the PowerAll was getting cold sitting outside.

Situation 4: After the problems with my sled, I knew my truck wasn’t going to start after sitting in that cold down a lonely forest service road for 3 days. My main concern was that there wouldn’t be enough juice left in the PowerAll. I tried to keep the PowerAll warm throughout the day but I wasn’t going to ski tour with it and so I left it alone, in my bag, in the cold for a good part of day 3. I was carrying some nervous energy when I got back to my truck. I had parked in some deep snow and getting my buddy’s truck close enough to boost mine was going to be a problem. But of course, the PowerAll was there for me. I just clipped it to my battery and started the truck up.

Not the best park job if you need a boost on your truck.

Summary: There’s a lot of companies out there with portable power solutions now, but the PowerAll is the first one we’ve encountered with as much versatility as this one. They say that it has 600% the battery life of your phone. It’s also got an 80 lumen light on it. On the downside, I did find the power button for the light cumbersome. It was a pain to switch on and off as it has to cycle through a blinking stage and the button isn’t awesome.  I also managed to brake one of the plastic arms of the battery clips on the trip, but to be fair, I broke a lot of plastic stuff on this trip because it was so cold including a side panel on my sled.

All I know is that I’ll never leave on another trip again with out the PowerAll. It kept me from being stranded in remote backcountry in frigid temps and that’s something I’m very grateful for. I’m also re-thinking the whole electric start sled thing but that’s a different gear review altogether…

Wanna buy a POWERALL? Contact Traci at Key Maintenance Technologies
Email: traci@kmt1.ca
Phone: 780-289-9626
Toll free: 866-437-7659