CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W Quick Review — getting the balance just right?

CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W

7.8

The CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W is an excellent power bank for use with both laptops and smartphones, although maybe not simultaneously.

What's Good?

• Nice combination of anti-slip and matte finishes
• Good output split
• Comes with a 6A cable and pouch
• Charges rather quickly

What's Not?

• Could have more PPS levels

The CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W (we will just call it the CUKTECH 15 after this) is touted as “laptop battery bank”, thanks to its ample 100W USB-PD output and large 20,000mAh capacity that is sufficient to fully charge a MacBook Air. CUKTECH (apparently pronounced cook-tech) is also one of the few brands that support Xiaomi’s 120W HyperCharge standard, so if you’re a Xiaomi user, this might be an even better choice for you.

Let’s get the math out of the way

The 20,000mAh in the name refers to the four 5,000mAh cells in the CUKTECH 15, which themselves are rated at 3.65V nominal voltage. Since output is usually at 5V or higher, CUKTECH also lists the rated capacity of 11,500mAh at 5V output. The most accurate metric of the energy within is of course in watt-hours, where we see that CUKTECH 15 is rated for 73WHr, or 71.5WHr if you take into account the minimum cell capacity of 4900mAh. So yes, you can bring this on flights as it’s well below the 100WHr threshold for most airlines, and this is clearly indicated on the rear side of the CUKTECH 15.

Next, the output. Oddly enough, CUKTECH has both underclaimed and overclaimed the CUKTECH 15’s output power. The total output possible with the CUKTECH 15 is actually 153W, but that’s only possible if you use a Xiaomi smartphone with support for the aforementioned 120W HyperCharge. If you use anything else, the peak output will just be 100W with a single port, and 98W if you charge two devices at the same time. We will get to that later.

CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W — What’s Good?

While a lot of power banks in the market are generally designed to just be as small as they can be to fit the circuitry and li-ion cells, CUKTECH clearly put some thought into the design of the CUKTECH 15, with grippier anti-slip finishing on the top, bottom and the rear side of the plastic enclosure. The overall girth is also nice to hold, although the 455g weight will get tiresome really quickly if you do not slip it into your bag while charging your device.

Part of the reason why I chose the CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W was because it could output 100W to a single device, or 65W and 33W simultaneously. This meant that I had the option to charge two smartphones together at full speed, or charge one laptop at 100W. Oddly enough, I do have to make this choice, while the CUKTECH 10 Power Bank 10000mAh 150W can output 100W and 33W simultaneously via its two ports. On the upside, the CUKTECH 15 supports PPS on its secondary USB-C port, while the CUKTECH 10 only has a secondary USB-A port and thus lacks PPS support.

Unlike the Xiaomi power banks we checked out recently, the CUKTECH 15 also supports 120W Xiaomi HyperCharge over USB-C, which oddly enough was only available on the USB-A ports of the aforementioned Xiaomi power banks. It’s also worth mentioning that to get the 120W HyperCharge support, you will need a cable that can handle 6A of current, one of which is included with the CUKTECH 15.

As mentioned above, the CUKTECH 15 comes with a 1m long cable from ZMI that supports 6A current for the sweet 120W Xiaomi HyperCharge support, as well as up to 240W USB-PD 3.1. For a power bank that caps out at just 120W output, this is a pretty impressive cable. You also get a nice velvety pouch with drawstrings that fits the CUKTECH 15 and maybe a cable or two.

Charging speed is relatively fast, and while CUKTECH claims a 90W max charging rate, it negotiates 100W (20V/5A) instead. However, like the Xiaomi power banks, it doesn’t hit the maximum and instead climbs from 70W to 79W in the first 15 minutes to hit 25%. It then falls off a cliff to 40W and once again climbing to 44W for the next hour until it hits 84%. The charging gradually tapers off from this point, for a total charging time of 1 hour 44 minutes. Throughout this time, the CUKTECH 15 barely gets warm, which is really great showing.

CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W Specifications

CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W Specs

CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W — should you buy this?

This review is one of those that I just can’t really find any major drawback, and I honestly think that the CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W is pretty great for its price point of around RM179 (you can usually get it for a lot less on Shopee or Lazada). One thing to pay attention to is if you’re planning on flying into China, there’s a version of the CUKTECH 15 that has the 3C (China Compulsory Certification) label, which my unit lacks.

Other alternatives at this price range include the Baseus GP12 145W 20800mAh which can do a more impressive 145W total output, although it charges slower and is bulkier. And for the power users among you, you may also be inclined to check out the CUKTECH 15 Ultra, which has a much more useful readout on its display than the Xiaomi 212W HyperCharge Power Bank 24500.

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• CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W (Shopee): https://s.shopee.com.my/1BCx0SlBms
• CUKTECH 15 Power Bank 20000mAh 150W (Lazada): https://s.lazada.com.my/s.sngIV