Review: MiPow Powertube 3000

For people on the go looking for an easy-to-take-with-you portable charging solution for your mobile phone, there’s the MiPow Power Tube 3000. We have been using our review unit for a few days and have found this to be a very well designed product. The Power Tube is solid metal charger with an internal 3000mAh battery (enough to fully charge an iPhone4 one and half times). The top flips off to reveal the USB dongle to charge the Power Tube up from any USB port:

Inside the Power Tube is a glowing LED that cycles through a series of colors to let you know how much charge is left in the tube. On the attached top that you’ve flipped off is a 30pin Apple connector which allows you to directly connect the device to your iPhone or iPod to power them up:

On the top side is a button you can press to light up the indicator to see how much power is left (below, the blue means close to full, while green would be 30-70% and red means less than 30%). There’s also a USB port on the top (and included USB wire) for plugging in virtually any non-Apple device as well. Size comparison with everyday household objects? Here ya go:

Now why do we like the MiPow Power Tube 3000 over other portable charging options? The biggest reason is that you can do everything WITHOUT CORDS. The tube is entirely self-contained, you can both charge it via USB and charge up your iPhone without any wires. That makes it so much easier to travel with. Just toss it in the bottom of your bag and go; no tangle of wires or lost or damaged cords. It comes with the plush drawstring bag shown above too.

This is an intelligently thought out portable charger and the build quality feels solid. As you can see from our size comparison shot, it’s not much larger than other common objects you might have in your bag and it holds a beefy 3000mAh which is about enough to charge an iPhone from 25% to full power twice (or from empty to full 1.5x). While it can be used for most portable devices, it’s strength is clearly when paired with an iPhone as the built-in 30pin connector is it’s hugest advantage (and it is “Made for iPod” & “Made for iPhone” certified).

The MiPow Power Tube 3000 comes in 10 different colors for about $49 from MiPow directly. 4000mAh and 5500mAh versions are available as well.