AccessoriesReviews

Monoprice’s Obsidian Speed Plus is a well-designed, portable battery pack

Monoprice’s Obsidian Speed Plus

It’s extremely irritating when you find your iPhone’s battery is running low — and there’s no outlet to top it off. A portable battery pack offers relief for low-battery/dead-battery fear. One I recommend is the Monoprice Obsidian Speed Plus Power Bank USB Charger, which can pack a lot of extra juice in a small, reasonably priced body.

Featuring rapid charging technology, the power bank offers up to 18 watts of Power Delivery and boasts a smart variable charge output for both the USB Type-A and USB Type-C ports. The power bank itself can be charged using the legacy USB Micro Type-B input or using the rapid charge compatible USB-C input. 

The Obsidian Speed Plus comes in 7500mAh and 10050Ah models for US$23.99 and $33.99, respectively. I recommend the latter; it’s worth the extra 10 bucks for the extra power you get. It will give you 3-4 phone charges compared to 2-3 for the 7500mAh version. 

You can charge the Obsidian Speed Plus with a traditional wall charger or a rapid charge compatible USB-C cable. Its four LEDs show you the current charge level for the power bank

The Obsidian is small enough to fit in a pocket or purse, which is very convenient. It measures 3.8 x 2.5 x 0.9 inches and weighs 6.5 ounces. 

Review overview

Power capacity10
Design9.3
Price10

The Pros

  • Lots of power
  • very portable
  • reasonably priced

The Cons

  • You may need to buy more cables

summary

9.8The Monoprice Obsidian Speed Plus Power Bank offers USB- compatibility at an affordable price.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.