Anker Astro E1 Review.

Disclaimer: This battery was sent to me by Anker to be reviewed. I would also like to add that I have several Anker products and I really like the Anker products and feel they are wonderful devices. Now on to my thoughts of the battery.

The Anker Astro E1 is a member of a very large proud family of portable external batteries. Some are smaller than the E1 like the Anker Astro Mini but most are larger like the Anker 2nd Gen Astro3. So if you are in the market for a portable battery Anker should have something to cover all of your needs.

The Model that was sent to me was the Anker Astro E1. The unit ships in a nice small brown box that has a form fitting cardboard liner. The box contains the following: Astro E1, small micro USB cable, warranty information, and an information card that discusses the IQ charging technology used by Anker for these products. The instructions for the battery are in the form of a full color slip that wraps around the product box.

Once you open the package you will find either a white or black battery of your choosing. The Astro E1 is a decent size. Coming in at 3.8 inches in length, 1.7 inches in width and 0.9 inches in height and a weight of 4.2 ounces, This unit is still quite easy to carry in your pocket. I actually found the cable to be more annoying to carry in my pocket. But that is probably a personal annoyance.
The body of the battery is very well constructed and shows excellent fit and finish when compared to some of the other external batteries that I have. I definitely will say that I prefer the fit and finish of this unit when compared to others.

The Anker Astro E1 is super easy to use. The battery has only one button and two USB ports. The button is used to check the power level in conjunction with the four blue LED lights on the face of the device. On the top of the device one will find a micro USB port which is used to charge the Astro E1. I found the device to charge in about five hours using the supplied cable and my Anker 5-port 25 watt desktop USB charging block. The other port is the Anker IQ smart USB port. The claim here is that when you plug a device into this IQ port, the port will be able to provide the connected device with the proper charging output for optimal charging of the attached device. I have a few Anker products with this and it appears to work. I really have no way of actually testing the claim. I can say however that I have plugged several devices into the various Anker IQ ports that I have in my possession and have never had an issue.

When it came time to charge my phones the Astro E1 did not disappoint. I was able to take my Galaxy S3 from a 20% charge to a 100% charge in about 1.5 hours. I then took the Astro and charge my LG G2 from 34% to 100% in about an hour. During this time the battery did not get annoyingly hot like some batteries that I have used. So I have no complaints there. Now I am sure that if you were in a warm area or were using the device while it was charging the battery would possible get warm. But simply laying it on my desk to charge both of my phones. I did not notice allot of heat.

 LG G2 and the Anker Astro E1

Another great point to make before I tell you the price of the unit is that Anker offers a no hassle warranty for 18 months as well as a cash back guarantee for the first 30 days. On top of that you will also get tech support for the life of the product. I have had to use the Anker no hassle warranty once in the past. It was a complete dream. I simply contacted them via email, provided the amazon order number and new mouse was at my door in just a few days. Super easy! Now for the part everyone is waiting for.
The price for the Anker Astro E1 $15.99 on Amazon which is Anker’s preferred vendor. For the build quality of this unit along with the warranty this seems like a great deal.
Here is a link to the Amazon page for the Astro E1.

In closing. If you are in the market for an external battery I do not think a person can go wrong with an Anker product. The Astro E1 is great. I am actually looking at a larger Anker battery for camping and I think I am going to get the Anker external battery that can also jump start your car. Here is the link to that product. Anker’s newest battery. You can find all of the Anker products on Amazon as well as on their website which is here.

Again, I was given this unit to review by the Anker company.