The cooler days will prompt people to head outdoors to enjoy the more intensive activities that, the warmer days made difficult. With this in mind, we investigate the RUGD Power Brick, an innovative power bank specifically designed for the outdoors that offers some much-needed peace of mind.
Two things I constantly advocate to help navigate this fast-paced world are meditation and putting one foot in front of the other outdoors. Meditation is an area I/we have covered extensively in the magazine, so we’ll focus squarely on fresh air activities for this piece.
Being at one with nature and stretching the legs offer countless benefits for the body and mind. Not only will it help to calm and refresh the brain, but it is also an enjoyable way to boost fitness, along with helping to build a greater appreciation for nature. I find the best way to do it is by being away from the throngs and the thrum of traffic. However, these days that is easier said than done.
A short while back, my wife and I watched a video of city life in the 1920s, which has been colourised and sharpened, and I was shocked at how few people there were in comparison to today. It prompted me to discover the planet’s population during that time. Incredibly it was one-quarter what it is today. In just 100 years, the number of people on the planet quadrupled. Therefore to find the peace and tranquillity needed to disconnect, one must go further afield, and this is where the RUGD Power Brick can be a huge asset.
Usually, when we are out hiking, our adventure will start and finish the same day, and as I mentioned above, we sometimes find ourselves heading off the beaten track into the middle of nowhere to find what we crave. Fortunately, we are armed with ‘state-of-the-art’ Garmin watches to guide and track us, stay hot battery-powered thermos cups, mobile phones with GPS, and various other rechargeable devices to make us more comfortable and safer.
One common drawback of this has been things running out of power. So when offered the opportunity to test the RUGD Power Brick, we jumped at the chance as it has been specifically designed for use outdoors, and I felt it would be a valuable addition to our hiking arsenal.
We’re far from unique when it comes to bringing technology out with us to document our outdoor activities; many others do the same. Most content creators steer towards action cameras and phones for video and photography. However, the more advanced ones will add additional technology, such as wireless microphones, gimbals, drones and lighting systems.
The big drawback with all this equipment is that it requires power and regular charging. An excellent example is the Fiveray FR100c light stick we tested a few months ago; brilliant outdoor lighting performance, with the downside being a battery runtime of around twenty minutes.
A couple of RUGD Power Bricks should be part and parcel of any serious outdoors content creators’ equipment. The fact that you can charge two devices simultaneously (up to four times) should ensure that the perfect locations and conditions for film and photography are never missed, and the profanities will be limited!
About the RUGD Power Brick
Many reading this will be familiar with power banks, and nowadays, they come in a wide variety of shapes, prices and sizes. We probably have 5-10 floating around our house, and most carry brand names I have never heard of, which is a little worrying given some of the horror stories we’ve seen and read.
Like most people, I’d rather not spend more than I need to. However, based on my recent experiences, I now believe spending a little more on something to ensure quality and peace of mind is the way forward. One of the first reassuring things I noticed when I took the RUGD Power Brick out of its box was the CE mark, which indicates it complies with EU legislation and the UKCA mark, proving it conforms to the high standards necessary for marketing in the UK.
The RUGD Power Brick is a little larger than most other power banks. It weighs a surprisingly light 280gms, measures 97mm across its sides, and is 28mm thick. One side of the RUGD Power Brick is bright orange in colour and has four LEDs showing the amount of power it holds, whilst the other side is white, and I’ll come onto why in due course.
The charging ports are next to the on/off button under a snug-fitting rubberised seal on its side. As you can see from the images, the RUGD Power Brick looks like it can take a bashing, and this has been made possible thanks to a sturdy silicon shock bumper around its edges.
On the top left-hand corner of the RUGD Power Brick is a thick loop, and it’s here you attach the carabiner that comes as part of the set. This is incredibly useful as it allows you to connect it to belt loops or on the exterior of a rucksack, reducing the chances of losing it and saving the hassle of searching through bags.
Inside the power brick is a lithium-ion battery with a 10,050mAh capacity, and I can trust this figure given the certification it has, which I mentioned earlier in this feature. It raises worrying questions about the power banks I currently have at home, some of which claim much larger capacities whilst being a fraction of the size of the RUGD Power Brick, minus the certifying stamps.
The power brick has a fast charge capability, which is said to charge a Samsung or Apple iPhone phone to 50% power within 30 minutes, and I must admit that I was very sceptical about this claim. The only way to know how accurate this is was to test it with my Samsung phone, which I will admit does seem to take longer than this to achieve the same via my standard USB sockets at home.
The charging speed test
For my test, I used a Samsung A71, which showed a 71% battery level. I set the phone’s in-built timer alarm to 20 minutes and connected the phone to the power brick using the cable it came with. As soon as the alarm sounded, I checked my phone, and it showed 89%. The power brick is blisteringly fast when it comes to charging things, and bear in mind my charging test was performed with the phone screen on, making the result even more impressive.
Ideal come rain or shine
Another unique design feature of the RUGD Power Brick is that it is properly waterproof and IP67 certified. If you are anything like me, you’ll probably not understand what specific letters and numbers mean regarding waterproofing.
The IP letters stand for Ingress Protection; the numbers six and seven are not one number, and each number signifies something different. The number six denotes that the product is totally protected against dust and the number seven means that the RUGD Power Brick can be immersed in water up to one metre in depth for up to thirty minutes, which I find staggering.
Shedding more light
As I mentioned earlier, one side of the RUGD Power Brick is bright orange, while the other side is white, which hides a very useful feature for outdoor enthusiasts, particularly when the nights are drawing in faster than expected.
Behind the white side of the power brick is a super-powerful 16-LED, 1300 lumens light, which also has an SOS function. Each press of the button engages one of three functions.
The first is a low light mode, the second is a bright light mode, and the third is the SOS mode, where the light flashes on and off. The lighting is not only useful when it comes to navigation; thanks to the carabiner, it can also be hung up and used as a general light source.
Final thoughts
The RUGD Power Brick is a well-thought-out product that really does brings extra peace of mind. Its design makes it ideal for everything from an extreme hike to having fun on the river and camping. One of the standout things about this product is that you can trust what it claims to do, which I cannot say about most other power bank products in the market. With hiking season now in full swing for my wife and I, you can rest assured that we won’t be leaving home without it.
The RUGD Power Brick is priced at £69.99. For more information on the full range of products by RUGD and to place an order, visit https://rugdlife.com/.
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