Power through the holidays with the Mophie Powerstation 2x and 8x battery packs

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Most smartphones today are limited to about a day of battery life. If you are traveling or working out in the field, then a single charge is not going to get you through the day. You can find slip on battery packs for some devices, but if you need more serious portable power that can also charge up multiple devices then you need to look for a battery pack.

Mophie is the Kleenex of portable power and it now has a full line of Powerstation battery packs. The Powerstation battery packs are named 1X, 2X, 3X, 5X, and 8X with the price ranging from $39.95 to $149.95. I spent a couple weeks testing the Powerstation 2X and Powerstation 8X.

There are less expensive brands of battery packs, but when you need power for your device it's good to know a high quality brand is providing that power safely. All of the Powerstation models are made of aluminum and high quality plastic with standard use of USB and microUSB.

The Mophie Powerstation 2X is a very thin battery pack designed for smartphones and wearables. You won't be charging up your tablet with this battery pack.

It includes 4,000 mAh of battery capacity to deliver up to two charges for most smartphones, thus the 2X name. The retail package includes a USB to microUSB port. You use microUSB to charge up the Powerstation 2X with another full USB port for you to use with your mobile device.

There is just one USB port on the 2X for your smartphone or smartwatch. On the right side you can find a button that will quickly show you the available capacity through the use of four LEDs.

It provides power at 2.4 amps so that you should see your device charge up two to four times faster than a standard charger. Priority+ charging is supported so that your device will charge up first if you have both connected to a power source.

It's very thin and light, coming in at just 119 grams (4.2 ounces). You can recharge the Powerstation 2X for over 500 cycles, partial cycles will not count as a full cycle until all of the partials equal 100 percent.

There is a microUSB port to charge up the battery and a full size USB port to connect your device's cable.

If you have a large tablet and just want to make sure you have power to get you through a winter storm or a long flight across the country, then you may want to consider the Mophie Powerstation 8X. This massive battery provides a whopping 15,000 mAh of battery capacity for $149.95.

While Apple still hasn't figured out how to provide fast charging capability, just about every new Android and Windows 10 Mobile smartphone supports this quick charging technology. One port on the Powerstation 8X, identified with a green lightning bolt and green inside the USB port, supports 15W fast charging. This is an awesome way to top off your device when you just have a few minutes available.

The Powerstation 8X also has another USB port so that you can charge up two devices at once. Because of its massive capacity, you can use this battery to charge up your phone, tablet, or wearable. It weighs in at 385.6 grams (13.6 ounces), but it sure is nice having all that power available.

Here you can see the LG V10, Apple iPhone 6s Plus, Mophie Powerstation 2X, and Mophie Powerstation 8X. The 2X is quite compact while the 8X is about the size of a small tablet.

The Powerstation 8X includes Bluetooth so that you can enable pairing with your smartphone loaded with the Mophie power application.

The Mophie power app shows your phone battery status, as well as that of Bluetooth connected Powerstations.

Here you can see I have a decent charger connected and powering up the Mophie Powerstation 8X. I especially like that it shows about how long it can be expected to top off the Powerstation.

There are also a couple of battery status notifications you can customize from within the app.