The evolution of the Proporta Mobile Charger

Before we dive in to this review of Proporta’s latest offering, the USB TurboCharger 3400 World Pack, I feel that a bit of history is in order.

It all started with a little White mobile charger called the USB Mobile Device Charger…

With its 3400 mAH of storage it could recharge several mobile devices or just one devices several times. We loved its durable design, auto shut down feature and simple design. Sure, it could be mistaken for an iPod, but it worked amazingly well. Deep down inside we wished it was Black and that single LED wasn’t very informative when it came to the amount of power left. (Reviewed here.)

  The Mobile Device Charger Micro had almost everything we wanted: the Black rubbery finish, compact design and a handy multi-LED power indicator. Its design was simply perfect, perhaps a bit ahead of time as we will soon see. But its 1700mAh of power wasn’t enough for us to forget about the USB Mobile Device Charger. (Reviewed here.)

Proporta then took the original 3400 mAH USB Mobile Device Charger, gave it Ted Baker’s blessings and as a result, it became Brown. It wasn’t Black, but Brown we agreed was the next best thing. This can be considered as the ultimate super duper version of the original Mobile Charger. The Ted Baker Six Pack included every single accessory Proporta could throw in the package. The Ted Baker No Ordinary Designer Charging Kit is the almost the same package, but sans the AC World Travel Charger Kit.

Perhaps the visiting cousin from another country, the Proporta Universal Emergency Charger with its 2500mAH was right in the middle between the larger and micro mobile charger. We didn’t like proprietary cable to charge the unit, but we did welcome some new innovations like the “Check” button to check the amount of power left or it’s ability to automatically  initiate charging once a device was connected.

The USB TurboCharger 3400 World Pack

Looking back at the various models and changes made since the very first Proporta mobile charger we’d say the Mobile Device Charger Micro had the best design out of the bunch, although clearly hampered by its smallish 1700mAh of power. That’s why it doesn’t come as a surprise that Proporta took that very same design and applied it to the new USB TurboCharger 3400 and USB TurboCharger 3400 World Pack. The TurboCharger 3400, like earlier models is a portable USB Rechargeable Battery that allows you to recharge it from any standard USB port (or it’s USB-based  charger). When it’s done it allows you to charge your various mobile devices while on the go.

The TurboCharger 3400 doesn’t bring anything new to the table, in fact we’d even say that it lacks the Universal Emergency Charger’s ability to to automatically  initiate charging once a device is connected. But what makes the TurboCharger 3400 standout is that they basically took the best features out of previous models and stitched it all together into their latest TurboCharger: the large 3400 mAh of the original model, the nice Black rubbery multi-LED design of the Micro and the premium package of the Ted Baker. If you are a owner of power hungry Smartphones, you should seriously consider this device.

The 3400 actually comes in two variants, the standard version and the World Pack. With a difference of just $5, we don’t see any reason to go for the cheaper version. While both models include a retractable cable and range of interchangeable connector heads, that extra $5 will get you a car charger and World Travel Charger Kit (a USB AC Adapter with various sockets), basically all of these extras:

, making for a very convincing package. There’s also a smaller TurboCharger 1200 and 1200 Word Pack, but with just 1200 mAh of power it packs even less power than the original Mobile Device Charger Micro. With the 3400 World Pack costing just $10 and $15 more, we simply cannot recommend the smaller unit that pretty much is overshadowed by the it’s bigger brother.

The 3400 looks like an oversized version of Proporta’s Mobile Device Charger Micro. Everything from the soft-feel Black rubbery material to the 5 LED lights is there. Even the built-in carrying loop is true to the original design. This is basically that smaller Micro unit with the larger power capacity.

As a result, there isn’t much to complain here. Only negative point I can point out is that unit takes several hours to charge. Proporta should consider using fast charge technology to at least cut charging time of the battery in half. We started this review with a look at previews models and as I stated earlier, the 3400 World Pack has been molded into perfection using the best features found in previous models, making the 3400 World Pack the undisputed champion in the mid-tier Mobile Charger category.

The biggest competition doesn’t come from other mid-tier chargers, but actually higher end units found in the $75+ category, where the ZAGGsparq with its 6000 mAh of stored power, built-in power supply and ability to charge two devices at the same time is an unusual offering and can be had for just $80. This unit does lack Proporta’s premium package of accessories, but there’s no denying that there’s almost twice the amount of power and there’s no need for a separate charger. Proporta should seriously consider a higher end unit with 6000+ mAh of stored power as such units are starting to come down in price and will bring become serious competition.

The USB TurboCharger 3400 World Pack gets an impressive 9 out of 10. But as these large capacity chargers start to come down in price, so will the Proporta’s reign and score among mid-level chargers. Well, that’s at least until they bring a similar large capacity unit.