At least that’s what it claims. The Pronto Fast-Charge battery is a Kickstarter project that claims to be able to give you 8 hours of power on 5 minutes of charging. Sounds ridiculous, considering that fact that this is what irritates us to breaking point about our mobile devices – when you need to charge your device and there’s just no time for charging. This might just be our savior, yes?
Power Practical – the outfit that’s backing this project – made its name on Shark Tank, the NBC entrepreneur show. This project is a new type of battery which Power Practical claims can charge a smartphone in just five minutes. The Pronto comes in two models, the 4500mAh Pronto 5 and the 13,500mAh Pronto 12. Both batteries look rugged and heavy duty with its aluminum construction and dual USB ports.
Think about it this way – you’re heading out the door and realize that your smartphone’s battery is without a charge and you being you, you forgot to charge your battery backup as well. That is where Pronto should help, giving you a full charge enough for 8 hours of usage on 5 minutes charging time. If it’s true, then it’s a probable game changer.
At this point, you have to back the project on Kickstarter to have a Pronto unit. We realize some of you are nervous, but Power Practical already has a history of three successful campaigns, so their reputation is pretty much up there. Best thing about it is, the campaign is already funded – the Pronto is already USD$30,000 over its USD$50,000 campaign goal. So if you have the cash to splash, why not check it out?
SOURCE: Kickstarter
Great idea, but I wonder what kind of cheap cell they are using? The reason I asked is that they are absolutely huge for the capacity that they advertise. If you use Panasonic NCR18650B cells, you can get higher capacity than pronto 12 in a package similar to pronto 5.
And no, it does not charge your phone up to 8 hour battery capacity in under 5 minuets, it might be able to charge ITSELF to carry enough juice to charge your phone later. With current tech, we might set your phone on fire if it is to charge that fast.
Please clear this up, this charges ITSELF fast, it will charge your phone NO FASTER than your factory wall charger at best.
Attached is my USB power bank that I cobbled together from a kit with 5 Panasonic NCR18650B cells, and my nexus 4 there for size reference. With capacity of up to 17000mAH and conversion efficiency of about 90%. Since it is a weird kit I got, I can charge at up to 5V 3.5A. Not as fast as pronto 5, but not bad, but I can also set it to charge at a milder pace, and thus able to use any USB power supply to top it up instead of having to rely on a dedicated charger.
It is quite an advantage to be able to top up away from home without having to fiddle with dedicated charger, just tone it down and plug into the first USB socket in sight is quite nice.
IMHO this is really no more revolutionary than another crowd funding project that uses ThinkPad power brick as charger, charginging at around 1C for small battery set like this is really not that special. (Charging Tesla model S at that speed would be impressive due to the possibility of dimming your neighbors if you didn’t do it right.)
My photo didn’t seem to show up properly, weird.
its now $288,224 over $50,000! that’s only in a few hours.
I do highly doubt some of these claims. Im just finding it a little hard to believe these simple USB and MicroUSB ports are capable of these currents.
But to be honest, a typical Lithium Ion Jump Starter kit is MUCH more practical!
It may not charge as fast, but its cheaper ($115 for a good one), Higher mAH (13K-16K). It will jump your car, charge your phone and laptop and still have power left over.
Im going to go test the charge speed of the ones I have just to see.
They indeed are not using USB to charge itself, they use dedicated high power charger to charge itself. Good luck finding replacement when you forgot to bring it with you when you travel. IMHO one reason most power bank stayed with USB is the peace of mind that you can charge anywhere. Hell, I’d bet it’s easier to find somewhere to charge USB than to ask for a light when you are trying to smoke.
I meant the USB isnt capable of charging a cell phone that fast. I just cant see a standard USB port putting out above a few amps. The Note 3 is capable of a 2amp input charge on the port. These micro usb plugs dont seem like they would appreciate that current. Plus the cell batteries seem like they wouldnt appreciate that either
I see, and I agree with you, but when I do measure, it does indeed pass about 2 amps of power without any ill effects. To go any higher, you will need to do what Qualcomm do, jack up the voltage to pass more power at the same current limit.
If you do not keep pumping max charging current all the time, lithium cells are quite capable of absorbing a lot of power to let you have a reasonable reserve in a short time.
It charges itself in five minutes, enough to charge your phone for 8 hours of use but it still takes the usual time to charge your phone.