Mophie Powerstation Pro emergency charger

If your car breaks down and your mobile phone battery has run flat, you could be stranded – unless you keep a portable charger in the glovebox. We’ve tried the new Mophie Powerstation Pro.

The idea is you charge the device at home via the mains, then stow it in the glovebox – and it can be used to power gadgets like tablet computers on the go, too. But there’s no mains charger included – just a micro USB cable, so you’ll need to charge it through your computer.

The Powerstation PRO is fairly bulky, with a splashproof rubber casing and caps to help prevent dust from getting in the ports. It fitted easily into our car’s glovebox. The 6,000mAh rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery was powerful enough to recharge a flat iPhone twice, but struggled with our iPad.

Even though it features two sockets, you can only charge one gadget at a time; the other socket is for charging the Powerstation. Still, the buttons are easy to use and the LEDs tell you how much battery life is remaining.

Its main rival is the Just Mobile Gum Max portable charger (which we tested in Issue 1,202). But this has the edge with its larger 10,400mAh battery and £5 lower price – and on that basis, we’d find it difficult to recommend the new Powerstation Pro.

Good: Recharges iPhone twice, good-looking, fits easily in glovebox. Resistant to water and dirt, too.

Not so good: No storage pouch, only charges one device at a time, rivals cheaper and have more power.