Zendure Supertank 27,000mAh (ZDA8PDP) – Review
9
SCOREThe Zendure Supertank is a heavy-duty pack perfect for long-haul flights and adventures.
December 6, 2020
OVERVIEW
Performance + Capacity 9
Design 9
Recharge Time 9
Value for Money 8.5POSITIVES
- Massive 27,000mAh capacity and 100W of output
- Plane-friendly
- Can charge large devices such as laptops
- Great design
NEGATIVES
- Bulky
BOTTOM LINE
The Zendure Supertank is a heavy-duty power bank with a massive 27,000mAh capacity and 100watts of output. With 4 output ports, pass-through charging, low power mode, and a bunch of protective features (the most we’ve seen in power banks in this category), it’s a great portable charger to bring on long-haul flights and adventures and to power laptops and larger devices. Its great performance at those higher levels of output is also impressive, making this pack a highly recommended one in our book.
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TECH SPECS:
Ports: USB-1, USB-2, USB-C x2
USB-1 Output:
- 5V/3A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A, 18W (ZEN+ 2.0)
USB-2 Output:
- 5V/3A, 15W (ZEN+)
USB-C(1) Output:
- 5-20V, up to 5A, 100W (PD)
USB-C(2) Output:
- 5-20V, up to 3A, 60W (PD)
Input: USB-C: 5-20V, up to 5A, 100W (PD)
Table of Contents
The Zendure Supertank is a great pack for long-haul flights and adventures with its massive 100 watts of output. Together with its great features and performance, it’s a great power bank to pick up if you’re looking to charge larger devices with it or if you want something that can power up your small to medium gadgets for days. 
Zendure power banks have always had great design reminiscent of Rimowa luggage. Aside from that, they all have generally good functionality with the Supertank hitting what is pretty much the highest capacity limit for most power banks out there. This is because they hit the maximum 100 watt limit that most airlines impose on power banks being carried on board. While there are aviation authorities that allow you to carry up to 150 watt hours of capacity, it’s better to stick to the 100 watt hour limit to be safe.
The Zendure Supertank’s capacity is amazing as you can charge almost all devices with it for a long time. Zendure states that you can charge your smartphone 7-10 times with the Supertank and if their on-box stats can be believed, this is incredibly likely (testing of on-box stats below). When we were testing the Zendure Supertank plugged into a laptop running all day, there weren’t any issues at all. This means that if you have big devices or you want to be able to charge for an extended period of time, 100 watt hours (27,000mAh) will probably do the job for you. Additionally, 100 watts is a huge amount of output - we can’t really think of many packs that have more output than this. Even larger laptops out there don’t require this much output to charge. For context, a Macbook Pro ships with a 61 watt wall brick to charge. It’s actually a struggle to think of a single device that would need to charge with a 100 watts of Power Delivery for long. 
One thing to note here though with these higher output devices, once you start getting past 60 watts of output, you’re going to require a special cable. You can’t use just any USB-C cable; you need a USB-C cable with an E-Mark in order to get 5 Amps and reach those 100 watt charge limits. You don’t have to worry too much about that though as this Zendure Supertank does ship with an e-marker cable.
The Zendure Supertank is also capable of other features that are actually pretty standard nowadays among the higher end packs out there but are still worth mentioning. First, the Supertank’s max output is also its max input. This means that you can charge the entire 27,000mAh pack in just 2 hours with the right charger. This is incredibly impressive since there are much smaller capacity power banks out there that we can’t charge as quickly. You’d still need a 100 watt wall charger to accomplish that though which can be pretty hard to find. Next, it has 4 outputs so in theory - you could charge 4 devices at the same time with the Zendure Supertank portable charger. With pass through charging, what you can also do is charge the power bank itself while powering up 3 other devices. The Zendure Supertank also has a low power mode which is kind of standard but incredibly important with charging earbuds and other small accessories that require a lower amount of output in order to be able to charge. Finally, we get more levels of protection than we’ve ever seen in other packs. So if you’re the kind of person who worries about their power bank bursting into flames while it’s inside your bag or in an airplane, then this might be the power bank for you.
Now, we’re going to be testing this pack’s efficiencies to see where it’s performance is at. After all, there’s no point in lugging this pack around if you’re not going to be able to use its massive battery capacity. So let’s find out once and for all how this pack stacks up. Are you going to be able to get every ounce of that 27,000mAh or is it going to start hurting the efficiency? Let’s find out. 
Starting at 18 watts of output, the Zendure Supertank delivered a result of 86% efficiency. It’s definitely not the best power bank that we’ve tested at the 18 watt level, but anything above 85% is very reasonable. Also for a power bank like this with such a high max wattage, people are most likely going to be using this for larger devices which is where we really want to see the efficiency. We’d say that this pack gave a pretty average but acceptable result at the 18 watt level. 
Now at 30 watts of output, it gave us a result of 89% efficiency which is a much better result than what we previously got at 18 watts. This may be because this portable charger is tailored to achieve better efficiencies at higher watt outputs; 30 watts is a pretty good high level of output - it’s around the rate that iPads and Macbook Airs would charge. Additionally, getting that kind of efficiency at 30 watts is something other packs have not really been able to achieve. In fact, only one other power bank that we’ve tested has been able to deliver that rate - the ZMI Powerpack 20k Pro. 
Moving things along, we go to 60 watts of output. At this level, we got a result of 83% efficiency which again is a very good result. 83% of your capacity is what you would expect at these high limits from pretty much every other pack. It’s also probably one of the highest results we’ve achieved at 60 watts of output. Anything above 80% in the 60 watt output range even at 27,000mAh is a tremendous result. 
Now we’re maxing things out at 100 watts and at that huge output, we ended up getting a result of around 70% efficiency. Admittedly, we did run into some problems here because 30 minutes into our testing, the power bank simply shut off and stopped the test there. We had to give it some time before powering it up again. But all in all, we ended up with around 70% of the battery but not in one continuous charge. We’re not really sure about what happened here but we believe that the safety protocols that were put inside the Zendure Supertank may have been triggered - maybe it was overheating or something else was going on. The fact still stands though that we weren’t able to get a continuous charge out of the 100 watt rate. Because of this, we’re not sure how much of an issue it is because even devices that are going to charge at that 100 watt rate are unlikely to do it the entire life cycle of the charge. Usually, it’s going to start out at 100 watts then dip down as you go along so that you don’t blow out the battery that is within the device you’re charging or reduce its life cycle in the long run. Regardless, 70% efficiency at 100 watts is still a very good result as it is a huge amount of output that you’re going to be getting in a relatively medium to small pack.
With the Zendure Supertank selling at around $100 on Amazon, we think that it’s a very reasonable purchase. Many of the higher end 20,000mAh packs that we’ve tested are pretty close to that price and with the Zendure Supertank, you’re getting so much more capacity and a much higher watt output. If you’re looking for a device to bring on long-haul flights or that can charge large devices for extended periods of time, this pack is great as it is still pretty light; you can even carry it in a backpack as an everyday carry. Overall, we’re thoroughly impressed with this pack and we highly recommend the Zendure Supertank. asdf
Zendure Supertank First Impression
Zendure power banks have always had great design reminiscent of Rimowa luggage. Aside from that, they all have generally good functionality with the Supertank hitting what is pretty much the highest capacity limit for most power banks out there. This is because they hit the maximum 100 watt limit that most airlines impose on power banks being carried on board. While there are aviation authorities that allow you to carry up to 150 watt hours of capacity, it’s better to stick to the 100 watt hour limit to be safe.Massive Capacity
The Zendure Supertank’s capacity is amazing as you can charge almost all devices with it for a long time. Zendure states that you can charge your smartphone 7-10 times with the Supertank and if their on-box stats can be believed, this is incredibly likely (testing of on-box stats below). When we were testing the Zendure Supertank plugged into a laptop running all day, there weren’t any issues at all. This means that if you have big devices or you want to be able to charge for an extended period of time, 100 watt hours (27,000mAh) will probably do the job for you. Additionally, 100 watts is a huge amount of output - we can’t really think of many packs that have more output than this. Even larger laptops out there don’t require this much output to charge. For context, a Macbook Pro ships with a 61 watt wall brick to charge. It’s actually a struggle to think of a single device that would need to charge with a 100 watts of Power Delivery for long. One thing to note here though with these higher output devices, once you start getting past 60 watts of output, you’re going to require a special cable. You can’t use just any USB-C cable; you need a USB-C cable with an E-Mark in order to get 5 Amps and reach those 100 watt charge limits. You don’t have to worry too much about that though as this Zendure Supertank does ship with an e-marker cable.Other Notable Features
The Zendure Supertank is also capable of other features that are actually pretty standard nowadays among the higher end packs out there but are still worth mentioning. First, the Supertank’s max output is also its max input. This means that you can charge the entire 27,000mAh pack in just 2 hours with the right charger. This is incredibly impressive since there are much smaller capacity power banks out there that we can’t charge as quickly. You’d still need a 100 watt wall charger to accomplish that though which can be pretty hard to find. Next, it has 4 outputs so in theory - you could charge 4 devices at the same time with the Zendure Supertank portable charger. With pass through charging, what you can also do is charge the power bank itself while powering up 3 other devices. The Zendure Supertank also has a low power mode which is kind of standard but incredibly important with charging earbuds and other small accessories that require a lower amount of output in order to be able to charge. Finally, we get more levels of protection than we’ve ever seen in other packs. So if you’re the kind of person who worries about their power bank bursting into flames while it’s inside your bag or in an airplane, then this might be the power bank for you.Zendure Supertank Capacity and Performance (Tested)
Starting at 18 watts of output, the Zendure Supertank delivered a result of 86% efficiency. It’s definitely not the best power bank that we’ve tested at the 18 watt level, but anything above 85% is very reasonable. Also for a power bank like this with such a high max wattage, people are most likely going to be using this for larger devices which is where we really want to see the efficiency. We’d say that this pack gave a pretty average but acceptable result at the 18 watt level. Now at 30 watts of output, it gave us a result of 89% efficiency which is a much better result than what we previously got at 18 watts. This may be because this portable charger is tailored to achieve better efficiencies at higher watt outputs; 30 watts is a pretty good high level of output - it’s around the rate that iPads and Macbook Airs would charge. Additionally, getting that kind of efficiency at 30 watts is something other packs have not really been able to achieve. In fact, only one other power bank that we’ve tested has been able to deliver that rate - the ZMI Powerpack 20k Pro. Moving things along, we go to 60 watts of output. At this level, we got a result of 83% efficiency which again is a very good result. 83% of your capacity is what you would expect at these high limits from pretty much every other pack. It’s also probably one of the highest results we’ve achieved at 60 watts of output. Anything above 80% in the 60 watt output range even at 27,000mAh is a tremendous result. Now we’re maxing things out at 100 watts and at that huge output, we ended up getting a result of around 70% efficiency. Admittedly, we did run into some problems here because 30 minutes into our testing, the power bank simply shut off and stopped the test there. We had to give it some time before powering it up again. But all in all, we ended up with around 70% of the battery but not in one continuous charge. We’re not really sure about what happened here but we believe that the safety protocols that were put inside the Zendure Supertank may have been triggered - maybe it was overheating or something else was going on. The fact still stands though that we weren’t able to get a continuous charge out of the 100 watt rate. Because of this, we’re not sure how much of an issue it is because even devices that are going to charge at that 100 watt rate are unlikely to do it the entire life cycle of the charge. Usually, it’s going to start out at 100 watts then dip down as you go along so that you don’t blow out the battery that is within the device you’re charging or reduce its life cycle in the long run. Regardless, 70% efficiency at 100 watts is still a very good result as it is a huge amount of output that you’re going to be getting in a relatively medium to small pack.
