While everyone is nerding out about Xaomi, let’s not forget that there are other legit Chinese brands out there. Namely, Huawei, OnePlus, Bluedio, KZ and now:  BlitzWolf.

Today we’re looking at BlitzWolf‘s $17 power bank and braided cables.

Cheap cables are a concern for many people: they only work for shorts periods of time, break quickly, and take longer time to charge gadgets. And since manufacturers sell their OEM cables for more than we are willing to pay, we get our cables directly from China.

For some reason UGreen, another well-known manufacturer of high-quality cables does not for whatever reason have any braided micro-USB charger cables; so Blitzwolf cables have caught my attention for two reasons:

1. The amount of feedback in the store, and

2. the fact that they have models that are reinforced with kevlar – material that is also used in motorcycle clothing, bulletproof vests and in racing tires as a replacement for steel.

Not all cables they have are made with it, but we thought it’s worth noting just to show that they seem to put some thought into their product.

BLITZWOLF POWER BANK + CABLES REVIEW

I have a few power from banks before, but nothing quite this one. I can’t emphasize how nice it really is. The case is metallic and very smooth. I like the shape because unlike all of the power banks I’ve had before it is not as wide and the edges are smooth, so it is more convenient to carry in a pocket. It is a new-age power bank that feeds off a USB 3.0 cable.

What’s nice is that the cable that it came with has a removable micro-USB to type-C adapter so it will work with best of both worlds. My multimeter hasn’t arrived yet, and I’m not paying $100 for the store models so there will be no electrical test, but I can tell you that it charged my phone fully and there were 2 more light indicators worth of energy left on the indicator.

It was also the first power bank that could charge my phone while I was using it faster than how much battery it was draining. I used the phone at 1% battery while it was being charged. For the $18 that it currently costs, I consider it a very fairly priced purchase.

Now let’s look at the cables.

We have simple packaging without too much unnecessary plastic. I like the attention to detail, how they have the velcro straps with company logo attached to the cable, and more logos on the cable tips. I don’t think it takes too much effort to add them, yet it feels a lot more professional and, well, expensive.

The cables actually feel extremely sturdy. I’ve had braided cables before but none of them felt as strong as these ones. For some reason, the shortest length these cables came in was 1 meter, or 3 feet.

Inside the box with each cable we have a warranty card with 18 months of promise in it. I doubt that anyone would send their cable back to China for a replacement, but it was a nice touch, and I have never seen any other cable company that had that.

Both cables that I got are compatible with fast-charge 2.0 and 3.0, and are rated for the maximum data sync speed of up to 480 megabits per second, or 60 megabytes (which is the norm for the USB 2.0 protocol, which both of these cables are – they have USB 3.0 too, but they are more expensive). I did not notice any significant increase for the transfer speed or with the charging vs. the normal cable, but I do not have a fast-charge charger adapter to take the most out of it – this will be my next purchase. That way the micro-USB should support 2.4A and the type-C will take 3.0A.