I have had a privilege to use and review several New Trent external batteries and chargers. They have a very diverse line of such products and you are bound to find one that matches your exact needs. All of them have one important thing in common: they work. All of their batteries and chargers deliver on the premise of providing the user with all the necessary additional power needed to charge their portable devices. This is certainly the case with Chargepak rechargeable external battery.

This charger does not have the capacity to fully charge an iPad. However, I was able to charge my first generation iPad 3G to about 62% level, which is just slightly lower than the advertised charge capacity for the iPad 2. (I guess I am one of the rare first generation iPad owners that are still out there; most accessory manufacturers don’t bother making any new products for us. :/ ) I’ve also tested this charger with my iPhone 4S, Kindle Paperwhite, and Samsung S, all of which were charged to a full capacity with plenty of juice left. In most cases I was able to charge one of my small electronic devices multiple times.

There are a couple of features of this Chargepak that are innovative and make it particularly suitable for, well, travel. These are the full integration of the AC input plug and the micro USB charging cable directly into the body of this charger. Both of these are great additions, and in my opinion well overdue features of such chargers. The combination of these two features minimizes the need to carry multiple charging cables along with you, especially if your device can be charged through a micro USB port. This, of course, is not the case with the iOS devices – Apple likes to keep their cables and interfaces proprietary and getting the proper licenses for those cables can be next to impossible.

In addition to the built-in micro USB cable, this charger sports two additional USB ports – one 1A and one 2.1A. The former is more suitable for smartphones, while the latter works really well with tablets. All in all, you can be charging three small electronic devices at the same time, which is quite remarkable for such a compact charger.

Travelpak is also very elegantly designed and fairly compact. It fits easily in a small compartment pocket in your briefcase or messenger bag. It can even fir in a larger pocket, but that would be a bit of pushing it.

When it comes to choosing which charger is the best for you and your needs it will all come down to the kinds of devices that you regularly carry around and the kinds of trips that you go on. If the size is an issue than I would recommend that you take a look at iTorch. (That device comes with an included LED light and laser pointer as a bonus.) If you have a tablet that you would like to be able to recharge on the go, then take a look at iCarrier. However, if you don’t want to constantly worry about including a warren of cables with your carry-on luggage, especially if you only have non-iOS smartphone, then Chargepak is an ideal external charger for you.