Gear Closet: Omni Ultimate Portable Power Station

Now, more than ever, portable power sources play an important role in keeping our devices functioning while on the go. Whether that means running errands around town, flying to the far side of the planet, or venturing off the grid into the backcountry, chances are you can use a portable charging solution from time to time. If you happen to be a mobile professional who requires plenty of power to keep all of your technology running, particularly in remote places, your options can be a bit more limited. But thanks to a new option from Omni Charge, the search for the perfect power station may be over.

The new Omni Ultimate ranks as one of the best portable power stations that I've ever seen, not just in terms of features and battery size, but also in durability and ruggedness too. This charger has been built from the ground-up for use in the outdoors, and as a result it can take a beat and still keep on functioning. The Ultimate is IP54 rated for dust ant waterproofing, meaning that it can keep pretty much all dirt, sand, and silt at bay, while also shrugging off rain and accidental splashes with equal aplomb. As with most electronics, I wouldn't want to necessarily submerge it in water, chances are it would still come out in pretty great shape. 

In terms of features, the Omni Ultimate is about as well stocked as any charger of its size that I've come across. It not only includes two standard USB-A 5-volt ports, as well as a USB-C 60-watt port. It also has a DC out port with up to 150 watts of power and an AC port (aka a wall outlet) with as much as 120 watts of continuous power. This allows you to charge everything from cameras to smartphones to tablets and laptops. It can also be used to power-up drones, or even run a small LCD television set or projector too. 

At the heart of the Omni Ultimate is a lithium battery that offers 40,300 mAh of juice. That's a lot of power to carry around in a relatively small package. So much so, that you you aren't allowed to carry it onboard an airplane without getting prior approval from the airline that you are flying with. If you want to travel with this battery pack you probably won't have too much trouble, but don't show up to the airport assuming you can take it onboard.

So, how does that much battery life does that translate to? That's enough to recharge most smartphones as many as 18 times or a high-capacity laptop twice. It can recharge a large tablet up to five times or run a flat panel television for six hours. In other words, its a lot of power in a compact package.

Speaking of which, the Ultimate isn't as small as some other battery packs we've seen, but considering everything that it packs into its casing, it is remarkably sized. It's dimensions are roughly 6.5" x 5.7" x 2.1" (167.5mm x 145mm x 54mm) and it weighs in at 3.1 pounds (1.4 kg). I know there are probably plenty of you who will groan at that size and weight, but someone who needs a lot of portable power but in an easy to carry package, this is quite a revelation. Particularly when you consider how high quality this product is from end to end. 

The Omni Ultimate is armed with quick-charging technology to safely provide our electronic gadgets with just the right amount of juice in as fast and efficient manner as possible. But recharging the battery pack is surprisingly quick and easy too. With a battery this large, you would suspect that it would take hours to get charged up, but it can be topped off and ready to go in under three hours. The Ultimate can accept a charge of up to 90 watts and has pass-through technology, allowing it to recharge your devices while simultaneously charging its battery as well.

Other nice features include a built-in OLED screen for monitoring both power in and power out, as well as the ability to recharge via a solar panel as well. Omni has built the Ultimate with a replace battery pack as well, allowing you to easily pull out the old one and replace it with a new one once it has gone through its full lifetime of cycles. The company has even integrated a system that prevents the Omni from depleting the battery while sitting on the shelf, ensuring that when you pick it up to use it again it still has the same level of charge. 

As with a few other products we've seen lately, the Omni Ultimate is available via a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo that is going on at the moment. Omni had hoped to raise $50,000 to get its battery pack into production, but it has easily surpassed that goal, raking in nearly $700,000 instead. That means, the Ultimate should go into production later this year and begin shipping to customers in January of 2019 when it is expected to sell for $599. Early bird supporters can reserve one now for as little as $299 by backing the crowdfunding efforts. 

For my money, this is the best battery pack/portable power station that I've seen. It is incredibly durable and powerful, at just the right size. Yes, there are smaller battery packs on the market, as well as larger, portable power stations with more capacity too. But the Omni Ultimate straddles the line between those two products, delivering something that mobile professionals are definitely going to love. Find out more here.