On first look Unibank seems to be quite large and possibly a bit of an overkill if you just want a simple charger, but this isn't a simple charger. Unibank is definitely a power bank you should get if you like wild camping, back-packing or other activities that take you off-grid.

Haven't we all been in the situation when you desperately need to make a call, or look up an address, and your phone is on its last few percent, and there's nowhere to charge it?

Unibank can be charged up as normal, but it also has a pull cord to charge the power bank when electricity isn't available. Pulling the cord for just 90 seconds can give you 25 minutes talk time on a typical smartphone. Unibank has a 5,000 MaH battery and fully charged it will completely charge an iPhone 8 approximately 2.2 times.

Being able to add charge on the go is great, but that isn't just why this charger is so cool. No, why it is so cool is that this one charger can replace lots of other gadgets too. It comes with a Micro USB cable for charging at home, and has a USB port for attaching your different cables.

First up the main body has a very bright LED Torch built in (I know it's bright, because I happened to look directly at it whilst writing this review, and now all I can see is glowing spots!).

As well as the torch, the Unibank offers a choice of changeable 'ends' including an ambient light, wireless speaker, panic alarm, and laser measure, which are all controlled from an intuitive, free app (iOS & Android) via Bluetooth.

They say it 'seamlessly' connects to the app, but I did have a little trouble connecting it up to my iPhone 6S to begin with.

In my phone's settings it kept saying it was connected, but in the app when I went to the battery analysis page it kept saying the Unibank wasn't connected.

After a few frustrating minutes of switching things off and on I finally figured I had to press the red Bluetooth symbol in the top right hand corner of the screen to actually connect up the Unibank. Aaargh, so simple, yet so hard to discover.

All the attachments are easy to fit, just pop off the rounded end with the 2 push buttons on either side, and then the attachments simply pop on. We got sent 3 out of the 4 to test...

Ambient Light

Oh this is fun! You turn it off and on with the app, but more importantly for gadget lovers you can also change the brightness, the colour and choose from 5 different flashing colours (red, green, yellow/orange, blue & white) and 2 multi colour settings (one dimming, one flashing).

The flashing settings make this great for emergencies and rescue situations, and the multicolour settings would be great as a relaxing night light for getting the kids off to sleep when camping.

Wireless Speaker

When I first attached the speaker and played some music, I can't say I was impressed, it all sounded a bit tinny, then I looked at the app and saw there was a Bass Boost button. Definitely press this for music as the sound is so much better, and a pleasure to listen to, but if you like to listen to podcasts the sound is better without the boost.

On full volume the sound is rather loud, so it would be good for having a spontaneous fireside boogie session, if that's what you want.

Panic Alarm

I didn't feel the need to ask for the Panic Alarm, but if I was planning on going backpacking alone, I would definitely get myself this attachment.

I would feel safer, as this would give me a little extra peace of mind. Hopefully any attacker, whether human or animal, would be driven off by the loud noise this will emit, therefore for just a few pennies this is a no-brainer for travelling and camping.

Combined Laser & Distance Measure

I am proud of myself in that I've figured a couple of ways that this could be used when out'n'about - you could use it to measure small gate openings to see if you could fit your vehicle through, or to measure heights to see if you can fit under with the roof tent attached.

That said I think this is more of a gadget that would be used mainly in the home or at work. It comes with a bracket, to make it easy to fine-tune the laser’s angle, which attaches to Unibank via its standard tripod thread - meaning you can also attach it to any universal tripod.

I tried it out on a few distances to see how it all worked with the app, and I was pleasantly impressed with the ease of measuring, and that the app can save the measurements in different folders, which means that if you are doing some work in the house you can measure the different room dimensions, and save each set in individual room folders, so you don't need to carry round scraps of paper with illegible scrawlings any more.

Accessories

There are a couple of accessories you may want to get depending on how you want to use Unibank.

There's a Body Clip & Arm Strap so you can clip it into your belt/backpack, or strap it to your arm, and there is a Silicone Jacket for protection against bumps, scratches, and accidental drops. The soft-touch silicone case is engineered to allow easy access to its pull cord, underside panel, and attachments.

*UPDATE

When I originally wrote this review back in 2021, the only thing it was missing was something to keep the powerbank and attachments together, because if you put it in a backpack or in a glove compartment, keeping all the bits together was a pain.

Since then, they have created a great Protective Carry Case that is perfect for the job to keep all the bits safe and clean. One side holds the powerbank unit, and on the other there are 2 open nets that can hold at least 2 attachments (though I think you could probably fit the light, speaker and panic alarm in if you did a bit of jiggling, but as I didn’t have the panic alarm I couldn’t test out my theory).

It is a semi-rigid rectangle when closed, and although it may seem a tad bulky, when you realise that the whole thing can replace the need to carry a separate torch, speaker, tent light, panic alarm and charger, it doesn’t really take up that much room. The other thing about it being rectangular is that it won’t easily roll about in the car.

For the ability to charge up devices when there is no access to a plug, by just pulling the cord, this is a brilliant gadget for wild campers, long-distance hikers or just people who have a lot of power hungry gadgets. Then with the add-ons, this is one of the handiest powerbanks we have ever come across.

Prices:

Unibank Power Bank - £96.45 for the main unit, including built-in torch
Ambient Light Attachment - £29.95
Wireless Speaker Attachment - £33.95
Panic Alarm Attachment - £29.95
Laser Line & Distance Measure Attachment - £89.95
Silicone Jacket - £9.95
Body Clip & Arm Strap - £11.95
Protective Carry Case - £15.95

more at » unibanktm.com

Unibank (*updated)