Our Favorite Portable Charger

It happens on every single trip, and somehow it still surprises us. We're at the gate, or two hours into a drive, and the devices start dying in a wave — first one tablet, then another, then the headphones, then Mom's phone, which is the one holding the boarding passes. With six kids, we're not managing one or two batteries. We're managing a fleet, and when the fleet goes down all at once, travel day gets loud fast.

The Anker Prime is what finally ended the panic. It charges Dad's laptop and two tablets at the same time, and it does it fast — we've watched a nearly dead tablet come back to life in the time it takes to board. Just as important for a family that flies: it's sized to stay under the airline carry-on battery limit, so it goes in the backpack and through security without a second thought. One brick, three devices, no triage.

Here's the honest part: the cheaper banks are genuinely fine, and we keep a couple in the van as spares — Will's tablet has been rescued by a bargain brick more times than we can count. But a spare tops off one device slowly, and a travel day with six kids doesn't fail one device at a time. What actually saves the day is one serious charger that can revive everything at the gate at once, with enough left over for Grandma's phone. That's why the Anker Prime is the one we grab first, every time.