EcoFlow Rapid Pro review: the £140 power bank that redefines fast, on-the-go charging

If you're going to spend more than £100 on a power bank, you'd be expecting some pretty serious features.

You'd want at least 20,000mAh, for example. A digital display would be a must, it would need a hefty power output and fast recharging time, and a retractable cable is all the rage nowadays - so it'd at least be a nice touch.

They're all present and correct in EcoFlow's latest product, the Rapid Pro. It's part of a series of genuinely portable "Rapid" products from the brand that's made a name for itself with beefy portable power stations and solar solutions. And it's seriously impressive.

It costs £139.99, and that's only if you can catch a launch deal knocking £30 off the usual price. And then we should dispense of some headline figures, because they're really quite exciting. Is battery capacity is 27,650mAh. It has a total output of up to 300 watts across its three ports, it has a retractable USB-C cable that can put out 140 watts, and it can recharge at up to 300 watts thanks to a complex input system I'll come back to.

It has a colour display that gives you all the information you need, such as recharge time, output, input, time remaining on the battery, and even some fun animations.

It connects to the EcoFlow app, which is one of the best on the market, and it has a safety system that adjusts for overheating up to 10 million times a day.

In practice, it's every bit as impressive as it sounds on paper. It's a bulky thing, and quite weighty at almost 700 grammes, so I'm not sure you'd want it in a pocket, but it's fine in a bag.

The three sockets along the top can be used simultaneously, and that's a combined 300 watts altogether, or 140 watts in and out, and then 2x65 watts. The way it divides them up is so complicated it would take me an age to explain, but it's unlikely you'll need more power, put it that way.

What's also complicated is the charging input system. Basically, you can charge it at up to 140 watts through a single port, or through a single port and the retractable cable at up to 240 watts.

Then there's a thing called a "Pogo pin" which you need a Rapid Pro Desktop Charger for, and that'll give you up to 320 watts of inward grunt. To save you doing the maths, that's quick enough to charge this huge battery up in just 20 minutes. Bonkers.

Recessed buttons on the side navigate the display, and it's a tricky setup to grasp at first, but you probably won't need it all that often.

And it's a shame there's no USB-A port, but not everyone will actually miss it, and we really should have weaned ourselves off that sort of connector now, anyway.

I know it seems like there are a lot of numbers to get your head around with this device, but it's the numbers that make it so appealing. And when you compare its numbers to other devices at this price point the £140 cost makes more sense.

For example, one of its closest rivals is the Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank. Costing £129.99 - if you can catch it on offer - it has the same 27,650mAh battery capacity, but "only" 250 watts across its three ports. And only two of those are USB-C, the other one's USB-A. And there's no retractable cable. And it takes longer to charge with an input of "only" 170 watts.

I've tested the Anker rival and it's really very good. It's been one of my favourite high-end power banks for a long time. But then EcoFlow dropped this Rapid Pro on us, and it's changed everything.

If you need serious power and your pockets are deep enough, this is just about as good as power banks get. EcoFlow has just set a whole new standard.