Rayovac PS79 Rescuer - Good, or Bad?

Atmos · March 18, 2016

Alright fellas, how about another wonderful continuation of my... 'Terrible Products That No-one Should Buy!' reviews!

This time, I took a look at the Rayovac PS79 Rescuer 1X, a portable battery bank for charging smartphones* (We'll get back to this point later on.)

The PS79 costs around $25 usd, I picked up mine on sale for $22 about a month ago, while looking for a cheap battery bank for an upcoming backpacking trip. With the bank, you get a 3" micro usb -> usb charging cable and 4 generic rayovac AA batteries, because yes! This batter bank uses AA batteries (A feature that I required, since I'll be having no access to outlets for charging.)

Now, I know what you're asking:

25$ is a lot for what is essentially just a circuit connecting 4 AA batteries to a usb port, are those AA's at least rechargeable?

Yes, it is actually kind of expensive for what is essentially a very simple product; and No, those batteries are just the same old disposable rayovac batteries with unexceptional capacity. The bank even has a charging port in case you do decide to put rechargeables in it, but it's just the little things ye'know?

Well, if they're not rechargeable, then is that charging cable at least good quality?

Again, no. It's just about the cheapest charging cable I've ever seen. Rather unfortunately, that's not an exaggeration. It's seriously only about 3" long, which is fine I guess if you don't plan on using your phone or device while its charging (More on that shortly) but its also just too 'thin'. Even on a good adapter this cable actually isn't capable of charging my backup phone, an Lg g3 when I have the screen brightness at max. It will charge however, if the phone's in power saving mode, but barely at that.

Where is all that money going then?? Is the bank itself at least durable, or metal, or anything??

I think you can guess the answer to that. No, it's glossy black plastic finish, but only on the front and back, the sides are matte. Which frankly I dont freaking understand. Without batteries in it, it feels despicably too light and flexible. I'm frankly afraid it'll shatter on me should I drop it more than a couple feet off the ground. Also just like glossy plastic, you'll find this thing attracting scratches like nothing else,

Let's get down to the brass tax though, up until now these have all been kind of meager problems. You could always just drop in your own rechargeables, or could use your own charging cable, or just matte'ify the front and back.

How does this product perform as an actual battery bank?

Earlier I said that I'd talk about issues it has with charging, and more specifically charging smartphones. This product cannot charge a smartphone, while that smart phone is in use. Straight up, it does not have the current capable of charging a phone while that phone is being used.

For my testing, I was using my LG G3, with it's stock battery, and without any power management processes running.

The battery bank fully discharges in anywhere from an hour, to an hour and a half depending on the quality of the AA's you throw in there. However, in my testing that was only enough to bring my phone up to around 50% battery from near-dead/dead. That's while keeping my phone off while charging too! If I had the audacity to actually USE my phone while it was charging, then it would extend the battery life by 15-20 minutes, but it wasn't capable of charging the battery, it still lost power while in use.

In short, how 'bout a quick list of pro's and cons

Pros:

Is a battery bank, will trickle charge a device (sorta)

Cons:

Glossy Plastic
Poor Component Quality
Expensive for what it is
Barely capable of charging anything
Shit cable
Poor build quality

Even with switching out the garbage cable it comes with, it's incapable of delivering ample current to charge a phone while in use; leading me to the conclusion that... This really is a... Terrible Product, That No-one Should buy!