Sharge Retractable 3-in-1 Power Bank: Slightly impractical, extremely cool

There are a lot of power banks on the market, and choosing between them can be difficult. Some include wireless charging, Qi2 support, displays, built-in cables, and more. Instead of relying solely on specs, Sharge does things differently by making the design and style just as important.

Some products, like the Shargeek 170, have a Cyberpunk-inspired game vibe, while the Sharge Retractable 3-in-1 Power Bank I have here has a more minimal design that reminds me of a Nothing Phone. Good design needs a solid foundation to back it up, so can this $50 Sharge 3-in-1 justify its place in your home and bag?

The 3-in-1, as the name suggests, is more than just a power bank. It’s a wall charger, a power bank, and a cable. Personally, I think using the integrated cable to classify this as a 3-in-1 is a bit of a stretch, but even so, the idea is solid. One of the things that annoys me about power banks is remembering to recharge them after use — usually, I leave them in my bag and forget, causing an inconvenience for tomorrow. I have a whole Tick Tick reminder system dedicated to making sure I keep everything charged.

Being both a wall charger and a power bank solves that. It keeps the integrated 10,000mAh battery charged up and ready to go, so all you need to do when you go out is to put it in your bag. The integrated USB-C cable is convenient too, because it’s one less thing you have to remember when you’re rushing out of the house.

The Sharge 3-in-1 is a gorgeous gadget. The clear plastic housing that lets you see the spinning USB-C reel makes it stand out from all of the other chargers and power banks you’re likely to have. The problem is that white and clear plastic is hard to keep clean and damage-free. I’ve used this power bank as I would any other. It’s been in my backpack, the car, my laptop bag, and my pocket. That’s hardly an extreme use case — it’s not like I’ve been throwing it against walls or scraping it along brickwork. Even so, the 3-in-1 doesn’t look the same as when I got it.

Look closely, and you can see scratches and stress marks in the plastic, but what’s worse is the discoloration. There are marks all over the back panel, and I haven’t found a way to remove them. The clear plastic also has awful swirl marks and scratches. It looks like a car that’s gone through a cheap car wash. There’s also dust inside the clear section, and I have no idea how that got in there. Obviously, none of this interferes with the function of the power bank, but part of the appeal of Sharge products is the design, and I’m not impressed with how it’s lasted. The swirls on the clear plastic are only visible up close, so making a black and clear variant of the 3-in-1 would go a long way to alleviate the issue, but Sharge only offers the white model.

Ignoring the durability of the design, the 3-in-1 is an easy product to carry around. It measures 110 x 52 x 40mm and weighs 300g. That makes it heavier than your phone, but it isn’t something you’re going to notice in a bag or packpack. Behind the clear plastic and next to the power button is a dot-matrix display that clearly shows how much charge you have left. The built-in USB-C cable can extend to 68.5cm, which is more than long enough most of the time, and can be supplemented by a longer cable connected to the USB-C port if needed.

Part of the design that baffles me is the strap on the side of the charger. I can’t find a way to unfasten it, and I don’t know of any human with hands small enough to fit through it. Maybe Sharge designed it for my cat, whose paws fit through the soft plastic loop with ease. Speaking of that soft plastic, it discolors even faster than the hard plastic the rest of the Sharge 3-in-1 is made of, and it didn’t take long for it to look grimy.

I was pleased to find that the Sharge 3-in-1 backs up its design with substance. It outputs 30W via the built-in USB-C cable or the USB-C port, and my testing showed that it supports Power Delivery 3.1 and PPS standards. That means it can reach that 30W maximum output on the majority of phones, including Samsung and Pixel products. That was also enough to keep my Steam Deck topped up while I was playing Horizon Zero Dawn while waiting for a hospital appointment last month.

The Sharge 3-in-1 has a 10,000mAh battery, which was able to charge my S23 Ultra about one and a half times, which is more than enough for a power bank this size. Recharging the power bank feels slow, though. In my testing, it drew 20W from my wall charger, which took it from 0-25% in half an hour. That’s not that impressive, but it’s unlikely to matter when you remember that the 3-in-1 is intended to act as a wall charger most of the time and a power bank when you need it, so it’ll keep itself topped up most of the time.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to use it this way. Even though the Sharge 3-in-1 is sold in the UK via Sharge’s UK website, it’s only available with US wall pins. That meant I had to use this as a conventional power pack, and it’s clear to me that isn’t the intended use case for this product.

Overall, I think this is a great product for the niche it serves, and if it were available with UK power pins, I would absolutely buy one for myself. If you live in the US and want a stylish 30W wall charger that you can unplug and use as a power bank every so often, this is really good at that. Having it plugged into the wall means you’ll always have a full battery with which to charge your devices on the go, and you won’t even need to remember to bring a cable. $50 is a reasonable ask for something that can serve as both a charger and a power bank, and it’s often on sale for less. As I write this, it’s $10 off on Sharge’s website.

If, however, you want something that’s a power bank first and foremost, there are better options out there, both from Sharge and competitors. The same price will get you a power bank with a larger battery or faster charging, while a similarly spec’d power bank will cost you less.