HPR4243: Hand Warmer, long term product review

Hacker Public Radio

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Background

Ken suggested at Oggcamp to do a long term product review of my hand warmer.

Product information

• The model: OCOOPA 10,000 mAh capacity

• Purchase date: December 2020

• Cost: £25

• Description: It has a single button used to turn it on and to adjust the heat level.

• It has three different USB sockets. These are used when either charging the hand warmer or using it as a power bank to charge other devices.

Links to product

Fast charge model from Ocoopa. My model charges slower which might be gentler on the battery. Actually the real reason I bought the slow charge model was it was cheaper

Amazon seem to sell the model I have and amazingly it’s still £25!

Story

During OggCamp I mentioned to Ken that I had an electric hand warmer and he asked me if it was any good. He suggested I do a long term product review of it. So here is my review

I do lots of dog walking and suffer from cold hands.

I've had different hand warmers over the years:

• Ones that you boil in water. Don’t last long
• One that is activated by removing from its packet. Lasts for many hours actually too long. They seems very wasteful as they are single use.
• Zippo hand warmer works well but is a faff to setup and sometimes goes out.

This electric hand warmer is by far the best solution I've found.

It saved me twice during OggCamp as I used it on two occasions to top up my phone. When arriving and leaving OggCamp.

This was the first time I’d used the hand warmer to charge anything. I was very glad it worked.

At the time of purchase I was rather sceptical about the whole idea of electric hand warmers.

The batteries are not used in ideal conditions. They get very hot and when in use a lot of current is drawn from them.

My Hand warmer is now almost 4 years old and is still going strong with no noticeable degradation in capacity.

It has a rated capacity is 10,000 mAh. The highest charge it achieved was about 1 year into use. It accepted 8034 mAh of charge. I haven’t checked again since November 2021. However it still continues to last many hours / multiple dog walks.

I always get a bit nervous over the summer months as it is left for a number of months unused. Luckily living in Scotland I don’t need to wait long until the weather gets cold. Did I mention before about the horrible weather in Scotland?

How I look after the battery

• Always wait for the battery to return to room temperature before putting it on charge.

• Don’t leave the hand warmer for more than a few days at 100% charge.

• Try not to completely flatten the battery. If you do flatten the battery then charge it up soon afterwards.

• If storing it for a number of months then try to store it at approximately 50% charge.

Top view

Underneath

USB ports

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