Kmart Anko portable charger review: Budget-friendly but basic

Online shopping has made it easier to find the best price on the best tech, be it smartwatches, smartphones or tablets. However, when it comes to finding the cheapest gear in a pinch, traditional Australian retailers like Kmart and Big W can give the likes of Amazon a run for its money.

Since 2018, Kmart has been selling a variety of electronics under the name Anko. While you're likely to be out of luck when it comes to big ticket items like TVs and laptops, the roster here does include smaller gadgets like portable chargers, wireless chargers and power banks. Naturally, if you're gravitating towards Kmart as a source for your next power bank then chances are you're going cheap. If that's indeed the case then this 5000mAh portable charger is one you'll come across sooner rather than later.

Kmart's Anko Portable charger may have an eye-catching two-tone design and a price that's just as hard to overlook, but is it any good?

In Australia, the Kmart Anko 5000mAh portable charger typically retails for around $19. That price-point is incredibly low when it comes to power banks, though not entirely out of line for ones with this capacity or from this particular brand. If all you care about is the price, that's great news. Just don't expect any fancy features like support for wireless charging.

For a sense of how the Kmart Anko 5000mAh Portable Charger compares to other 5000mAh power banks, check out the table below.

In shape and size, the Kmart Anko 5000mAh Portable Charger feels like an echo of the iconic GameBoy SP. That said, it's more curvy than Nintendo's chunky handheld. Despite the thrifty brand, a quartet of svelte and slanted corners help give the accessory an unexpectedly sleek feel-factor that goes a long way towards helping cover up the cheaper materials involved.

The top-most edge of the Kmart Anko 5000mAh Portable Charger is where the bulk of the action happens. There's a power button, a USB-A port and a pair of USB-C slots. The middle of the three is the only one that you can use to charge the unit, but there's a helpful set of labels on the back to ensure you don't forget.

The other USB-C port supports up to 15W fast-charging on compatible devices, assuming you've also got a cable that supports that speed. Meanwhile, the venerable USB-A port caps out at the same wattage. However, if you're using more than one port at once you'll be limited to 15W across the board.

The front-most face of the Kmart Anko 5000mAh Portable Charger is armed with an LED display that you can use to check in on how much charge is left and a handy loop that you can use to attach the accessory to things. These smaller and practically-minded touches do a great job of complementing the pastel blue color paint job here. Even if the tech itself is basic and borderline bare-bones, the effort that's gone into the presentation of that hardware far exceeds the asking price.

The experience of using the Kmart Anko 5000mAh Portable Charger is pretty much what you expect. At the end of the day, it's a lot like every other power bank or portable charger. The difference in price is pretty big but the overall experience isn't.

Under the hood, the humble hardware here is armed with a 5000mAh lithium-ion battery. Although that sum is on the low-end when it comes to power banks and portable chargers, it's probably close to or on-par with what most smartphones include as standard nowadays. Even if you favor a larger handset like the iPhone 15 Plus or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, you're looking at doubling the amount of screen-time you get between recharges.

On paper, that might sound like it's all upside. However, there is a big caveat to this. The less rosy reality of living with a smaller power bank like Kmart's Anko 5000mAh Portable Charger is that it also needs to be recharged on the regular. If you forget, you don't have a portable charger. You've got a paperweight.

Even by the standards of Kmart portable chargers, what's here is also fairly light on features. While 15W charging will get you pretty far, the fact that that wattage gets split across its three ports does limit what you can do with it.

Factor in the absence of things like wireless charging or support for proper fast-charging and the price of this ultra affordable accessory starts to make a little bit sense. 15W isn't exactly slow but if you have multiple devices you need to charge or hardware that supports faster charging, the constraints here are going to be harder to overlook let alone live with.