During my long flight to Scandinavia, I made sure to have packed my Steam Deck and additional chargers given that I know the USB ports provided wouldn’t have the 45W output to charge this beast. After playing for about 1.5hrs, I found that my Steam Deck wasn’t charging correctly with my portable chargers I bought recently. Being the confident person that I am, I couldn’t possibly have made the mistake of getting a portable charger that didn’t at least push out 45W…. I made that mistake. For some reason, I did not double check the purchase I made, which cost me great flight time gaming! The chargers I was roaming with had the capacity of 25,000 mAh, but was outputting 20W…. excellent for my phone, not so much the Steam Deck. So, bamboozled by my own ego, I went to searching for a new one, but this time I must go big! Then I found Shargeek and their line of Storm battery packs to choose from. I decided to go with the Storm2 for various reasons and I think any owner of the Steam Deck should consider this as well.
One of a Kind Design
The Storm2 is a sleek powerhouse of a charger that looks absolutely badass in my opinion – its clear chassis lets you see the design of its insides where the rechargeable Li-ion Battery is housed as well as the controller motherboard. It’s heavy given the 25,600mAh capacity but thin enough to fit snug into any wearables for your Steam Deck. The signature color pallet is of off-orange outline and steel blue base.
Additionally, like with any beast of this nature, you get a IPS screen indicator for menu navigation and power information. That means you’ll get information regarding each port, power levels, voltage, current, temperature, hours of operation and more. The one button press is enough to move through its system with ease and all you’d have to do when on a selection is a long press for interaction. This battery pack comes with a maximum of 100W output which is more than enough for your Steam Deck for up to 1.5 charges, similar with charging a Macbook, up to 4 charges on phones and 12 charges on GoPro/DSLR cameras. You can even charge up to 3 devices at once.
The best part is, you can get a full charge in about 40mins but using it while gaming would greatly extend your playtime, if playing at maximum settings, from 1.5hours to about 4hrs. But if you’re like me, you can get an additional 2hrs if you play with altered graphics settings at 40hz, which I think is the most optimal way to play when traveling – you get excellent performance for your eyes while having the game look gorgeous on that 7in screen. Oh, and yes, it’s onboard permitted for flights, though I would double check with whatever airline you’re planning on traveling with – just in case.
Maximum Fidelity
The Shargeek Storm2 is probably the best in the market, even if it’s a bit steep at $230 – it’s worth it if you’re a heavy portable gamer like me. There’s other great alternatives out there of course, but this one to me is the best and surefire way of making sure you have everything covered.
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