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A friend of mine recommended the L130X charger, and I needed it fast for a music festival which involved camping. Using Amazon Prime, it came in two days as promised, the night before I left for the festival. Limefuel provided excellent customer service, they answered all of my questions within a day, most within a few hours.
I had read that this unit will fully charge within 8 to 13 hours of being plugged in. Some reviews stated to use a 2A charger for best results, so I asked Limefuel what kind of charger would be fastest. It turns out that the cable doesn't matter, but the power adapter (such as the white cube used with iPhones) does. A standard iPhone power adaptor will charge the unit in about 13 hours. A full 2A power adaptor (such as the power adaptor which comes with an iPad or Limefuel's dual USB power adaptor) will charge the unit in about 8 hours. Note that a power adaptor does not come in the box, but that's fine with me since otherwise I'm sure it would cost more and I already have ones that will work fine with the supplied cable.
When I plugged in the unit, no "charge" indicator lit up. After I pressed the button on the side, the LED (upper right in the picture) showed 4 green pinpoint LED's. After pressing the side button twice, the LED flashlight lit up. I contacted Limefuel again to find out if this was normal operation, and it turned out that the unit was fully charged when I received it! I left it plugged in overnight just to be sure, since it can't be overcharged.
The unit is rated at 13,000mAh, so I searched online and found out that the iPhone 5 battery capacity is 1,440 mAH. Doing a little math, with perfect efficiency, this unit should charge my iPhone 9 times before its battery is depleted! Since few things in life are perfect, I counted on eight charges, which would be fine for my needs.
The real test came when I used the charger five times in a tent in the desert to charge up my iPhone: It charged as quickly, if not faster, than the standard wall charger. After five charges (with iPhone battery level varying from about 30% to empty), the L130X still showed 2 green LEDs, or 50% power remaining. It's small and lightweight, though I don't think it would be comfortable in one's pants pocket. It's a breeze to throw into a backpack though, and can even charge two phones at the same time (there are two USB-out charging ports).
When using for the first time, make sure to detach the Lightning adaptor from the end of the ribbon cable supplied with the unit. One side of the supplied cable is Micro USB with a snap-on Lightning adaptor that plugs onto the Micro USB port. You'll need to plug this end (without the attached Lightning cable adaptor) into the unit with the Micro USB port. The other end is a one-sided flat male port that goes into a female USB adaptor (such as the square white power adaptor cube that comes with an iphone). Make sure that this male port is inserted with the connectors facing the connectors in the female USB adaptor (turning it the wrong way will face the port's connectors with the plastic tab inside the female USB port). That was really the only thing "tricky" about using it, and once you've connected it the first time then it's all second-hand knowledge.
I'm also happy that the unit is backed with a one-year warranty. It's a solid charger that works really well and is backed by a company that provides excellent customer service. If my experience is any indication, I think they will do very well in the future!
Update 6/16/14: Unfortunately, I must change the title of my review to "Limefuel Blast L130X is a Rock!" I was so happy with the performance of the L130X, had even used it several more times to charge my iPhone 5 after leaving the review above. Now it's time to charge the unit, however, and things are not going well. I tried charging it with the supplied cable using two different iPhone "white cube" power adapters at two different surge-protected outlets, but even after 8 hours of charging, the L130X isn't responsive (no lights anywhere) unless the side button is pressed, then one LED light comes on (same power level as before charging it). The LED flashlight bulb still lights up after pressing the side button twice though, so the battery has not drained 100%. I emailed Limefuel support, and they suggested trying another power adapter, as the iPhone white "power cube" has been known to overheat and will not charge the unit.
I borrowed a friend's HTC power adaptor and Micro USB cable, connected it to the Limefuel and then the unit flashed repeatedly for hours with only one LED lit up. I tried charging my iPhone with Limefuel's supplied cable, an Apple OEM iPhone white "power cube" and the supplied Lightning adaptor, but my iPhone wouldn't charge either. My friend who also has an L130X charges it using the USB port of his laptop, so I'm trying that next.
I'm all but certain that my L130X will need to be replaced. The battery unit itself seems to be a well-designed product that works well, but the cabling and connectivity issues are a headache. I will continue to update this review as things progress, and Limefuel has offered to replace the unit if it still doesn't charge using another power adapter. I have noticed from other reviews that many people use the L130X to charge their iPhones though, so it seems logical that the unit would work with the phone's original 1A power adaptor.
Bottom line is that the L130X itself performed very well from a charged state, but it seems there are some quality control or technology issues with the cable and power adapter. Since I've been unable to use the L130X now on two separate occasions when it would have been useful, I have removed two stars from my rating.
Update 6//17/14: After trying a myriad of power adapter and cable combinations, the L130X finally started charging. The only combination that worked for me was using the USB 3.0 port of my MacBook Pro (mid 2012) with a friend's HTC Micro-USB cable. After several hours charging, the third LED is now blinking so it's over 50% charged. The supplied white ribbon cable didn't work with anything at all, so I have asked for a replacement cable.
This solution works well at home, but isn't a very portable option when I'm not carrying the laptop. I'm disappointed that I may need to buy a 2A charger to use with the L130X in situations where I'm not charging it from my laptop. Maybe after the white ribbon cable is replaced everything will work better though, I'm still hopeful.
Update 7/2/14: After trying to charge the L130X with several different combinations of cables and power adapters, I discovered that my Apple OEM iPhone white cube charger no longer works. There's a shiny oval spot just above the USB port on the front of the cube. Since Limefuel support had mentioned that iPhone cube chargers have been known to overheat while charging the L130X, I emailed their support about the situation. Limefuel offered to send me a free Limefuel 2A charger along with the replacement USB ribbon cable. Since I loved the L130X so much before having these issues with charging it, I decided to go with the new Limefuel charger. I'm happy to say that the unit now charges properly with the Limefuel charger and cable.
Unless you want to turn an Apple iPhone power cube into a useless brick, however, I would strongly recommend not using it to charge the L130X. Either charge it from a USB 3.0 port (computer, laptop, etc.) or use a 2A wall charger such as the one that comes with iPads, or Limefuel's optional accessory charger. If I were the manufacturer, I would go so far as to include a warning about not using the Apple cube charger with the L130X due to this issue, but that's just me. Perhaps the unit will be modified in the future so that this is no longer a problem though.
So, I still have a great portable battery charger for my iPhone, but was definitely a hassle working out the quirks over how to charge it. The time and frustration dealing with it leaves my new rating unchanged at three stars, though I do like the L130X and plan to use it in the future.
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Exeeded expectations. The best external battery on the market!
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2013
I backed this item on its Kickstarter, and I got it very quickly. It took about 6 hours to charge fully (from its partial initial charge), then it worked fine. Since the first time I charged it, I've been able to charge two iPhones (an iPhone 4 and 5) and my SanDisk Sansa Clip+ twice and it still reports more than half a charge. I'm in the process of draining most of my USB-charged electronics, so I can test this thing out as hard as I can.The unit has both a 1.0A and a 2.1A charging port, so it is capable of charging devices that use the higher amperage as well as devices without that capability. It comes with an iPhone/mini-USB cable, so if you have an iPhone 4 your only need one cable total. (Because you can use the mini-USB head to charge the battery itself, which is nice! It also charges fine using the standard Apple power plug.)I used this to replace my ZaggSparq 2.0, which has a 6,000 mAh battery. The ZaggSparq has the advantage of an internal charger, but the Limeade L130X has the distinct advantage of being more portable (mini-USB cables and chargers are EVERYWHERE), having more than double the capacity, being lighter-weight, and having a smaller package than the ZaggSparq.The best part? It has a built-in flashlight, so if your phone is so dead it won't turn on, you can use your external battery instead :)For this price, you really won't be able to find anything better. Just look at the competing products on Amazon and you'll see this is a phenomenal deal.
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2013
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