With the Fuel Series 5 / FS5201, Xtorm has brought its latest “bread and butter” power bank onto the market.
It has a stylish design, 20,000 mAh capacity and an output of up to 35W.
At first it sounds pretty good, especially if you’re looking for a simple and good power bank.
Let’s take a look at the Xtorm FS5201 Fuel Series 5 power bank in the test!
At this point, many thanks to Xtorm for providing the power bank for this test.
Xtorm FS5201 Fuel Series 5 Power Bank 35W – 20.000 mAh im Test
Xtrom relies on a slightly more unusual design for all of its power banks. The Fuel Series 5 is also designed to be chic and of high quality.
This is not a run-of-the-mill model from a Chinese manufacturer. The top has an interesting honeycomb structure and is made of a heavily rubberized plastic. The whole thing is framed in gray plastic.
The power bank appears to be of very high quality.
On the side we have a recessed power switch as well as an LC display for the battery level in %.
The power bank measures 143 x 72.5 x 28 mm and weighs 382g. This means that the power bank can be described as average in size for 20,000 mAh.
Fuel Series 5 Power Bank connectors
On the front, the Xtorm FS5201 has 2x USB C ports and 1x USB A port.
USB C 1/2 – 35 W USB Power Delivery – 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/2,33A 20V/1,75A
USB A – 18W Quick Charge 3.0 – 5V/3A, 9V/2A, 12V/1,5A
At 35W, the USB C port has a very unusual performance. In principle, this is compatible with the USB Power Delivery standard, so it’s not something I would complain about.
With 35 W, the power bank is primarily suitable for smartphones and smaller tablets. The USB A port also offers 18W according to the Quick Charge standard, great!
The power bank can also be charged with up to 35W via a corresponding USB PD charger.
PPS is also supported
Fortunately, the Fuel Series 5 supports the PPS standard.
3.3 – 11V at up to 3A 3.3 – 18V at up to 2.3A
This means that the power bank can charge Samsung smartphones that require PPS for a high/full charging speed with up to +- 30W. Very good!
The capacity
According to the manufacturer, the Xtorm FS5201 should offer 20,000 mAh capacity. I test the capacity of power banks using an electronic load, which allows me to constantly discharge the power bank at a rate that I specify.
I was able to measure the following values in the test:
Wh
mAh
% of HA
5V/2A
69.73
18845
94%
9V/1A
68.75
18582
93%
9V/3A
63.99
17294
86%
20V/1A
65.17
17614
88%
Here we see pleasingly positive values for the Xtorm FS5201. In the best case, it offered a capacity of 18,845 mAh or 69.727 Wh. In the worst case, we still got 17,294 mAh or 63.9875 Wh.
This corresponds to a range of 86% to 94% of the manufacturer’s information.
This is a great result! With power banks, it is normal that 100% of the manufacturer’s specifications are not achieved in practice. Why?
For all power banks, the manufacturer’s information always refers to the capacity of the battery cells installed inside and not to the usable capacity. However, this is lower due to conversion losses. 80%+ “real capacity” is a good normal value here, 90%+ is outstanding.
Ladetempo
Expected charging speed Apple iPads ++ Apple iPhones +++ Apple MacBooks 0 Google Pixel +++ Huawei smartphones + OnePlus smartphones + Realme smartphones + Samsung Galaxy smartphones (“S” series) ++ Windows notebooks (Dell XPS, ASUS, etc.) –
In principle, the Xtorm FS5201 will achieve a very high charging speed in conjunction with most current smartphones. For example, it can charge the following smartphones at full speed:
Apple iPhone 15 Pro (Max)
Google Pixel 8 (Pro)
Samsung Galaxy A55
A Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the other hand, would not be charged with the full 45W, but only with +- 26W, due to the PPS level.
In addition to smartphones, the power bank is also suitable for things like the Nintendo Switch or iPads. The power bank is not entirely optimal for Pro iPads (they can charge with up to 45W), but it is also quite suitable.
Ladedauer Xtorm FS5201
But if the Xtorm FS5201 is empty, how long does it take to charge? To test this, I connected the power bank to two chargers and logged the power consumption over time.
One charger was a USB C Power Delivery charger with 60W and the other was a classic USB A charger with 5V/2.4A.
The Xtorm FS5201 was able to charge with up to +- 35W on the USB Power Delivery charger, i.e. exactly at the speed advertised by the manufacturer. Here a 0% to 100% charge took about 3:15 hours. This is a brisk pace!
Charging on the USB A charger took significantly longer, around 8 hours.
Charging efficiency
Finally, let’s talk about the charging efficiency of the Xtorm FS5201. Here I compare the amount of energy that the power bank requires to charge compared to the energy that can be released later.
The power bank required 88.5 Wh for a full charge via USB C and 84.9 Wh via USB A.
In the best case
In the worst case
USB C
79%
72%
USB A
82%
75%
This results in an efficiency between 72% and 82%. These are good values!
Conclusion
I generally think Xtorm’s power banks are very good. Above all, these stand out from the crowd. This also applies to the Xtorm FS5201 Fuel Series 5 Power Bank*.
We have a somewhat more “normal” power bank here, i.e. not an absolute high-end model, but it is great, especially in combination with iPhones or mid-range models like the Samsung Galaxy A55!
The output power of up to 35W and the PPS level of up to 3A are ideal here.
The “real” capacity in the test was also up to an impressive 18,845 mAh or 69.727 Wh, which corresponds to a whopping 94% of the manufacturer’s specifications.
The charging time from 0% to 100% is also good for a power bank of this class at around 3:15 hours.
In terms of price, the power bank is certainly a bit high for the pure technical data at around €50, but Xtorm is a Dutch manufacturer that also relies on quite unique designs and quite high quality, so I would say the price is okay.