A colleague at the hospital asked me which power bank to buy for a camping trip. She had narrowed it down to two: the Anker 25000mAh Laptop Power Bank at roughly $96, and the Goal Zero Sherpa 100 AC at roughly $299. Same basic job. Three times the price difference. I had used both, so I gave her a direct answer. This article is the longer version of that answer, with the actual numbers behind it.
The short answer is this: for most people who need to charge a laptop, a phone, and maybe a tablet away from an outlet, the Anker 25000 does the job at a price that is hard to argue with. The Sherpa 100 AC earns its premium in a narrow set of situations, and if you do not fit that profile, you are paying for features you will not use.
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Where the Anker 25000 Wins
The Anker's strongest advantage is pure USB-C output. Three ports at 100W each means you can charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro at full speed while simultaneously topping off a phone and an iPad, all from the same bank at the same time. The Sherpa 100 AC tops out at 60W on its single USB-C port. For a modern laptop that draws 90-100W under load, 60W means you are slowing the discharge rate rather than actually charging. You go from 40% to 50% over two hours instead of hitting 80% in 45 minutes. That matters when you have one shot to charge before a long day.
Weight and size also go to the Anker. At 1.43 pounds it is roughly one pound lighter than the Sherpa 100 AC at 2.32 pounds. Over a long day of hiking or a nurse's shift where the bag is on your shoulder for 12 hours, a pound is not nothing. The built-in retractable cable is a practical touch I use constantly: one fewer thing to lose, one fewer thing to dig through a bag to find when a device hits 8% at the wrong moment. I keep the Anker in my hospital bag and I have pulled that cable out probably 200 times without once hunting for a separate cord.
Price is the obvious factor but I want to frame it correctly. The $200 you save buying the Anker instead of the Sherpa is not a small rounding error. It is enough to buy a decent portable solar panel to pair with a power station, or a second Anker to keep at the camp kitchen while one charges devices in the tent. The Anker does roughly 95% of what most buyers need at roughly 32% of the Sherpa's price.
If your main job is keeping a laptop and phone alive without an outlet, the Anker 25000 does it at a price that leaves room in the budget for the rest of your kit.
Triple 100W USB-C, a built-in retractable cable, and 25,000mAh in a 1.4-pound package. Over 9,200 reviews at 4.5 stars.
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Where the Goal Zero Sherpa 100 AC Wins
The Sherpa 100 AC has one feature the Anker simply does not have: a 100W AC outlet. That is a real, three-prong wall-socket output. If you need to plug in something that only has a wall plug, a CPAP for a camping night, a handheld mixer, a small fan, a camera battery charger that does not have a USB-C option, the Sherpa can do it and the Anker cannot. That is the real pitch for the Sherpa at its price point. It is not a power bank. It is a very light portable power station that fits in a backpack.
Goal Zero also supports solar input via their proprietary port. If you pair the Sherpa with a Goal Zero Nomad or Boulder panel, you can top it off during the day without a wall outlet. That makes it viable for multi-day trips where you will never see a plug. The Anker has no solar input option at all. It can only recharge via USB-C from a wall or a power station's USB-C output port. For a week-long overland trip where daytime solar is your only recharge source, that difference matters.
The Sherpa is not a power bank that also has an AC outlet. It is a very compact portable power station that also fits in a backpack. Those are different products for different buyers.
The Laptop Charging Test
I ran both through the same test: charge a 2023 MacBook Pro 14-inch from 20% to 80% using only the power bank, starting with each bank at full capacity, measuring time and how much capacity the bank reported when I pulled the laptop off.
The Anker brought the laptop from 20% to 80% in 42 minutes. The bank showed approximately 62% remaining afterward. The Sherpa 100 AC brought the same laptop from 20% to 80% in 71 minutes via AC outlet. The bank showed approximately 55% remaining. The Anker won on both speed and efficiency in this specific test. The AC route on the Sherpa involves an inverter conversion step, which eats some efficiency. USB-C direct charging skips that step. If you have a USB-C-capable device, USB-C is almost always the better route regardless of which bank you use.
A Note on TSA Rules and Airline Travel
Both units fall under the FAA's 100Wh carry-on limit. The Anker comes in just under at approximately 92.5Wh (calculated from 25,000mAh at 3.7V nominal). The Sherpa 100 AC is 94.72Wh per Goal Zero's spec sheet. Both fly legally without special approval. Neither belongs in checked luggage. If you travel regularly and carry a power bank on flights, both options are viable. For camping-only use where you are driving to the site, the airline limit is irrelevant.
Who Should Buy Which
Buy the Anker 25000 if: you primarily need to charge laptops, phones, tablets, and earbuds via USB-C. Your trips run one to three days and you return to a wall outlet between them. You travel by air and need something that fits in a bag without the extra weight. You want the best USB-C charging speed per dollar available right now.
Buy the Goal Zero Sherpa 100 AC if: you have at least one device that only accepts a wall plug and has no USB-C alternative. You camp for more than three days at a stretch and have access to a compatible Goal Zero solar panel to recharge. You are already in the Goal Zero ecosystem and have panels that use their proprietary connector. Or you run a CPAP on camping trips and need a compact AC source that is lighter than a full power station.
Most people reading this fall into the first group. The Anker covers hospital shifts, weekend camping, travel, and blackout prep for devices. If you are in the second group, the Sherpa's premium is justifiable. If you are unsure which group you are in, the Anker is the safer default. You can always upgrade later if a specific AC need shows up. It is much harder to get back the $200 you spent preemptively on features you never use.
For more on getting through a shift or a multi-day trip without hunting for an outlet, see my full write-up on how the Anker 25000 held up through months of 12-hour hospital shifts, and the practical guide on keeping a laptop charged without access to an outlet.
Triple 100W USB-C at roughly $96 is a hard value proposition to beat when the alternative costs $299 and charges laptops more slowly.
The Anker 25000mAh is the pick for anyone whose devices have USB-C ports and who does not specifically need a wall outlet in their pack.
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