The Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6 energy financial institution is considered one of a sequence of digital gadgets that Celestron has designed to be robust, rugged, and stand up to the hardest parts. This useful 3-in-1 accent is not any completely different.
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
Capability: 6000 mAh
Output ports: 1 x USB Kind A
Charging time: 6-12 hours
IP ranking: IP65
Weight: 6.2 oz (177 g)
Dimensions: 51.3 x 24.42 x 117.71mm (2″ x .96″ x 4.6″)
The pocketable Celestron Elements FireCel Mega 6 (opens in new tab) has three useful capabilities that skywatchers will love. It is a hand hotter, a conveyable energy financial institution, and a four-mode flashlight (together with crimson LEDs).
We featured it in our greatest energy banks information due to its versatility when stargazing or taking astrophotography out within the subject, so right here is our hands-on assessment.
Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6 energy financial institution assessment
Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6: Design
- Feels premium
- Intelligent, purposeful designÂ
- Good, gift-friendly packaging
Firstly, let’s talk about the packaging. It screams ‘journey’. It is rugged and has a novel lift-up velcro fastening to entry the machine, one thing else which mirrors the machine’s well-thought-out performance. It is a black and blue field with an alpine background, sprawled with daring writing that shouts the machine’s specs in 5 completely different languages. Beneath the velcro flap, an image of the FireCel Mega 6 mendacity atop muddy rocks. Even when we knew nothing of this product earlier than buying, it’s apparent it’s made with the outside fanatic in thoughts. It appears to be like like a premium product and could be good to offer or obtain as a present.
Shifting on to the machine itself, it’s smaller than a smartphone, and a little bit greater than a vape mod (or outdated iPod), simply becoming within the palm of your hand. It’s constructed with a easy, curved physique to allow most contact with the pores and skin when utilizing the hand hotter operate, this additionally makes it very comfy to carry.
ADDITIONAL KIT
4-inch 550 paracord strip
Carabiner clip
USB charging cable
Delicate carry pouch
It isn’t fairly mild sufficient to be carried in your automobile keyring (it might tug on the ignition a little bit), however it might be comfy when hooked up to a belt, cargo pants or package bag. It is simply pocketable too.
The ability button, which sits on prime of the machine, is comparatively small. It’s recessed, so it doesn’t get switched on by chance, however it does make it difficult for bigger fingers to press and a little bit difficult when your fingers are nonetheless chilly!Â
The sunshine blue plastic trim on the prime and backside and across the ‘lid’, which protects the enter and output ports, differentiates this mannequin from Celestron’s ThermoCharge 10 (opens in new tab) which has an orange trim. The distinction between these fashions is that the ThermoCharge 10 has an additional USB-A charging port and extra battery capability, however would not function a flashlight.
Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6: Efficiency
- Fast to warmth up
- Flashlight is beneficial
- Digital, no gas or scent hand hotter
Taking a look at every of the capabilities one after the other, hand heaters come in several varieties. Typically talking, you will have battery-powered, air-activated, or fuel-activated hand heaters, every kind with its personal execs and cons.
Gasoline-activated hand heaters are inclined to have a powerful scent (of burning gas), however they’re long-lasting and customarily inexpensive. Disposable air-activated ones are easy to make use of, however they do not final very lengthy, they usually can change into costly should you’re utilizing them often.
Meet the rechargeable hand hotter. They are often pricier than the categories talked about above, however as soon as charged, the warmth can final for hours, and there’s no gas to purchase, no want to interchange them after one use, and no spark or flame is required to get them going. The draw back is that they do want charging earlier than to your skywatching journey.
The Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6 gives warmth for eight hours at 114°F (45°C) on a full cost. It is actually not the most popular hand hotter obtainable, however it gives a continuing warmth output that can actually take the sting off the chilly, very similar to holding another person’s hand after they’ve been warming it up subsequent to a radiator. In our take a look at, it takes round 30 seconds to begin feeling the good thing about the warmth after powering that operate on (lengthy press of the ability button).
Subsequent, we’ve got the flashlight with 4 LEDs that give us 4 completely different modes. They’re white LED, crimson LED, crimson and white LEDs collectively and SOS mode. As sky watchers, the crimson mild is useful to assist us protect our evening imaginative and prescient, however be conscious which you can solely cycle by the lights with the white LED being the primary within the cycle. You may have to recollect to cowl the LED till you have pressed the button shortly twice to get to the crimson LED.
The flashlight is not vastly highly effective, however it’s most useful in altering settings in your astro gear, studying star charts, discovering issues in your package bag, or one thing you might need dropped on the ground, or hanging off the ceiling in your tent whereas studying. After all, it could actually show you how to discover your means in case your different lighting provide fails, however lighting up pathways or massive areas is not its meant use.
Lastly, we’ve got the ability financial institution operate. Use your machine’s cable (or the equipped one if the machine you need to cost makes use of mini-USB in) and plug it into the USB-out port. There are not any buttons to press, the inner battery will routinely begin charging your machine as quickly because it’s plugged in, a inexperienced LED signifies this. All through our testing, charging has been fast and efficient.
For example (not 100% correct as a result of variations in batteries) we will use the FireCel Mega 6’s 6000mAh battery to cost our favourite BioLite HeadLamp 425‘s 1000 mAh battery roughly six instances. Or our Galaxy S21 Extremely’s 5000 mAh battery one and a bit instances from utterly drained. You’ll be able to cost one machine at a time as there is just one USB-A port.
Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6: Performance
- Hold it anyplace with the equipped wire and carabiner
- Eight hours of hand-warming warmth
- Rated IP65 to guard towards water and dust ingress
As with most rechargeable electrical merchandise, the Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6 ships with a partial cost, and a full cost is beneficial earlier than utilizing it for the primary time.
The machine is charged by plugging within the mini USB finish of the included cable to the FireCel, and the USB finish to any USB-A port. 4 blue LEDs blink throughout cost, the machine is charged when the entire lights cease blinking.
The FireCel Mega 6 ships with a powerful 4-inch 550 paracord strip and carabiner to connect it to no matter you want! This prevents you from misplacing it once you’re skywatching or tenting.
We expect it might have been a bonus if the charging cable had been one way or the other constructed into the paracord, saved within the physique of the machine, or used an built-in USB that plugs straight right into a USB charger (much like the Knog Bilby headlamp). This could be particularly useful for in a single day journeys, as a cable, particularly a mini-USB which is changing into much less frequent, is only one thing more to neglect. There isn’t a choice to make use of exterior batteries.
We examined quite a few gadgets — telephones, tablets, headlamps, and our move shoot move star tracker. Virtually all the things makes use of a USB-C cable to cost. This meant really carrying two cables with us if staying anyplace for longer than a few nights. One to cost the FireCel Mega 6, and one to make use of the FireCel Mega 6 to cost our gadgets.
The machine is rated to IP65, which suggests total safety from dust ingress and safety from a 6.3mm spray of water (12.5 liters per minute) from any course.
Do you have to purchase the Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6 energy financial institution?
The FireCel Mega 6 is a useful little bit of space-saving package for skywatchers and outside fanatics. When you’re heading out for a night or two of sky-watching, this looks as if a no brainer when purchased at an inexpensive value.Â
You get 3-in-1 performance from a tool from Celestron, a trusted, well-known model smaller than your smartphone and weighing simply 177g. Not one of the capabilities are distinctive on their very own, however they arrive collectively as a unprecedented bundle. As a low-cost multi-tool machine, you may’t go far fallacious.
If the Celestron Parts FireCel Mega 6 is not for you
When you do not want a hand hotter or flashlight performance, the BioLite Charge PD (opens in new tab) sequence of chargers are wonderful. They’re a no-frills, transportable energy financial institution, and by buying from BioLite, you might be serving to with their imaginative and prescient to offer 20 million folks with entry to scrub power and to keep away from 3 million tons of CO2e by 2025.
The Zendure SuperBank Pro (opens in new tab) has a whopping 4 USB-C ports if the power to cost a number of gadgets tops your checklist of ‘prerequisites’. It additionally has an OLED display displaying helpful details about what the massive 26,800mAh (about 100Wh) is doing in real-time.
For our different energy financial institution suggestions, make sure to try our greatest energy banks for astrophotographers shopping for information.
