Reviewing the Lion Claw iPhone charging device
How do you charge your Apple iPhone when you’re on the road? Is there a way to charge your iPhone with solar power and still use it? We found the new Lion Energy “Claw” at Overland Expo West and had to have two.
What is the Lion Energy Claw
The Lion Energy Claw is a small charging device that can magnetically attach to the back of an iPhone 12-16 and provide up to 10,000 mah of power. Essentially this works in several ways - it can provide power through the magnetic induction chargers function, up to 15 watts on iPhones that can accept that, or you can use the included USB C port to provide up to 2.22 amps of power.
The Claw weighs 6.3 ounces and does feel as heavy as the phone. There’s a power indicator light as well as a USB C port and power button on the bottom of the device.
Power by solar
When we bought our Lion Energy Prowler portable charging devices at the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV show there was the promise that Lion would ship us a 10 watt solar panel to recharge these. It turns out these same 10 watt solar panels also do a good job of re-juicing the Claw and through the same USB C port.
Of course you can use whatever source of USB C power you have including power in your vehicle or even a household charging station, naturally.
Why have the Lion Energy Claw
What we found is that, on days where we’re really using the heck out of our phones, such as at Overland Expo West, we tend to run out of juice in the phone before we’re done for the day. The Claw is a great accessory as it can keep our phones charged or even recharge the phone if it gets low.
You can just leave this on the back of a compatible iPhone and use it as you normally would, albeit with a big battery stuck on the back of the phone.
The magnetic mount on this makes it pretty handy and makes sure the Claw is properly secured to the phone.
What about Android?
If you have an Android phone that’s not what this was designed to work with. Sorry, Charlie.
I was able to use this to recharge my AirPod Pro headphones, though, if that’s any consolation. It probably isn’t.
I could also recharge my iPad but I would have to use the USB C port on the Claw which is a bidirectional port.
Conclusions about the Lion Energy Claw
Since we’re iPhone users this gadget made a lot of sense for us, especially for days where we’re just using the heck out of our iPhones. At $34 each at Overland Expo West they were pretty affordable.
