Thank you, @chrisys! I really appreciate you making the effort to explain this to me.
What did you mean by “without having to worry about charging”? Is there something different between the PiJuice and a USB power bank with respect to charging capability?
My knowledge of the situation currently looks like this:
- USB power banks are warranty-backed consumer products
- USB power banks are readily available everywhere
- USB power banks are cheaper per mAh
- The only functionality that the PiJuice provides beyond a USB power bank is programmability and an API
- The PiJuice is currently out of stock everywhere I can find in the Western hemisphere
- The PiJuice might go out of production at any moment
- The Fin is designed for reliability and mass deployment
For use cases that don’t require an API, these points seem to weigh very heavily in favour of USB power banks. Given what I currently know, I can’t explain why USB power isn’t the primary recommended off-grid solution, and I’m mystified by the design decision to omit a micro-USB power port on the Fin. I’m a complete beginner in this realm, and obviously your design team must have made this decision for a good reason, so it seems likely that I’m missing something important. Could you help me understand what I’m not getting?
Thanks so much for your time!