Are Fuel Rods worth the hype?

Have you heard of these little battery chargers? It is what it sounds like, a small rod that fuels your phone.

If you've ever been to Disney, you know that your phone battery does NOT make it through the day. All the photos, vidoes, app checking, mobile ordering, and let's be honest - scrolling while waiting in line.

Our family has brought several types of chargers into the parks, they all ping the metal detectors.. This last trip was our first bringing the Fuel Rods. They're a good bit cheaper on Amazon than in the parks (of course) so I thought I was super savvy. The first time I went to swap mine out, it dropped back out in the REJECTED slot.. The machine said it was an older model and offered to upgrade it, at first I was going to decline because I figured it wanted me to buy new ones. My husband suggested we go through the steps and see what happens. So we did and it upgraded us for free!

If you're curious - the difference was that the old one was a standard USB and the new one has a USB-C.

So are they worth it?

I think it depends on the person and their needs! I found that the fuel rod got my battery to about 70-80% charged from 20% before it died. My phone is a couple years old, I'm not sure if that makes a difference. It didn't bother me too much because that got me through the day and I could swap it out for a freshly charged one. The buy/swap stations were in most retail buildings. I never had to worry about not finding one, there's also an app to help locate them! All Disney Resorts have them as well!

So what do you think? Will you bring one with you on your next trip?