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Joby Action Battery Grip powers up your camera while you're recording

It looks like a typical handgrip mount for an action cam, but its USB ports let you know it's something more.

Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice

Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.

Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials

More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.

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Joshua Goldman

Nov. 3, 2015 1:00 p.m. PT

2 min read

Camera-accessory maker Joby might be best known for its GorillaPod tripods, but the company has been steadily building out an accessory lineup for action cameras like GoPros. That expansion continues with the Action Battery Grip.

It looks like a pretty standard handgrip mount wrapped in silicone to keep it from slipping out of your hand. Attached on top is a three-prong mount ready for a GoPro-camera housing, but Joby includes an adapter that changes it to a standard 1/4-20 tripod mount. That means you can use it for just about any small camera or a smartphone.

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Behind a small door on the grip are Mini-USB and full-size USB ports; the former charges up the built-in 2,600mAh battery while the latter lets you charge up whatever device you have connected to it. Joby says the battery provides up to three times the normal battery life of a device.

While having the battery is good for keeping your camera powered up in between shoots, or even while shooting, it's also just nice to have for adding some juice to a smartphone or other device when you're out and about. (Output, by the way, is 5 volts at 1.0 amp.) A threaded mount in the bottom can be used to put it on a tripod, too, so you can use the battery to power a camera through an extended time-lapse recording.

Joby isn't the first to add a battery to handgrip, but the Action Battery grip has a versatile design, it's made from good materials and feels like it can take plenty of abuse. That's good because this thing is not cheap at $70. Pricing wasn't immediately available for the UK and Australia, but the price converts to about £45 and AU$100.