Review: Anker and Belkin 3-in-1 Chargers Offer New Qi2 Options for Desk and Nightstand Charging

[CraigJDuffy]

Yeah, I can't deny it costs more than I'd consider 'reasonable' for what it does.. but got it as a birthday present. And it did tidy up my nightstand charging arrangement nicely. - Though it's a shame theres no magnetic alignment for the airpods chargers on these.

$160 and they didn’t even finish the job by putting a magnetic alignment in the AirPods? Ridiculous.

 

[IGI2]

I wonder, do Qi2 chargers display the charging animation when you set your phone on them? I remember being disappointed my Anker Magsafe charger didn't do that, and that apparently the charger has to be officially licensed by Apple to display the animation.

(It's purely a cosmetic issue, as it charges just fine.)

I have an ESR Qi2 charger, and it does display the charging animation like on a MagSafe holder.

 

[MisterSavage]

Honestly I think they're both ugly. I'd much rather have the Anker MagGo travel charging station on my desk.

 

[New Mexico Bob]

I've bought two of the older Belkins over time. Both died after 6 months. No more Belkin for me.

 

[rishey]

I've had this thing (the Anker one) for over a month now and have zero complaints.

 

[rishey]

Yeah, I can't deny it costs more than I'd consider 'reasonable' for what it does.. but got it as a birthday present. And it did tidy up my nightstand charging arrangement nicely. - Though it's a shame theres no magnetic alignment for the airpods chargers on these.

It

I’m baffled by how these products are so expensive - Anker is $99 for what? 3 wireless charging coils and a couple magnets?!

Meanwhile, a USB C/ Lightning cable which will charge your phone faster, and cooler, with much higher efficiency is $6.99….

It goes on sale a lot. I think I paid $69.

 

[cylack]

I got the Anker when it first went on sale at Amazon with a special promo price of $30 off to $69.99. Have been happy with it so far. My nightstand looks a lot more clean than it did before with wires running to the watch and iphone charger.

 

[CraigJDuffy]

It

It goes on sale a lot. I think I paid $69.

That’s a much more reasonable price, still, when a cable is $6.99

 

[tennisproha]

These are such a waste of money. $150 for something that should be $20.

Not only that, they work worse than apple made lightning cables and adapters

 

[Take Flight]

Honestly I think they're both ugly. I'd much rather have the Anker MagGo travel charging station on my desk.

IMO nothing beats this 3 in 1 Anker cube. Serves same purpose as these tree ones but takes up waay less room and super compact for travel. Ridiculously solid build quality. Love it. Not cheap either, but you can generally find it at a discount on sale or with a promo code somewhere.

 

[MisterSavage]

IMO nothing beats this 3 in 1 Anker cube. Serves same purpose as these tree ones but takes up waay less room and super compact for travel. Ridiculously solid build quality. Love it. Not cheap either, but you can generally find it at a discount on sale or with a promo code somewhere.

Their new wireless charging station is even more compact when folded up. I love mine.

 

[iMacDragon]

It

It goes on sale a lot. I think I paid $69.

I've not seen it under €85 here ( which is what we paid )

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

I don’t understand these prices, I got a generic no brand 3-in-1 charger from Amazon for like 30 bucks (with tax) and it works perfectly

It doesn’t even do that annoying thing where the Watch stops charging after a while, it just works.

I understand brands carry a premium but 100 dollars?

 

[Nekronos]

I don’t think there’s any evidence they kill your battery health any quicker than using a regular charger but limiting to 80% will be helping your battery a lot.

there is actually, wireless charging has a significantly greater energy loss than wired charging and the charged devices heat up significantly more during wireless charging than wired.

Wireless Charging: Trading Efficiency for Convenience

Wireless charging is commonplace and yet most of us don’t realize how bad some of these chargers can be. Time for a deep dive backed up by some tests.

www.ifixit.com

 

[3304614]

I don’t understand these prices, I got a generic no brand 3-in-1 charger from Amazon for like 30 bucks (with tax) and it works perfectly

It doesn’t even do that annoying thing where the Watch stops charging after a while, it just works.

I understand brands carry a premium but 100 dollars?

Your generic no brand charger probably isn’t Qi2 certified. Maybe it is, but probably it isn’t.

(But, of course, I can’t know for sure because I don’t know which one you own.)

These two charging stations in the article are Qi2 chargers.

 

[CraigJDuffy]

there is actually, wireless charging has a significantly greater energy loss than wired charging and the charged devices heat up significantly more during wireless charging than wired.

Wireless Charging: Trading Efficiency for Convenience

Wireless charging is commonplace and yet most of us don’t realize how bad some of these chargers can be. Time for a deep dive backed up by some tests.

www.ifixit.com

Nothing here proves that wireless charging damages your battery. it shows it warms the device up more but I remember seeing some tests where someone wireless charged and used an iPhone for a year and also wired charged and used an iPhone for a year and they had the same level of battery degradation afterwards.

You’d have to do a proper extended test under laboratory conditions to assess if the extra heat produced by wireless charging was meaningful enough to cause a significant impact on how quickly the battery degraded.

 

[Nekronos]

Nothing here proves that wireless charging damages your battery. it shows it warms the device up more but I remember seeing some tests where someone wireless charged and used an iPhone for a year and also wired charged and used an iPhone for a year and they had the same level of battery degradation afterwards.

You’d have to do a proper extended test under laboratory conditions to assess if the extra heat produced by wireless charging was meaningful enough to cause a significant impact on how quickly the battery degraded.

Batteries don't like cold or hot temperatures, if you think that wireless charging which heats your device to significantly higher temperatures (and longer since it's slower to charge) than wired isn't going to have negative long-term effects on your battery, you'd be mistaken.

There is certainly a degree of variability in battery quality in any manufacturing process and you could argue the folks trading their phones in every 1-2 years aren't going to notice much of a difference but let's be real here, wireless charging is worse than wired charging for battery health.

 

[CraigJDuffy]

Batteries don't like cold or hot temperatures, if you think that wireless charging which heats your device to significantly higher temperatures (and longer since it's slower to charge) than wired isn't going to have negative long-term effects on your battery, you'd be mistaken.

There is certainly a degree of variability in battery quality in any manufacturing process and you could argue the folks trading their phones in every 1-2 years aren't going to notice much of a difference but let's be real here, wireless charging is worse than wired charging for battery health.

Yeah, I don’t dispute that it makes it warmer. The question is, is it significant enough to cause a problem? I remember seeing a blog post from someone who compared this which basically concluded the method of charging isn’t going to affect the battery health that much as the temperature difference isn’t significant enough.

Things like using your phone for maps while charging or playing Pokémon go are going to heat it up much more.


I’d be interested to see a controlled study into wireless charging vs wired and the effects on battery health though.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

Your generic no brand charger probably isn’t Qi2 certified. Maybe it is, but probably it isn’t.

(But, of course, I can’t know for sure because I don’t know which one you own.)

These two charging stations in the article are Qi2 chargers

My iphone shows the little circular battery indicator which to my knowledge only happens when it recognizes it as MagSafe compatible

Cause I had another magnetic wireless character years ago that just showed the regular battery when it started charging

Maybe they changed it, but I don’t know why they would

 

[3304614]

My iphone shows the little circular battery indicator which to my knowledge only happens when it recognizes it as MagSafe compatible

Cause I had another magnetic wireless character years ago that just showed the regular battery when it started charging

Maybe they changed it, but I don’t know why they would

MagSafe isn’t the same as Qi2. It’s similar (very similar), but not the same.

Qi2 is (very short explanation) the newer, better version wireless charging (that Apple helped to develop).

If you live entirely within the Apple device ecosystem, MagSafe and Qi2 basically have the same functionality. But if you go outside the Apple device ecosystem, Qi2 is what you want (over MagSafe).

I’m not arguing that technology differences means it’s worth paying significantly more in price. But there (likely) is a difference between your “no brand” charger and these two Qi2 chargers.

(I say “likely” because I don’t know what “no brand” charger you own. Probably it isn’t Qi2, but I don’t know that for sure.)

 

[MareLuce]

I've had this thing (the Anker one) for over a month now and have zero complaints.

It seems like the phone is much more to the left than it needs to be. Do you ever have it tilted over to the left?

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

MagSafe isn’t the same as Qi2. It’s similar (very similar), but not the same.

Qi2 is (very short explanation) the newer, better version wireless charging (that Apple helped to develop).

If you live entirely within the Apple device ecosystem, MagSafe and Qi2 basically have the same functionality. But if you go outside the Apple device ecosystem, Qi2 is what you want (over MagSafe).

I’m not arguing that technology differences means it’s worth paying significantly more in price. But there (likely) is a difference between your “no brand” charger and these two Qi2 chargers.

(I say “likely” because I don’t know what “no brand” charger you own. Probably it isn’t Qi2, but I don’t know that for sure.)

I was talking more about 3 in 1 chargers in general, not Qi2 specifically

These things have had exorbitant prices even before Qi2 was a thing

 

[MisterSavage]

Yeah, I don’t dispute that it makes it warmer. The question is, is it significant enough to cause a problem? I remember seeing a blog post from someone who compared this which basically concluded the method of charging isn’t going to affect the battery health that much as the temperature difference isn’t significant enough.

Seriously. My phone gets way, way, WAY hotter playing games than it ever feels when I take it off of a MagSafe charger.

 

[CraigJDuffy]

Seriously. My phone gets way, way, WAY hotter playing games than it ever feels when I take it off of a MagSafe charger.

My phone gets hottest when using it for SAT nav with CarPlay and charging (by a cable) at the same time. MagSafe / wireless charging never makes it warm up significantly imo.

 

[rizzo41999]

This thing is amazing and worth it.