Review: Ugreen's 4-Port GaN X USB-C Charger Offers Up to 100W Output in a Compact Design

[joecomo]

Courage? Lots of people still have devices that use USB-A. I use nearly all USB-C these days but I have zero issues with USB-A as one of the ports which btw, in my case is used to charge my Airpods case.

Well I am not asking for *all* USB-A ports on all chargers to vanish, just that *some* USB-C only multiport-chargers are available. If you search the market, there are close to none ...

 

[slvrscoobie]

Several chargers are designed when items are added or removed to adjust power to the remaining ports that are active. Add the latter to the fact there are different allocations built-in already and it makes for a couple of issues (including what you mentioned). I would rather have a charger that is preset and independent of the other ports. That would however require more power availability and the cost would likely be higher.

true, but all of my hyper juice and Anker devices will re-negotiate without disrupting power or at least without 'disconnecting' power to the laptop that it drops out of clamshell mode.

 

[phrehdd]

true, but all of my hyper juice and Anker devices will re-negotiate without disrupting power or at least without 'disconnecting' power to the laptop that it drops out of clamshell mode.

Well, it seems there are 'does' and 'does not' among the chargers for acceptable power negotiation. Glad your hyper juice works as desired.

 

[enrvuk]

I disagree. The design is inherently travel-unfriendly, if you happen to travel internationally.

When I travel, I tend to have three problems with chargers:

1. I need at least three different plugs (US, UK, EU, sometimes others). This needs an awkward and flimsy dongle.
2. There will be situations where wall warts just do not fit into sockets (due to neighbouring devices, furniture, etc.)
3. The sockets are often close to the floor (under a bed, behind a sofa, etc.), and plugging in the devices to be powered is difficult and requires long charging cables.

All three problems can be solved very conveniently by having a charger with a separate power chord with standard connector ("figure eight"). If I travel in the US, I take the US power chord with me. If I travel in the UK, I have a UK power chord. And if I forget my power chord, I'll use the one in the hotel room's TV set or buy a new one locally.

This person travels regularly and gets it.

 

[enrvuk]

I’ve looked at a lot of multiport chargers, and anything that does more than 20W across more than 2 ports just gets too complicated to figure out which port does what. Charging phones, iPads and accessories may be fine for 4 port chargers, but I’ve given up on anything that would also charge a USB-C laptop at the same time. Better to just have one high wattage charger and leave the multiport chargers for accessories

Seriously, just make a mark next to the high wattage output. It's not that hard.

 

[phrehdd]

Seriously, just make a mark next to the high wattage output. It's not that hard.

Some people have mentioned challenges with multiport chargers. First being that when some items are charging and additional items are added to be charged, the arbitration of wattage causes a pause in charging of the already on line devices to readjust the charge. This in turn, can change how the devices respond. The second item is that adding more devices to charge lowers wattage across the chargers and that is not always ideal for the power hungry items. I would argue that a multi-port charger should have one port that is independent of the others and can always* offer up full wattage while the others might negotiate (accessories as you put it). Thus, perhaps one USB-C port for laptops/tablets and the rest (including USB-A) for accessories or peripherals that can renegotiate as needed.