Review: The Satechi 75W Dual USB-C Travel Charger is a step towards the future

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2021
Whether you want it to or not, USB-C will take over as the port of choice for consumers, but the lack of chargers that sport more than one USB-C port stands in the way. The Satechi Dual USB-C Travel Charger packs two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports into a single package -- and it may just help adoption.

Satechi charger box
Satechi travel charger box


Just announced during the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, the new Satechi USB-C Travel Charger is one of only a very small handful of chargers to make it to market with more than a single USB-C port. With USB-C becoming more ubiquitous by the day, multi-chargers are vital to keeping all of our gear powered.

USB-C expands

The most recent generation of iPad Pros ditched Lightning in favor of USB-C. By April, we will see dozens of new Lightning USB-C cables flooding the market.






Those just add to the smorgasbord of USB-C devices we have to charge, including our Macs. While we can't charge all our USB-C devices at once, we are getting there.

USB-C and USB-A ports
USB-C and USB-A ports


On the Satechi Dual USB-C Travel Charger, we have a 60W USB-C PD port, an 18W USB-C PD port, and two USB-A ports. A 13-inch MacBook Pro can -- at max -- take 61W of power, making this a great solution to charge even a 15-inch MacBook Pro adequately, and even keep a 15-inch MacBook Pro from draining unless you're really slamming it with work.

The slower 18W port is great for an iPad Pro or fast charging an iPhone. That leaves two USB-A ports for ancillary devices, be it a pair of headphones, a battery pack, or an Apple Watch.

Satechi does only support a maximum of 75W, so if you have something extra power intensive -- like a MacBook Pro -- other devices will get a bit less power than the max. The power controller will intelligently distribute power based on device requirements, but it will never be more than 75W in total.

Home or away

These multi-chargers are great for road warriors. They negates the need to have a surplus pile of power bricks taking up space in your bag.

Mounting the charger under a desk
Mounting the charger under a desk


Another great option is mounting it under or behind a desk with command strips or velcro. This brings a medley of charging ports easily within reach, and if you use velcro, it can be quickly removed before hitting the road.

A charger for now

We'd have preferred more USB-C ports, but the majority of people aren't quite there yet. They have a MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro that needs charging over USB-C plus they have an iPhone they'd like to Fast Charge with a USB-C to Lightning port (for now). Or they have an iPad Pro plus an iPhone to charge with USB-C. This charger lets them do just that with some ports to spare.

In a year or two, we may have more USB-C devices and will likely have more USB-C ports on our chargers. Until then, we've got the Satechi Dual USB-C Travel Charger to handle most of our needs in the near future.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Where to buy

You can grab the Satechi 75W Dual USB-C Travel Charger direct from Satechi for $69.99.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,166member
    Looks good. The capability is reflected by price, but Satechi do deserve first mover premium as there just isn’t many chargers with this capability.  
    Appleinsider, could you give your thoughts on heat generation a bit more?.
    edited January 2019
  • Reply 2 of 6
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    Wondering why so many of these are limited to 60W on the most powerful port. I’d love one of these with an 85W port. 
  • Reply 3 of 6
    BeholdersEyeBeholdersEye Posts: 2member
    The problem with all these power packs is they cut the output to 0 if you are charging the pack up! So there is no way to keep it on a solar charger to keep it topped off and try charging up your devices with the pack, at the same time!!! So what if you have one of these solar panel backpacks and you add a battery pack to it, there's no way using the the battery pack unless you disconnected from the solar panel!!! BS and very inconvenient!!! 
    edited January 2019
  • Reply 4 of 6
    neilmneilm Posts: 987member
    BeholdersEye said:
    The problem with all these power packs is they cut the output to 0 if you are charging the pack up! So there is no way to keep it on a solar charger to keep it topped off and try charging up your devices with the pack, at the same time!!! So what if you have one of these solar panel backpacks and you add a battery pack to it, there's no way using the the battery pack unless you disconnected from the solar panel!!! BS and very inconvenient!!! 
    All of which might possibly have been interesting if this device were a (battery) power pack — which it isn’t. It’s a plug-in power supply.
    edited January 2019 deminsdfastasleep
  • Reply 5 of 6
    macisitmacisit Posts: 8member
    When I traveled to CES, I used an Apple USB C charger for my MacBook Pro and plugged my Apple Watch, iPad Pro and  IPhone XS into the MacBook Pro’s other USB C ports (4 in total) and all my devices were fully charged in the morning. You really don’t need a multi port USB C charger. 
    edited January 2019 fastasleep
  • Reply 6 of 6
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    I have the single USB-C charger from Satechi. It's very nice, but it gets outrageously hot when certain things are plugged into the USB-C port. My wife's iPad Pro causes the thing to get so hot you can't touch it. Reading reviews on Amazon this apparently is typical. Because of this I don't ever have this thing plugged in when I'm asleep or not at home. Nothing should get this hot in normal operation. I had a 12" Aluminum Macbook Pro G4 that was legendarily hot and it was ice compared to this thing.

    Does the dual USB-C Satechi charger get hot AI?
    edited January 2019
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