iClever 18W USB-C Wall Charger REVIEW Portable Practical Power
As a fan of technology, I like to give every device consideration, independent of the quality of the packaging. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do when flashier products maintain the prime shelf real-estate. No matter the quality of the product, certain brands maintain recognition and thus sell better. Other items get pushed to the periphery and lose out to the bigger companies. Since I joined Macsources, I have been exposed to a variety of amazing companies and exceptional products. Specifically, without this partnership, I do not know if I would have ever experienced the amazing gear from iClever.
Similar to many of their products, the iClever Mini USB Type-C Wall Charger arrived in a generic 2 1/2 inches square by 1 3/8 inches thick brown cardboard box. The cover used a copper brown ink to display the iClever company name and logo, a 3/8 by 1/4 brown rectangle with “MINI” in the negative space, “USB Type-C Wall Charger” and the PD18W model number. The right side panel provided a brown QR code, which linked to www.iclever.com and also listed their support@iclever.com Email address. The opposing side panel provided an SKU sticker with product name. The top panel displayed the product specifications: AC100V-240V, 50/60Hz, 0.6A input, DV 5V/3A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A output, max 18W power output, 1.83 ounce/52g weight, and the 1.57×1.57×1.12 inch dimensions (40x40x28.5mm). Lastly, the lower panel displayed another SKU sticker and typical product labels.
Within the packaging, I found a 1 9/16 inches square by 1 1/8 inches thick USB-C charging brick. When plugged into an outlet, you will notice one of two features. I first noticed the grey iClever title/logo proudly displayed against the glossy white surface. The second feature that I noticed was that the front panel had a USB-C port along the bottom and an LED indicator along the top. Normally, I require my charging bricks to have a minimum of two charging ports. Since my home office has limited outlets, I cannot afford to waste the valuable outlet space to a single charger. When considering more specialized charging needs, like USB-C, I sometimes forgo this limitation. The back of the charging brick had a conveniently placed retractable type B wall outlet, which was my favorite feature. When packing for a Cub Scout outing or a camping trip with my family, I often bring along a charging block. Unfortunately, I have had a few of the non-retractable wall prongs snag and tear my camping bag. Retracting the prongs, the small charging block was extremely minimalistic and packable. When combined with the miniature size, the retractable wall prongs overshadowed the single port limitation.
Perfect for portable USB-C power, the 18W iclever charger would pair perfectly with a Nintendo Switch or iPad Pro 11 inch but would not work well for MacBooks (too slow). According to the website, it can charge iPhone XS/XS Max/XR/X/8/8Plus/Ipad Pro 2018/iPad Mini 4, Google Pixel/Pixel XL/Pixel2/Pixel2XL, Samsung Galaxy S7/8/8+/9/9+, Samsung Note7/8, Nintendo Switch, Nexus 5x/6P, Huawei Mate 10/10 Pro, power banks “and so much more!” The size was perfect to throw into a backpack or into a cargo pocket. It will fit snugly into the top or bottom outlet, into surge protectors or into power strips and will not likely interfere with other outlets. If your power strip has the bank of plug-ins in a parallel configuration, instead of side to side, you may have some issues. Personally, I do not buy power strips that are configured that way as traditional prongs do not tend to work well either.
The included instruction manual illustrated the product, the foldable plug, the LED indicator and the USB Type-C port. It additionally provided a convenient specification table, listed the package contents and provided a short FAQ section. Plugging a DROK USB C multimeter into the USB C port and then a USB-C to lightning cable into the device, my iPad Pro 10.5” charged at 12.1V/1.47A, and my iPhone XS Max charged at 9.06V/1.44A. Plugging a USB C to USB C cable into the multimeter, I was able to charge my Nintendo Switch at 12V/0.48A initially and then 12.1V/1.05A after about 15 minutes. I was pleased with the charger and it has now been added to my Nintendo Switch Messenger Bag to charge my Nintendo Switch on-the-go.
Learn more about the iClever USB-C Wall charger.
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Originally published at macsources.com on March 22, 2019.
