SATECHI Type-C Dual Charging Station REVIEW
Ever since I became an owner of multiple mobile devices (iPhone and Apple Watch), I have struggled with keeping them charged. The Apple Watch gets drained as quickly as it’s constantly notifying me of reminders, events, and of course, movement activities. I have the same problem with my iPhone 7 as it’s battery isn’t what it used to be and I use it frequently throughout the day. So what’s a girl to do? Well, one answer is to invest in multiple charging solutions like the Satechi’s Type-C Dual Charging Station.
DETAILS
The Type-C Dual Charging Station is kind of a misnomer. The charging station uses USB-C to get its power for charging the connected devices, but you have the flexibility to connect your own cables in the recesses of the station’s base. Being that the stand is from Satechi, it works flawlessly with Apple products. The Dual Charging Station is specifically designed to work with your iPhone (with Lightning connector) and Apple Watch. The stand’s smart charging technology detects and distributes a total of 15W between your devices. The charging station comes packaged with a USB-C charging cable for the charging base but the Apple device cables are not included. Users either have to purchase them separately or supply their own. The charging bases for the devices are designed to be modular and customizable. They have built-in cable storage and can be swapped to accommodate different Apple devices. The charging station is compatible with the iPhone Xs/Xs Max/X/8 Plus/8/7 Plus/7/6 Plus/6/5s/5, Apple Watch 1/2/3, AirPods, Apple Pencil and Siri Remote. It comes in two color choices — silver and space gray.
USER EXPERIENCE
The box is branded very nicely with an image of the Dual Charging Station in use. The outside of the box also includes plenty of detail on the construction of the charging station. When you first cut into the box and open the lid you will be greeted with a small user manual below that wrapped in its own plastic bag, is a hearty single USB-power adapter that has an output of 5V 3000mA and input of 100–240V 50/60Hz 0.6A Max.
Next is the USB-C cable again wrapped in its own bag. The cable feels like a heavy-duty cable as it seems a bit thicker on first glance. I really respect the fact that they are powering the charging station by USB-C. So many others are still trying to push Micro USB, maybe because it’s more cost efficient. USB-C is where everything is eventually heading. Last but not certainly not least is the charging base. Again wrapped in plastic. You won’t find any cables for charging your Apple Watch or iPhone included so be prepaid to purchase cables for use with this dock.
Satechi has been one of my favorite accessory brands for quite some time. I’ve come to expect a premium product from them — no matter what they design. I was very excited about trying out this particular device because of its versatility. There is some assembly required.
While I appreciate that Satechi and other accessory companies are trying to make it easy for consumers to create their own customizable charging dock, I wish that the proper charging cables were included so you didn’t have to use your own spares. That said, installation of the cables was fairly easy. The only real issues I had with it was when it came to wrapping the excess cable around the spool of the stand for each device. The stands don’t really ‘snap’ into place as one would expect it to so if the cable isn’t wrapped just right, it will teeter back and forth. The Apple Watch Cable I was using was 2 meters long so it was hard to take care of the excess cable without it because of stability issues with the stand. I did eventually get it wrapped in a such a way that it works. But, because the stands don’t ‘lock’ into place, when I pull the iPhone of its Lightning plug, sometimes the stand pops up with it.
As far as charging goes, I was very happy with the results I got. I used the provided USB-C cable and power adapter to connect to a power strip. After charging for 46 minutes, the iPhone 7 gained 53% and the Apple Watch Series 1 gained 51%. This was a gain of 1.15% and 1.10% per minute respectively. This is a much better charge than I typically get from standard charging options.
CONCLUSION
The Satechi Type-C Dual Charging Station is a great option for charging multiple devices. Despite having to add in your own cables for charging, the charging station does a great job of decluttering your desk space and giving your devices a strong place to gain some battery power.
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Originally published at macsources.com on September 14, 2018.
