XUMA 18W USB-C Charger with Power Delivery REVIEW

I love the fact that I can now take advantage of wireless charging with the newest models of iPhones. Even though it’s been around for a while with Android devices, it’s a new option for me as an iPhone user. Therefore, there has been an entire world of wireless charging accessories opened up to me that I haven’t been able to take advantage of before without a specialized charging case. And while I truly love wireless charging, one of my biggest pet peeves has been derived from this feature — the loss of power adapters. I would say that in about 90% of the wireless chargers I’ve encountered do not come packaged with a power adapter. This is truly an annoyance to me because the wireless chargers usually promise a certain charging level for phones and it just doesn’t feel right that charger designers don’t include a power adapter to ensure users can meet those charging standards. Fortunately, there are a good number of decent wall adapters available like the XUMA 18W USB-C Charger with Power Delivery.

DETAILS

The XUMA 18W USB-C Charger with Power Delivery allows you to charge a variety of Type-C devices at home or on the go. The power adapter has a single USB-C reversible port. It features USB PD fast charging with up to 18W of power. Some of the devices you can use this adapter to charge in crude the Nintendo Switch, smartphones, and tablets. It’s compact, lightweight and had foldable prongs so that it travels and stores well. The XUMA charger is designed to be ’slim-fit’ so it can be used on hard-to-reach outlets that otherwise might go unused.

SPECS

• USB Type-C (1): 5 VDC at 3 A (15 W) per Port, 9 VDC at 2 A (18 W) per Port, 12 VDC at 1.5 A (18 W)
• 18W max power output
• Fast-charging technology
• Weight: 0.1 ounces
• Dimensions: 2.1 x 1.58 x 1.09”

USER EXPERIENCE

This handy little power adapter has really been a useful addition to my standard accessory kit. Because of its compact design, it’s much easier to carry around than many other adapters and because it features up to 18W of power delivery, I can use it for many different types of devices. I actually have several wireless chargers that use USB-C for their source of power and I’ve been able to give them power through the XUMA power adapter. I was also able to charge the new iPad Pro with it.

One devices I was able to charge — and wasn’t expecting to be able to — was my 13-inch MacBook Pro (2016). This model of laptop requires a 61W power adapter in order to charge. With this only being an 18W adapter, I didn’t expect it charge the battery. At best, I thought it would provide enough power to prevent the battery from discharging the power it already had saved up. After about 2 minutes of the MacBook Pro being plugged in using the XUMA 18W USB-C Charger, I was surprised to find that the status of the battery’s charge went from ‘not charging’ to ‘2:06 until full’. In the span of about 10 minutes, my laptop had gained 3% battery charge. The charger did start to collect some heat (even after only 10 minutes) but it wasn’t enough to cause real concern. I don’t know that I would recommend using the XUMA 18W USB-C Charger for charging a laptop 100% of the time, but in a pinch, it’s nice to know it will work.

CONCLUSION

I was relieved to find an affordable, efficient power adapter in the XUMA 18W USB-C Charger. At the time of publishing this review, it is retailing for around $15. I really don’t have any complaints about it or concerns with it’s ability to charge devices. It seems to be a pretty solid power adapter.

For more information, visit xumausa.com

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Originally published at macsources.com on March 1, 2019.