It doesn’t seem that long ago when I had a 4-foot long power strip that I used to charge various gadgets and gizmos. The power strip was that long because I needed that a lot of outlets and I needed them to be far enough apart so that AC adapters could be inserted without touching each other. That was so long ago that it seems like a dream… or more like a nightmare! Today we have compact USB charging hubs like the Xtorm Vigor USB Power Hub which can charge seven devices at once without needing a lot of space. Let’s take a look.
What is it?
The Xtorm Vigor USB Power Hub is a USB charging station that has four 5V 2.4A USB 2.0 ports, one USB QC 3.0 3.6V-12V port, one USB-C 5V 3A port and a Qi wireless charging pad that is 5V 1A.
What’s in the box?
Xtorm Vigor USB Power Hub
Power cord
Design and features
The Vigor Power Hub has six ports on the front of the charger. There is one USB QC 3.0 port on the left, 4 regular USB ports and then a USB-C port on the right side.
There are also two status LEDs that glow blue while the device is plugged in and ready to use. The LED on the left side turns pink when the Qi charging pad is being used.
The back of the hub has the main power port. The power cord that shipped with my sample had an EU style plug instead of US style. Luckily, I had a converter that I was able to use and I also found a spare US power cord with the right shaped connector that I was able to use too.
Using the hub
Using this power hub is simple. You connect the power cord, plug it into an outlet and then plug your USB devices into the hub. That’s all there is to it. The end.
Ok, not so fast… Let’s check the quality of the ports using my handy dandy QooPow qualMeter.
I started with the USB QC 3.0 port on the left. According to the qualMeter, the port earned the lowest fair rating.
I used this port with a USB 2.0 to USB-C cable to charge my Nexus 6P without any issues. It charged as quickly as the AC adapter that came with the phone.
I then tested one of the regular USB ports and it was also rated as fair.
I used these ports to charge a Samsung Tablet and a few other gadgets with no issues.
The right most USB port earned the best quality rating, but it also showed as only being 2A when the other three ports showed as 2.5A on the qualMeter.
I tested the Xtorm’s USB-C port with the USB-C cable that ships with the Nexus 6P. It earned the worst rating of all… literally. The label on the qualMeter says “worst”. It also did not show as being a 3A port. It showed as a 2A port.
As far a using the Xtorm Vigor Hub to charge my Qi-enabled devices, I tried it with an LG G3 and a Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Both of these devices are not normally Qi enabled, but I updated them with 3rd party Qi pads which have been working perfectly for years with other Qi charging docks. Charging the same devices using the Xtorm’s Qi charging surface didn’t yield good results with the LG G3. It got VERY hot to the touch after about 30 minutes laying on top of the Xtorm. It seemed to charge, but the heat freaked me out enough that I did not want to leave it unattended.
Charging the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 worked a lot better. It was slightly warm after 30 minutes, but nothing like the LG.
I’ve got one more complaint about the Xtorm Vigor Hub. While I was testing it, I had it next to me on the desk test in a relatively quiet room. I kept hearing a strange noise which I finally realized was coming from the Xtorm. The power hub makes one type of noise when it’s just sitting idle and another noise when a device is charging. It even makes the noise for about 15 seconds after you completely unplug the hub’s power cord. To let you know what it sounds like, I made a quick video.
The video was captured with my Nexus 6P. I just placed it on top of the Xtorm to record the idle sound and then I placed the LG G3 on top of the Xtorm’s Qi pad with the Nexus 6P on top to record the charging sound.
Final thoughts
I really like the physical size and the number of ports that are built into the Xtorm Vigor USB Power Hub, but the fact that it makes strange noises, overheated one of my phones while charging via Qi, and that it doesn’t earn very good ratings with the qualMeter, makes me wonder about the quality of this multi-port USB charging hub. There’s also the issue that it does not come with a US style power cord.
For those reasons, I can not recommend this product.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Xtorm. Please visit their site for more info.
Product Information
| Price: | € 69 (approximately $73 US) |
| Manufacturer: | Xtorm |
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| Cons: |
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Oh, I dream of the day that ALL my devices eliminate charging cables (my phone, iPad, Kindle, cell headset, portable blue tooth devices – and the list goes on). I have a spaghetti mess of charging cables strewn all over the place (car, kitchen, office), not to mention those ’emergency’ battery packs (I sometimes forget to charge).
My ideal charging set up would be a 12in x 12in counter like area where I could lay down ANY device and within the hour pick up the device and have it fully charged – without the dangerous heat problem you noted in your review!