REVIEW – You’re about to enter the sexy, exciting world of… Wall plug chargers ! I can’t do it. I’m not a hype-er. Chargers should just work. But isn’t that what we need them for? The best ones give us reliable, steady power when a device needs to be powered up. Baseus sent their PowerMega 140W GaN three port wall charger for review, but by surprise, also sent a Magnetic 30W fast charging, 10000 mAh portable power bank. This is power ports aplenty! Let’s see if I can tell a difference that gallium nitride makes for charging my phones, laptops and flashlights, and how well the small portable power bank does its thing.
What is it?
The Baseus PowerMega 140W GaN 5 wall charger is a charger that plugs into U.S. 110V outlets. With outlet adapters in other countries it can accept up to 240V input power.
What’s in the box?
- Baseus PowerMega 140W GaN 5 wall charger
- 240W Cable: USB-C to USB-C, 3.3’
- Instructions, warranty card and cartoon stickers
- Baseus 30W Magnetic Power Bank
- Instructions, warranty card and cartoon stickers
Hardware specs
Baseus 140W Wall Charger
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- Ports: Two USB-C PD 3.1, USB-A
- Weight: 10 ounces
- Accepts 110-240V input power
- 1 year warranty
- Available in black or white
Baseus 30W Magnetic Power Bank
- 30W, 10000mAh Lithium ion rechargeable internal batteries
- 18W fast charging via built-in cable
- USB-C cable built in
- Magsafe compatible with iPhones series 12-15
- 2 year warranty
Design and features
Baseus claims their PowerMega 140W Wall Charger is 25% smaller and 30% lighter than Apple’s 140W charger. Baseus says “Our GaN5 technology provides improved heat dissipation, greater high-power charging performance, and a safe fast-charging experience.” The charger supports PD 3.1, QC 3.0/4.0, SCP, PPS fast charging protocols and 110-240V input voltage.
I looked into how GaN is advantageous in charging and found this: “Gallium nitride (GaN) is a very hard, mechanically stable, binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor. With higher breakdown strength, faster switching speed, higher thermal conductivity and lower on-resistance, power devices based on GaN significantly outperform silicon-based devices.” And this: “GaN can conduct electrons more than 1000 times more efficiently than silicon, and can be manufactured at a lower cost than silicon.” That satisfied my curiosity.
I’m interpreting from the Baseus Magnetic 30W 10000mAh charger product description at Amazon but it seems it can deliver 30W PD charging from its USB-C output port, or 18W fast charging through the built-in USB-C cable.
Setup
The Baseus wall charger requires no setup. It is ready to plug in and charge stuff. The wall charger must be plugged into power other devices. The 30W magnetic charger needed a 30 minute top-off charge but was ready to use after that.
Performance
I can’t tell a difference in charging with GaN vs. other chargers I own. But that compound in a charger may be good for reasons other than the immediately noticeable. I’ll take all the internal efficiencies GaN can give me!
There was an initial charging problem with the Baseus 140W unit that was resolved with a replacement cable. I started charging my Chromebook with the Baseus 140W charger and supplied USB-C cable. I plugged in a separate USB-A to USB-C cable into the USB-A port on the charger with which to charge my phone simultaneously. The Chromebook battery was at about 40% when I started. For some reason, charging of the Chromebook stopped at 85%. My phone continued to charge so I know the Baseus was securely plugged into the AC power. I unplugged and replugged the cable into my Chromebook and charging resumed. Charging then stopped at 87%. I unplugged, replugged and charging resumed. At 93% charging stopped again. I repeated the process to make charging resume. At 97%, another stoppage. This seemed really strange. The charger that came with my Chromebook is only 45W so I can see no reason the Baseus would stop charging.
Baseus sent another charger and cable and the fault seems to have been the cable. The second cable charged the Chromebook normally even with the original Baseus 140W charger. Woo hoo!
Baseus support commented that charging multiple devices at once would drop the charging voltage and I should try only charging the laptop alone. That surprised me. I’d have thought a 140 W GaN, modern charger would be able to deliver the advertised voltage even if all ports are in use. The Amazon description says users can fast charge multiple devices at the same time, giving the example of “one laptop and two smartphones”.
Charging the phone simultaneously with the laptop was not the issue. It was a faulty cable. Every 2000th iPhone is probably faulty too so I chalk this up to serendipity. I had no other problems with the Baseus 140W charger through the remainder of my testing. It worked flawlessly as I charged various phones, laptops and flashlights.
The USB-A port on the Baseus 140W charger charged my phone at normal speed as the phone screen read, ‘Charging’. I tried a USB-C to USB-C cable in the Baseus and that delivered power to the phone faster as the phone screen indicated ‘Fast charging’.
The Baseus 30W, 10000mAh portable charger charged my Pixel phone at ‘fast charging’ speed via the built-in cable. My phone doesn’t do magnetic charging.
I enlisted help from two iPhone-owning family members to test the Baseus 30W 10000mAh Magnetic Charger. Their iPhone 13 Mini phones do work with Qi magnetic charging, but the Baseus 30W PD charger does not magnetically charge their phones. Further, their phones have the Apple Lightning port so the built-in USB-C cable won’t work with their phones.
When they plugged in their Apple Lightning cable into the USB-C port on the Baseus Magnetic charger, their phones received charging power at the expected rate.
What I like
- The Baseus 140W charger charged everything I needed it to
- The size makes it easy to carry in a backpack or briefcase
- The 30W Magnetic Charger delivers fast charging to my Android phones
- The size is pocketable or easy to carry otherwise
What I’d change
- No complaints on the 140W PowerMega plug-in charger
- More specifics are needed on which iPhones are suited to the 30W Magnetic Power Bank
Final thoughts
The Baseus 140W PowerMega wall charger is a capable power source for laptops, phones or any other portable devices you need to power. The 30W Magnetic Power Bank is a convenient portable power solution if its features match your phone or other devices.
Price: Baseus 140W wall charger $89.99, Baseus 30W Magnetic Power Bank: $37.99
Where to buy: Wall charger: Amazon, 30W Magnetic Power Bank: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Baseus.
