Quick review
The good
The not-so-good
Now that USB-C is the port for everything, taking a charger with you everywhere is important. Fortunately, the Satechi 145W USB-C Travel Charger could be idea.
The next trip you take is probably going to be one where you’ll bring gadgets, because gadgets are a big part of our lives. They play important parts, with phones, with computers, and with tablets and wearables and hearables and more.
Each requires power to work, and each is typically charged by a cord. These days that cord is more likely going to be a USB-C cable thanks to how the Type C port used for Thunderbolt and USB has become a standard the world over.
That’s a win for consumers, because it makes charging everything so much easier. Just the other day, this reviewer even pulled a laptop out of a box for review and left the original charger in the box, marvelling out loud that he loved how USB-C made recharging everything so much easier. Clap for the industry, and clap for the EU which has helped to put that in place.
The downside of everything being USB charged is that you need to think of the gadgets when you go on holiday. Fortunately, though, there are travel chargers which can bundle several ports up in one compact device.
What is the Satechi 145W Travel Charger?
As the name suggests, Satechi’s 145W travel charger is a small charging block made to go that comes with international travel plugs, so you can take it practically anywhere and still have a way to keep everything charged.
The block isn’t much bigger than a small compact camera (if you remember what those were), and carries charging innards for the four ports, plus a little switch so you can change plugs easily. Only the US charging plug folds its metal prongs into the body, but everything is easily detached, with one of four international plug types, including Australia and the US.
Inside, Satechi is relying on one of our favourite technologies to grace the accessory space: GaN, also known as Gallium Nitride.
First released to accessories back in 2020, GaN is a replacement to silicon that runs cooler, and so can see big power packs reduced to smaller sizes.
The 145W size of the Satechi GaN is evident of this: this sort of wattage used to require a much bigger surface area, impacting your carry much more severely. By comparison, the 145W Satechi travel pack is downright friendly.
What does it do?
Built to charge several of your devices in one hit, Satechi’s 145W GaN Travel Pack is really made to hit the road, thanks in part to the handy little pack and its travel adaptors.
Replacing an adaptor is easy — just flip the switch — but the casing is such that if you lose one, you might need to turn to a figure-eight stretch of cable with your plug point of choice to fix things. These aren’t quite the standard and you won’t find them elsewhere from other plugs, so keeping them collected in Satechi’s small little netting back will be crucial to keeping the charger useful over time.
Does it do the job?
When you have the right plug point used for where you are, the Satechi is a dream, charging devices that need its power, though the amount mightn’t be the full 145W. In fact, not every port runs at 145W; it’s 145W in total.
The first two ports — PD1 and PD2 at the top — will handle 145W max, while the bottom two (PD3, PD4) handle 45W max. If you add all of this up, you’ll expect 380W, but you can’t get that sort of power with this compact box. Gallium Nitride is good, but it’s not that good. Yet.
Instead Satechi’s GaN Travel Pack provides a maximum of 140W over the four ports provided you only plug in a device into one port.
If you plug in several, the power will be split over the four ports, covering a max of 45W each on the bottom ports and a max of 140W each on the top, amounting to 145W in total.
Confused yet? We’ll break it down in a more readable approach.
That may mean 5W for a wearable, 15W for a phone, 30W for a tablet, and roughly 65W for a laptop, which is plenty in the grand scheme of things when using all four ports, but not quite the 145W maximum.
In short, if you have one power hungry computer and need a lot of power quickly, plug in the one device to the first port. And if you’re charging several devices but have time to wait, such as if you’re going to bed, plug in all four and she’ll be right.
What does it need?
Strangely, the one thing it doesn’t come with is a USB-C cable, which isn’t in the box.
In fairness to Satechi, we suspect it’s not there because you probably will have all the cables you need for plugging in your gear, but it still would be nice. If massive power banks can afford to come with a USB-C cable, a travel charging pack can come with a spare, as well.
Is it worth your money?
Priced at $199.95 in Australia, Satechi’s travel power pack isn’t necessarily inexpensive, but it’s still a little on the pricey side.
By comparison, Satechi’s 200W GaN isn’t necessarily made for travel, requires a longer plug, and costs almost a hundred bucks more. The Belkin BoostCharge with the power bank inside is a little under a hundred less, but doesn’t charge laptops (we tried).
While you might scoff at needing to spend $200 on a charger for this many gadgets during travel, it’s actually fairly good value given it’ll replace a laptop charger, a phone charger, a wearable charger, and pretty much a charger for anything else.
This is our new travel charger. It’s just that useful.
Yay or nay?
It’s hard to find any reason to hate Satechi’s 145W GaN Travel Charger, largely because what it offers is so darn useful.
Several ports? Check. Plenty of power? Check. International plugs? Check. Even the lack of a USB-C cable doesn’t dampen our enthusiasm, largely because every device you want to charge will already come with one, so you probably have plenty you can grab from.
Truth be told, there’s little reason not to grab this power pack. It’s just a useful part of an everyday carry. Recommended.
