GaN and Alike without Burning The Apartment down

ratoloko on 01/05/2024 - 20:51
Last edited 01/05/2024 - 22:17 by 1 other user

Hey all,

I've been trying to buy a decent GaN for a long time so I don't have to carry my laptop 300W brick but I cannot find which brand to trust.

I saw Heymix ( Hong Kong ) on Amazon AU with some goods with pretty decent reviews like 4.9 for their desktop power tower/power board and 4.4 for the GaN 100W

I just did some search here to find out folks don't like the brand but yet there's Anker deals which is just as bad regarding QAC

What reference exactly is the community using to classify these brands???

Anker from what I gathered in the past has QAC problems but it's "approved" here.

Heymix apparently has QAC problems but is "rejected"

Ugreen is decent, I've a bunch if stuff from them, but they don't have what I need now. They have a GaN 100W but only one device can be connected.
It's better than 300W brick but I wonder where to check the recommended brands??

Thank you

• 

  KaTst3R on 01/05/2024 - 21:01

  Anker and Ugreen are the most trusted GAN brands at the moment. Ugreen has 100w, 200w (can charge up to 2 device 100w each) and 300w (can charge 140w and 100w consecutively) multiport GAN on Amazon. Currently on Mothers Day special.

  Heymix is risky. The meme is that it might catch fire.

  • 

    ratoloko on 01/05/2024 - 21:04

    I actually just saw their 200W which should allow my laptop and phone connected at once.

    Interesting about Anker, I always thought it was a decent brand, then I crossed fire cases when I looked into it last year and never trusted it again.
    Ugreen is the only brand I've been trusting so far within this context.

    Thank you for the share.

    • 

      KaTst3R on 01/05/2024 - 21:05

      +2

      Anker was founded by Ex-google employees. They cant be too shit.

      I got an Anker multi USB charger purchased in 2015. It still works great.

      • 

        ratoloko on 01/05/2024 - 21:10

        Hmmm I must be going crazy then

        I know there was a brand called Annker with double nn
        Anyway, I'll try some Anker stuff. It's always good to have 2 or so brands trustworthy.

        Thanks a lot for the help

        • 

          scrimshaw on 01/05/2024 - 21:48

          +2

          @ratoloko: You are thinking of Annke

          https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/annke

          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/annke.com

          Different company. They make security cameras and have lots of consumer related issues with not honouring warranty.

          Anker has been around for a long time, since 2011. They used to make all kinds of smartphone accessories, one of the earliest things I bought from them were replacement LiPo batteries for Nokias and LG's — the good old times when you didn't need to use a powerbank and can just swap out a battery when you ran out of juice.

          • 

            ratoloko on 01/05/2024 - 22:13

            @scrimshaw: I do have one of their 4k cameras to monitor my 3D printer.

            But I swear it was Anker, the issue was one model of GaN was being hazardous and the comments were to buy a different model.
            But like I said, since crossing that somewhere last year I never looked back.

            I only posted this out of frustration unable to find trustworthy GaN and almost bought Heymix ( 2 orders cancelled just in time ) based on reviews but not here.

            To make matters worse, Amazon AU like any other Amazon store have been flooded with AliExpress alike low quality stuff.

            Without community input it's almost impossible to find out what you are buying in general.
            It's so frustrating :(

            • 

              rumblytangara on 01/05/2024 - 22:18

              @ratoloko: There's a poster here called… uh… smoothcactus(?) who has done some teardowns and recommendations.

• 

  Gdsamp on 01/05/2024 - 21:24

  Following…

• 

  rumblytangara on 01/05/2024 - 22:07

  +1

  Anker has been well regarded… practically forever. Have not come across reports of widespread issues.

  Main problem here is they cost a bit more because they are not some utter generic shite Aliexpress stuff with capitalised names drawn out of a Scrabble bag like MEYMIX or FOOBAAR or FIREBAT, and not all models don't appear to be available with the AU plug.

• 

  CodeXD on 01/05/2024 - 23:21

  I've been trying to buy a decent GaN for a long time so I don't have to carry my laptop 300W brick but I cannot find which brand to trust.

  Which laptop? I have a Legion 5 Pro which also came with 300W brick for it too. I have a zyron 156W deskpod (not GaN) that I keep at work and works perfectly to supply 100W via type c.

  I also have a Toocki GaN 140W 5-Port PD Charger that I keep at my parents' place for when I visit and don't need to bring the massive brick.

  I can recommend both of them. They have also been posted on ozb a few times so you can look at those deals for reviews.

  Make sure that your laptop can actually accept power via usb type-c port, and make sure the device you buy can provide the charge it needs. For example dell have their own shitty proprietary charging protocol that can charge via usb c at 130W but it only works with their own charger.

• 

  omguleh on 01/05/2024 - 23:49

  Can recommend the Zeus charger from Chargeasap, I have the 270W charger, now updated to 280W.
  https://chargeasap.com/collections/laptop-chargers-100w/prod…

• 

  Droz on 02/05/2024 - 01:12

  I've got a 4 port GaN from Rocoren. Bought it on Aliexpress for under $50. 100w, reviewed really well on whatever Youtube channels do their charger breakdowns and measure noise, heat, etc.

  You can use all 4 ports at the same time, two USB-C and two USB-A.

  It's pretty small too, so you can take it travelling without issue.

  Crucially, the plug is a detachable figure 8, so international travel is no problem with cheap local cords available wherever you go.

  Does PD, and also does the Samsung Fast charging protocol (forgot what it's called - SuperSpeed 2.0?)

  Rocoren also have more powerful bricks, but I've not seen the reviews on those.

  I also bought a few 100w and 240w cables from them - also great!

• 

  Paul Atreides on 02/05/2024 - 09:15

  I've got a 150w SlimQ charger I use while mobile for my Legion 7. Have the DC to lenovo adapter.

  https://slimq.life/products/150w-usb-c-gan-charger-for-unive…

  Works well while when not gaming.

  • 

    ratoloko on 04/05/2024 - 19:53

    Thanks for sharing that.
    I have the Legion 5 Pro as WFH setup, high CPU/GPU usage only when dealing with my 3D printer/CAD.
    I got the Ugreen 200W (100W MAX per port) which is the biggest they have, it picks around 70W and hardly ever above 90W even so I have it set to performance mode coz I have it attached to a 34" curved 1440p display.

    In the worst case scenario, I will need a plan B
    I am checking the links you folks have shared.
    Thanks a lot

    • 

      ratoloko on 05/05/2024 - 22:13

      This aged well, I'm returning the ugreen one, my Legion displays a message saying it isn't happy with the voltage it's receiving haha

• 

  Droz on 02/05/2024 - 11:43

  +1

  This YouTube channel might give you some ideas? https://www.youtube.com/@AllThingsOnePlace

  • 

    ratoloko on 05/05/2024 - 23:32

    +1

    I actually watched so many of his videos and totally forgot about it.

    Long story short, gaming laptop is a whole beast within this context.
    Legion laptops requires an insane 11.5A which many GaN cannot output Ugreen included.

    SlimQ Life does have a 240W GaN with 12A which is awesome but ironically, I watched those charges reviews posted a 1y ago, even so it isn't the worst and like no other GaN you can connect devices without disconnecting the devices already connected which is the biggest problem with GaN, it isn't the best.

    eBay Australia has second hand (offices look like) genuine Lenovo 230W power supply for like AUD90 so I got one and problem solved.
    I mainly wanted another charger so I don't have to disconnect my home one to go to the office every freaking time.

    One thing I learned, GaN is a whole can of worm, output, amperage, QAC, you name it.