Popular accessory brand Ugreen has built a veritable line-up of portable power banks and chargers over the past few years, with a variety of options to meet the needs of gadget users on the go. Determining which type of unit will meet your specific needs can be difficult, but if you’re looking for a compact USB-C/A bank that has enough juice to fully recharge your smartphone and laptop and then some, consider Ugreen’s Nexode 100W Power Bank. May be worth it.
I’ve been testing the Nexode for a few weeks now, and I’m impressed enough that it’s become an ever-present accessory in my laptop bag, and I never leave the room without it when I’m working away from home.
Normally priced at $79.99 (and sometimes much cheaper if you shop online), it’s a compact, unassuming unit that weighs around 513 grams. While it’s about three times heavier than the iPhone 15 Pro, its dimensions are pretty similar, and it’s about 1.5x as thick as Apple’s smartphone, which makes it pocketable if you’re wearing a coat.
The flame-resistant plastic case is painted black on the back and metallic gray on one side and around the edges. It’s soft to the touch, but its smoothness suggests it will scratch easily, so I store it in the supplied draw-string velvet pouch when not in use. The included USB-C to USB-C cable is about 18 inches long, and it fits inside very easily.
There’s a button on one side of the unit that, when pressed, lights up a simple LCD readout that tells you the percentage of charge remaining in its five 21700 battery cells, which have a total capacity of 20,000mAh. The power bank itself supports fast charging at a maximum of 65W. With a charger that takes advantage of this, the unit reaches 50% capacity in about 50 minutes and full capacity in about 110 minutes, so you can basically look at the LCD percentage readout to get a fairly good idea of how it’s progressing. Able to charge your devices while charging the bank itself.
There are three ports on one side of the bank: IN1/OUT1 is a USB-C port used to charge the Nexode, but also the connector to use if you want to charge a device at a maximum output of 100W. Then there are the secondary USB-C and USB-A ports, which let you charge up to three devices simultaneously.
I’m charging my M3 MacBook Air 13-inch using the maximum 100W fast charging speed, and from 10% battery it can bring my laptop to 50% charge in about 25 minutes and fully charge it in about an hour, with about 10% in the bank. Keep the juice. When I plug in my iPhone 15 Pro when it hovers around 10%, it hits 60% charge in half an hour and is fully charged in an hour, with enough left in the power bank tank to keep the iPhone from being nearly dead. Fully rechargeable. More than double.
These charge times, exponentially, don’t depend on anything else connected to the power bank, because that’s when the variable output changes. With multiple devices plugged in, the 100W port is limited to 65W, which is still not bad, but the wait time obviously goes up. On their own, the second USB-C port maxes out at 30W, while the USB-A port can handle 22.5W, both good for AirPods or Apple Watch (if both gadgets are connected, pressing the unit’s button three times consistently activates a low-current mode ).
That said, if all three ports are active, the two secondary ports share 20W, although this doesn’t affect the 100W rating, which seems reasonable for a power bank on a single charge. Regardless, the overall power of the unit meant that I was able to work from home all day without worrying about whether I’d have access to a power outlet – even if my MacBook wasn’t charged overnight.
Likewise, heading out on the weekend with a fully charged MacBook and iPhone, it easily met my needs, even when I didn’t have easy access to power. All in all, the Ugreen Nexode 100W did not disappoint me. There may not be any bells or whistles to speak of, but that helps keep the price reasonable.
As an Amazon Prime Day deal, the Ugreen Nexode 100W 20000mAh Power Bank is available from Amazon and the Ugreen website, priced at $54.39 (down from the regular $79.99 list price).
Note: Ugreen provided MacRumors with the Nexode 100W 20000mAh Power Bank for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an authorized partner with Amazon. When you click on a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps keep our site running.
