Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger review: Embrace USB Power Delivery
Thanks to USB-C, it’s becoming increasingly viable to use a single power connector for your phone, laptop, and other gadgets. With innovations in GaN technology and universal standards like USB Power Delivery, the charging adapter market is flush with multi-port charging hubs. Although picking the best one for your gadgets isn’t necessarily easy.
Today we’re taking a look at the Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger. With four ports, GaN technology, 100W of power, and a major charging brand name onboard, this plug promises to be a one-stop-shop for all your gadget charging needs — from phones to handheld consoles and even more power-hungry laptops.
So does this charger meet Android Authority’s expectations? Let’s find out in our Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger review.
See also: The best phone charging accessories
What you need to know about the Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger
- Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger: $56.99
The Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger offers a total of four USB ports that can all be used at once. Two USB-C and two USB-A. The USB-C ports, positioned at the bottom of the plug, support the USB Power Delivery 3.0 specification.
Both USB-C ports support 5V, 9V, 12V, and 15V gadgets up to 3A, as well as 20V charging up to 5A. That meets the necessary specs to charge up even the most demanding laptops out there, such as a Macbook Pro. The two USB-A ports support the Apple 2.4A fast charging standard but nothing else, capping most devices at about 10W or less. There’s no support for Quick Charge, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge, or other proprietary standards here.
As is often the case with multi-port adapters, the charging speed of each port changes depending on which other ports are in use. This can be rather confusing. Fortunately, Aukey is very clear about each port’s capabilities. This is printed on the bottom of the plug as follows:
- 1 USB-C port (Max 100W)
- 1 USB-A port: 5V 2.4A (Max 12W)
- USB-C + USB-C: 45W + 45W (Max 90W)
- USB-C + USB-A : 65W + 12W (Max 77W)
- USB-A + USB-A: 5V / 2.4A (Max 12W)
- USB-C + USB-C + USB-A: 45W + 45W + 12W
For a 100W charging brick, the Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port is very compact, if not a little on the heavy side. Even so, it’s smaller and more portable than many single-port USB-C laptop chargers. Aukey claims it’s 20% smaller than the 16-inch MacBook Pro charger. The back of the charger houses a folding prong plug to keep it compact while traveling. In total, the charger measures 69.8 x 69.3 x 33mm (2.75 x 2.73 x 1.29 inches) and weighs 223g (7.87 oz). It’s available in black and white color options.
What’s good
With 100W of power onboard, the Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger makes an excellent replacement for a bulky, single-port laptop charger. I obtained 65W into an Honor MagicBook Pro laptop and 55W into a Microsoft Surface Pro X. That was enough to charge them as quickly as the boxed chargers, providing I only used one of the USB-C ports.
Using two USB-C ports drops the peak power down to 45W. Fortunately, this is still ample for most if not all USB Power Delivery compliant tablets and smartphones, such as modern iPhones or Google Pixels. 45W is also more than you need to charge up a Nintendo Switch and can still charge laptops reasonably quickly too.
| Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger Test | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra | Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max | Microsoft Surface Book X | Honor MagicBook Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USB Power Test | 15.0W / 25W | 20W / 20W | 55.3W / 60W | 63.2W / 65W |
| Voltage & Current | 9.06V, 1.64A | 9.13V, 2.29A | 20.1V, 2.75A | 20.4V, 3.1A |
| Charging Standard | USB PD 3.0 via USB-C | USB PD 3.0 via USB-C | USB PD 3.0 via USB-C | USB PD 3.0 via USB-C |
| Power from wall | 18.4W | 25.4W | 65.1W | 74.6W |
| Energy Efficiency | 80.8%, good. | 82.3%, good. | 85.0%, very good. | 84.8%, very good. |
Plugging in multiple devices is a little more complicated and can make it difficult to figure out the optimum charging setup. But the key thing to remember is that no matter what configuration, both USB-C ports continue to offer at least 45W each. I verified that this is the case even with four gadgets plugged in at once. This is quite unlike some other high-power multi-port chargers, where only one USB-C port continues to offer laptop capable charging. The Aukey charger also remains surprisingly cool when charging four devices at 100W.
Two 45W USB-C ports are a boon for those who may need to charge a couple of more powerful gadgets at once. This is definitely the reason to buy the Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port charger.
What’s not so good
As is the case with many USB-C plugs, there’s no support for the latest USB PD PPS specification in Aukey’s adapter. This is a requirement for recent high-end smartphones from Samsung in order to charge at 25W. Instead, you’ll receive a more measly 15W of power from either port when charging newer Samsung Galaxy devices.
As previously mentioned there’s no support for Quick Charge either, nor other common USB-A charging standards used by older gadgets. As a result, you might not receive the fastest charging speed available from micro-USB gadgets, such as drones or cameras. The USB-A ports also share power, so plugging in two devices slows down their charge speed.
Sticking with USB-A issues, we also didn’t record very good power efficiency when charging from these ports. They clocked in at a rather so-so 76% wall-to-device conversion rating, compared to 80-85% energy efficiency for the USB-C ports. The bottom line is that the two USB-A ports are not as useful or as high quality as those on some other multi-port hubs.
Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger review: Should you buy it?
Priced at $56.99, the Aukey Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger is not exactly cheap, although 4-port chargers seldom are. Unfortunately, the Omnia 100W isn’t a great 4-port charger at this price. The two USB-A ports lack compatibility with the broad range of fast-charging standards out there, making them only so useful for charging older gadgets.
The Aukey Omnia 100W 4-port PD adapter can charge even the most power-hungry USB-C gadgets.
If you want something that can fast-charge USB-A as well as USB-C devices, you’d be better off with the 65W RavPower PD Pioneer GaN, which we reviewed here. Likewise, Aukey’s more affordable Omnia 65W PD GaN charger is an excellent pick if you only need to charge one powerful USB-C gadget and a smaller handheld device at any one time.
Instead, it’s better to think of the Aukey Omnia 100W as a very powerful 2-port USB-C charger with basic USB-A ports, should you need them. The charger’s greatest strength, and somewhat of a rarity in the 4-port market, is the ability to output 45W from two USB-C ports at once. That makes this a very good pick for the subset of consumers who might need to charge a couple of laptops or tablets at once.
from Android Authority https://ift.tt/39mqmql
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