A selection of gadgets from the Ugreen company has already been published on our main site. In addition, there was even a video with unpacking, in which they made it clear to me, and in a rude form, that in addition to A-brands, there are also C-brands that have good resources to create high-quality products. Frankly, the video was recorded in this form specifically, so to speak, to probe the audience of our channel: what will be the reaction to a comic video. The reaction was unequivocal: Roman, with these vidos – come on, goodbye! It is clear, understandable, I will not shoot such trash anymore. But it is not exactly.
Chips
Returning to the topic of the collection. The company's novelty (model PB124) is equipped with wireless charging technology. I can’t say that this feature is especially interesting to me, but for sure there will be fans of such functions. For example, I have Qi-chargers scattered all over my apartment at home, but I don't use one. Why? Scattered because I am a columnist and a lover of gadgets, and I do not use, because the charge rate is too low, it is easier to get my daughter to spin the dynamo for a couple of hours to power the battery. Fun for my daughter, and for me. By the way, I would like to ask you: do you use wireless charging technology, and if so, for which devices exactly?
One of the important things in this PowerBank is the presence of a USB Type-C connector: recently, a lot of devices with this type of connection have appeared in the house. For them, I acquired a huge number of corresponding wires and, just like with Qi-chargers, I placed them in the main 'places of power' of my apartment. So you don't have to carry multiple cables with you – one for all, and all for one.
Another important point is fast charging. PB124 supports this technology. I have a couple of old 'banks' without fast charging, and now they seem to me completely useless things: the same Huawei P30 Pro they charge 3-4 hours. By the way, the main PowerBank is Meizu M10. It looks great, has practical materials (no chips or terrible scuffs in two years) and quickly charges any device.
The battery from Ugreen has the following types of protection: overcharge, overheating, overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage and short circuit.
Important! The USB-A port supports QC / FCP / AFC fast charging protocol, and the Type-C port supports PD / QC / FCP / AFC fast charging protocol. All major protocols. You can read in more detail in our material at the link below:
Understanding fast charging standards
Design
I wrote above that I have been using Meizu M10 for a long time. It is made of white plastic, the body is partly matte, partly glossy, that is, quite practical. The same PowerBank from Ugreen is made of soft-touch plastic. This material, from my point of view, is completely impractical: from any touch there are traces, from wet hands – stains. The developers also thought of making the upper part (wireless charging zone) under the skin. On the one hand, the decision is correct, because smartphones will be placed on this platform (they will not slip and be damaged by friction), and on the other, after a couple of weeks, the first scratches appeared on this surface. In general, from the point of view of the practicality of materials, not everything is so simple.
Notwithstanding the above, PowerBank looks quite stylish, and its build is excellent.
On the top right side there is a small round mechanical button. When pressed, the LEDs light up corresponding to the remaining battery capacity. As you might guess, one division is about 15% – 25%.
The main elements are USB-A and USB-C connectors. The device itself is charged through the last connector.
In work
The first thing I checked was Qi charging. Huawei Mate 20 Pro, P30 Pro and Apple iPhone X were in stock. The fastest charging of the smartphone was from Apple – in about 3 hours , longer – P30 Pro, 4 hours, and a little longer – Mate 20 Pro, 4 hours 20 minutes. I can't say that it was 3-4 painful hours, but over the wire the company's gadgets Huawei would have a 100% charge in just a little over an hour. During the exchange of energy, both the battery and smartphones warmed up to about 43 degrees Celsius. There is no active cooling in PowerBank. By the way, as I already wrote above, the external battery has protection against overheating when the devices are powered by wireless technology.
As for charging gadgets over the wire, there were no special miracles: Huawei P30 charged in 1 hour 20 minutes, and Huawei P30 Pro – in 1 hour 45 minutes. That is, it is quite similar to the values given by the manufacturer:
- Output data: 5V / 3A, 9V / 2A, 12V / 1.5A.
- Output for wireless charging: 7.5 / 10W
The real capacity of the battery came out in the region of 9000 mAh, because after charging the 'firmware' the external battery sat down.
In the comments on the manufacturer's website, users write that the PB124 can even charge a MacBook. It's hard, of course, to believe. I cannot refute or confirm due to the absence of a laptop from Apple.
It takes about 5 hours to charge from the 5V / 2A PowerBank power supply unit, quick charging from the same Ugreen reduces this time to 3 hours. Interestingly, this model can charge three devices at the same time: put one device on the Qi-charger, connect the second device to USB-A and power the third one via USB-C. In this case, all three gadgets receive the minimum current: for example, Huawei P30 Pro managed to 'fill its stomach' only 50% in 2 hours.
I spoke with Maxim Lyubin about this battery model. He briefly told me that in fact the battery circuit is very simple and not at all confused. They say, it's surprising that the device produces more or less real numbers.
Conclusion
I can't say that Ugreen PowerBank PB124 impressed me especially, but it coped with its direct task. Again, during testing, I periodically had questions about the gadget. However, they were resolved rather quickly.
To buy or not is up to you, of course, to decide. But I would overpay for the time-tested ZMI 10 (QB820) portable battery or purchase a fresh Xiaomi Mi Powerbank 3 Pro. Learn more about them at the link below:
Buyer's guide: choosing a powerful, high-tech portable battery
What PowerBank do you use, dear readers?