These versatile chargers can power all your tech goodies.
From your phone and tablet to wireless headphones and laptop, all gadgets have their own rechargeable batteries. And having a separate charger for each one can be frustrating and frankly a waste of space. Many people own far too many devices to be carrying around a separate cable and charger for each one. Thankfully, you don’t need a separate wall charger or outlet or cable for each device. That’s because the vast majority of modern devices — including newer laptops — can be charged with a one-size-fits-all USB-C charging technology: USB-C power delivery or USB-C PD.
OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration — but not much. The fact of the matter is that if you’re packing the right kind of charging cable (or dongles), and your laptop or device was released in the past couple of years, you’ll be in very good shape. The key is getting one of the latest and greatest USB-C power delivery chargers. I spent a few weeks testing some of them and I’ve found some go-to choices for fast charging on the go.
This list goes way beyond a simple phone charger. A few commonalities to the models we focused on: Most of these use a new material called gallium nitride, or GaN, that enables high-power adapters to be made in much smaller sizes. As a result, these adapters generally deliver 60 watts of power output or better, putting them in the same ballpark as the 65-watt chargers that many laptops ship with.
Most of our top picks below include dual charging outputs instead of one, allowing for simultaneous charging of multiple devices. And they all have folding AC prongs for easy travel. We also want to note, we didn’t include car charger options here, but if you’re in the market for a USB car charger, check this one out.
If you’re looking for the best USB-C charger, read on to see which of the tried and true devices below will charge best for you.
All of the products below have been independently chosen and tested by CNET editors. We’ll update this list periodically. $29 at Ravpower
In my opinion, this little portable charger is the best of all worlds. It’s got both a USB-C port for power delivery port and a good old-fashioned USB-A port, so it can charge any device from android smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy to a wireless headphone — or be used as a full-on laptop charger — and for most everything in between, including the Nintendo Switch, Kindle and iPad. (PS4 controllers, which tend to be very picky about their power source, didn’t seem to work.) This USB Type-C charger is great for traveling, thanks to a relatively small size — it tips the scales at just 105 grams — and fold-up prongs. In separate sessions, I saw this thing charge an HP Spectre x360 and work as a MacBook charger for a new MacBook Air from dead to about 65% in an hour and topped them off fully in a bit over 90 minutes. And when I threw an iPhone X on the second port, it had no trouble charging the phone battery and laptop battery simultaneously. Do yourself a favor: Get two — one to live permanently at home, the other to stay in the go-bag.
