Most chargers have a utilitarian design; they’re made out of plastic shells that houses the charging hardware, and other than some branding, charging pins, and USB ports, you don’t get much in the way of differentiation. That has changed in recent years, with brands like Acefast rolling out see-through chargers and Shargeek introducing a series of clear power banks with large built-in screens.
UGREEN is taking a different route with its latest chargers. The Nexode Robot GaN 65W and 30W are styled to look like robots, and while I don’t anthropomorphize tech products, they just look downright cute — particularly the purple color variant of the 30W model that has a bow at the back.
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The Nexode RG 30W is available in a black color as well, and UGREEN sent over both models in addition to the 65W version. I’ve had all three chargers on my desk for just over a month now, and I think I stared at them about as much as I used them. A big part of the allure is the screen that’s located up front — err, face — that shows real-time charging status. It switches between two expressions — charging and fully charged — and you get an easy visual indicator when the connected device is charged. And did I mention it looks cute?
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The charging pins are hidden beneath magnetic feet, and they’re interchangeable between the 30W and 65W models. Anyway, as good as the design is, the Nexode RG series is all about GaN charging, so let’s delve into that. The 30W model has a single USB-C port, and it is ideal for use with the likes of the Pixel 7 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max; I saw the battery hit over 50% in 30 minutes with either device.
The smaller size makes the Nexode RG 30W a great choice for portable use — provided you don’t need more than one charging port. But if you want a unified charger that’s able to charge up to three devices at once, you’ll need to turn to the Nexode RG 65W. It is considerably larger, but you get two USB-C ports alongside a USB-A port, and as the name suggests, it hits 65W over the USB PD 3.0 protocol.
Like other GaN chargers in this category, you get 65W charging on just one port, and in this case it’s the one labeled USB-C1. The USB-C2 port goes up to a maximum of 30W, and the USB-A port hits 22.5W. That said, you get 65W charging when using both USB-C ports simultaneously, with USB-C1 hitting 45W and USB-C2 going up to 20W. This is ideal as it lets you charge a phone and a tablet or two phones at the same time.
When all three ports are in use, you get 45W out of the USB-C1 port, and 7.5W from the other two ports. The charging performance lines up with UGREEN’s claims in real-world testing, and I was able to use phones that go up to 65W with the charger to maximize its potential. Like other chargers in the Nexode series, I didn’t see any issues in this area.
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With three charging ports on offer, you can easily charge a tablet, phone, and smartwatch with the Nexode RG 65W, and it holds up against the best GaN chargers in this area. Sure, it’s not going to charge all the devices speedily, but if you want a small charger with the potential to charge three devices reliably — and look good while doing it — this is the way to go.
The Nexode RG 65W retails for a very reasonable $49 on Amazon, with the smaller Nexode RG 30W available for $25. I need more than one charging port at any given time, so when it comes to my own use case, the 65W option is ideal. If you just need a small GaN charger with a single port, the 30W is an easy recommendation; it manages to look even more adorable than the 65W version, and is just a great all-round charger.
UGREEN Nexode RG 65W GaN Charger
The Nexode RG 65W is a terrific GaN charger, and the robot styling combined with three charging ports make it a standout option.
UGREEN Nexode RG 30W GaN Charger
If you don’t need three charging ports and are instead looking for a small 30W GaN charger that you can just throw in the bag, the Nexode RG 30W is a great choice.