Ugreen Nexode Pro 65W 3-Port GaN Fast Charger
design
The Ugreen Nexode Pro family of chargers certainly all carry the same DNA, they’re a wonderful matching set. Like the larger 160W option I’ve also recently had my hands on, the Nexode Pro 65W is wrapped in a simple gunmetal grey outfit that does a good job of looking suitably premium. The matte finish of the plastic body almost mimics a metal shell and holding it for the first time I briefly second guessed whether Ugreen had splashed out on a higher end material. They hadn’t of course, it’s all plastic, but it’s a high quality plastic that feels far from cheap.
Annoyingly though the Nexode Pro 65W charger also retains the same fixed power socket prongs which jut aggressively out from the end. Not only do they add nearly 50% to the total length of the charger but they feel rather exposed and vulnerable. I’m less confident about chucking the Nexode Pro 65W straight into a backpack or my pocket than I would be with charger offering folding or retractable pins. Yes, there’s likely no room to incorporate the pins into the charger body itself at this size; but I’d welcome a slightly larger total size with flat edges all round over a thinner body with exposed arms.
There’s three ports on offer here, down from four on the 160W Nexode Pro but still an excellent offering for a charger of this size. The two USB-C and single USB-A port are reasonably tightly spaced but not so cramped that it’ll ever cause you real problems. Trying to remove the middle USB-C cable without first removing a cable above or below it was a little fiddly, but I’m splitting hairs here.
performance
Generally there are two reasons you’d look to a more premium charging option like the Ugreen Nexode Pro. Either you want more ports or you want more power. If you want a lot of both, the 160W variant is probably more for you, but for most day to day situations the 65W Nexode Pro should have you covered.
check latest prices
While initially a £50 price tag for a charger may still feel like a lot, you do get a surprising amount of your money. Particularly when you consider an official Apple iPhone charger will set you back £19 and offers just one USB-C port and 20W of juice – banking three times the ports and power for twice the amount is starting to look far more attractive.
Overall in testing I was impressed by what the Ugreen Nexode Pro 65W offered. This is a no fuss option that packs plenty of punch across its three ports and I was happy with the speed everything I tried charged at. It’s worth a reminder that while the two USB-C ports are capable of delivering the full 65W to a single device, the charger as a whole maxes out at 65W which will be shared between ports if multiple devices are connected.
Even if you forget though, each port is still able to charge an iPhone faster than the standard Apple 20W adapter so you can’t really go wrong. I tried connecting my iPhone 15 Pro which is rated for a maximum of around 25W and even using the bottom USB-A port saw the battery percentage shoot up at an impressive rate. It’s a little hard to properly track charging times because of Apple’s software often controlling the pace but Ugreen says you’ll see 0-60% in half an hour which is mighty quick indeed.
The full 65W offered by the top USB-C port on the 65W Nexode Pro will just about charge a Macbook Air at full beans, Ugreen says it’ll fill half the battery in just 30 minutes and my experience hasn’t been too far off of this. While you’ll quickly drag that charging time out by trying to charge your phone alongside it, for a camera bag friendly sized block to max out a laptop’s charging speed is certainly impressive. It makes the Ugreen Nexode Pro 65W a superb option for travellers too, particularly if you can plan ahead to recharge overnight. Needing just one palm sized power adapter to charge all your daily devices is a real win for those skimpy RyanAir baggage allowances.
check latest prices
Remarkably temperatures aren’t a major issue with the Ugreen Nexode Pro 65W which is impressive for such a compact charger with so much oomph. While of course it is going to heat up in use, particularly with multiple devices connected, I was never concerned by the levels it reached and it was quick to cool again once it was unplugged.
summed up
There’s nothing super exciting or unique about the Ugreen Nexode Pro 65W, it’s just a very good little charger that sits in a nice price to performance window. £50 gets you three ports, each with enough power to max out an iPhone 15 Pro’s charging speed, and enough juice flowing through one of them to fast charge a Macbook Air.
Coupled with such a small form factor and high quality finish there’s little to complain about here. It’s perhaps not the ultimate charging device like the 160W variant is – but it’s a far more accessible one that’ll meet the needs of most users.
