Aukey 5-Port USB Charging Station review
The Aukey 5-Port USB Charging Station is a power supply that meets the power needs of an ever-demanding ever-expanding array of techno gadgets.
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t provides up to 8,000mA of power across five ports, or up to 2.4amps on a port if the device supports that. The Aukey 5-Port USB Charging station uses a technology they’ve named AIPower which is an adaptive powering scheme where the phone that wants 1 amp gets 1 amp, and the tablet plugged in next to it that wants 2.3 amps gets 2.3, and you don’t have to worry about which port you’re plugging in or dropping the charging rates to the lowest rate requested. Every port gets what it needs and not too much to handle.
My array of devices on my first night playing with this included my HTC One M8 on its wireless charger base (pulling ~800mA due to the coil,) the iPad2 (2.1A,) wife’s HTC One M7 (1A,) and a B&N Nook Color (1.9A,) for a total of about six amps. I would have added more, but the things with ability to monitor charge rates were either being used for keeping a baby asleep or in a bag of rice drying out.
So at 5.8amps draw at least, everything charged at full charger tilt. Not much one can find to complain about that. So I looked for something to complain about, and found the theoretical maximum charge rate on my phone when plugged directly in was higher than I was seeing due to a QualComm quick charge chip in the One’s chipset. The Aukey does not support that spec, nor it seems does the charger that shipped with my phone.
I only mention the above because when I checked with the manufacturer’s rep they told me it it does not support that specification, which is fine. Evidently HTC doesn’t either as the quick chargers still don’t seem to be making a US appearance.
Doing the math on the 8,000mA capacity you may also gather that there’s no way to sustain five ports at 2.3 amps. You can max out five ports at 1.6 amps, or 4 ports at 2 amps, or get 3 x 2.3 with an amp to spare.
If you absolutely need to charge five 2.3 amp devices at once, this is a little underpowered. Most people I know aren’t going to have five 2.3amp devices, I don’t even have one. If you need to charge five 2.1 amp devices, it’s slightly underpowered but will get the job done in a little more time. For almost all USB charging needs however this thing fits the bill.
The Aukey 5-Port USB Charging Station also ships with a little two-sided suction cup matt that allows you to stick it to any non-porous surface. I’d seen a few of these matts at CES, and had one mysteriously in a goodie bag, but had not figured out what they were for other than getting a baby bottle out of a sink badger.
If you’re not constantly swapping out what’s being charged and in a rush to get the next device charged, the charging station may be a bit much for you, but if you’ve got a family with devices needing charged as quickly as possible, this thing’s great.
It’s managed to consolidate my charging setup from the wife’s phone at the couch charger, my phone at the bedside charger, iPad connected to the computer slow charging, Nook charging whenever there’s a free MicroUSB charger, portable charging batteries charging either inline or in the line to be charged, and anyone who comes over just yanking out something else that’s charging, to one conveniently located power hub and one free-floating wall charger.
The Aukey 5-Port USB Charging Station is available from Amazon for $19.99.
