Performance

You might be wondering what kind of performance testing you could even do when it comes to USB chargers but with a few of the new chargers in the Prime lineup, Anker has integrated WiFi and Bluetooth and integration with the Anker app. On top of that, a few have displays as well. So let’s go through each thing, some more quickly than others, and talk about how they have performed in my testing.

Starting with the first charger I took a look at, the Prime Charger is also the most complicated of all of the chargers we have here today. This is one of the two chargers that have app functionality. But in getting it set up I did want to mention that I love that the power supply for this one is built in and the cord that it uses is non-proprietary so you could replace it if needed. It also doesn’t have a ground so the plug itself is a little more compact and works in older houses without a grounded outlet. The Prime Charger has a display screen on the front and a wheel on the side and that along with the app was the focus of my testing. It has one port that can charge at up to 140 watts and three more that can do 100 watts on the front then the two 22.5-watt Type-A connections tucked away on the side. A great mix of connections to keep anything and everything charged at your desk and at 250 watts total output, most people won’t be able to max that out. In fact, with my phone, laptop, SteamDeck, and other random devices I wouldn’t even be able to get close and I am more of a power user than most people. I love that anything you have plugged in shows the wattage on the display. I run a cable that has the wattage tracking in the plug because it is nice to be able to see if your phone for example is pulling its max wattage to give you an idea if it is almost done charging or charging at all. But beyond that, the Prime Charger uses the side scroll wheel to let you flip through all of the plugs and the menu. There are a few settings like the brightness control and screen timeout that just change how the screen works. But you can also get into the port priority section to change if you want to let the AI adjust priority, set dual laptop mode, or turn on low current mode which is sometimes needed to charge things like earbuds. You can set up a clock screensaver but you will need to connect the Prime Charger to the WiFI to do that and to do that you have to connect it to the app. The app uses Bluetooth to talk to the Prime Charger, from there you can input a 2.4 GHz only wireless SSID and it will then connect to the wireless and work independently.

While the Prime Charger has worked great for me so far. The one issue that does stand out for me has been focused on the glossy front cover. For starters, the Prime Charger and all of the other Prime devices attract dust, dirt, and hair quickly to this finish. Not to mention fingerprints or oil. But the biggest issue I have is this display is blurry when you look at it from any angle and I think it is because of the thickness of the front cover. The screen looks great when you look at it straight, and the clock is a nice feature to have on your desk. But being blurry at the angle I see it when it sits on my desk makes the screen a lot less usable and it seems like a big oversight.

I can’t skip over what the app includes for the Prime Charger so below I have some pictures. When you first search for the device it pops up, you select it and put in your WiFi information. It’s important to note that this only works with 2.4 GHz which we see a lot with smart devices. Once in the main page has a picture of the charger up top and then all six of the ports are shown with the Type-C connections on the left and Type-A on the right. Each will show the port status including the current wattage, voltage, and amperage. Below that you have a graph of total output and down at the bottom you can turn any of the ports off or on, set a timer for that, or set a power schedule just like any normal smart power outlet. This is interesting and not something I considered that would even be a feature, but depending on what you are powering you could for example have it turn your USB-powered desk fan turn on and off at specific times. Most of the time though, I would just want things to be on.

     

For settings, you click on the icon in the top right and you get a full menu which is easier to navigate than using the scroll wheel. Like with the wheel, you can set screen timeout and brightness but you can also change the direction that the wheel works and you can change your device name here. You can pick from a few different clock skins and go between 12 and 24-hour formats for the clock as well. The charging mode section lets you pick from the same options we saw on the screen. Then they also have a secret features section which has a few achievements that you can open up but I wasn’t able to get any of them opened up in my testing.

   

Next up the second app-supported charger is the Prime 240W Charging Station which has 6 USB ports and two AC ports as well. I’m a big fan of this overall design and would be using my older 727 model if it supported the fastest charging mode on my Samsung. Anker has fixed that though and this model also has a built-in screen only for navigation you just have a button to flip through the three pages. One shows the serial number and isn’t pictured below but the other two you can pick from seeing the power output of the six USB ports or a graph with the total output. Like with the Prime Charger, the display on the Prime 240W Charging Station has the same issue with the blurriness from the thick plastic over it as well as the dust, dirt, oil, and fingerprint issues with the glossy finish in general. The thin design is great to sit on your desk though and having an AC plug or two that you can reach can be nice to plug anything in. My main issue though is the huge power brick for this charger and because for power on my sit-stand deck, I have power strips mounted upside down on the bottom of my desk, the power brick for the Prime 240W Charging Station was so big that I couldn’t keep it plugged in. I may use an extension in the future and keep the brick in my wire management tray.

Setting the Prime 240W Charging Station up with the app worked the same as before and frankly most of the app features are similar. You can see all of the ports on the home page and graphs of the total output. But down at the bottom I was surprised. Where on the Prime Charger you could turn off the USB ports, the Prime 240W Charging Station lets you control the two AC ports including scheduling. This is a lot more usable to me than the USB port scheduling. Basically, though you have two smart outlets right on your desk which could be great for controlling a light for example. The settings menu had the same options for the most part, including being able to set up a clock. That includes the secret features page which this time just had three options none of which I figured out how to make work at all.

           

Next up is the Prime 65W Power Bank, and like with the PowerCore Fusion 10k that I previously tested. I’m a huge fan of these combination devices or as Anker puts it a Fusion charger. You have two Type-C ports that support up to 65 watts of charging power but also built in is a battery. Using the flip-out AC plug you can charge your devices as if this was a normal charger but when the power goes out or if you need a little juice on the go this will be fully charged. With the PowerCore I have used it each time our power has gone out and it's great to feel prepared because it is always charged without having to remember to actually BE prepared. The downside to that older model however was that in battery mode it only could charge at 15 watts and that meant slower charging for my phone and no support for my laptop or Steam Deck. The Prime 65W Power Bank however fixes that with 65 watts all of the time and it is also a more usable shape/design that can be pocketed and isn’t in the way when plugged into the wall. The built-in screen is nice as well, especially to be able to check on the battery's health. But I would be a fan of this with or without that just for its overall functionality.

The 100-watt Prime 100W GaN Charger and the Prime USB-C Charging Cable were the last two things I took a look at and frankly, these are in most ways the basic charger and charging cable as you would expect. The more compact charger design is nice and when you think about how large laptop chargers have been in the past it's cool to know that you can keep this in your bag and charge most modern laptops as well as your phone at the same time is nice to see. Getting two Type-C and one Type-A connection is nice as well because I know when I’m traveling I always have multiple things to charge. As for the new Prime USB-C Charging Cable, the new recycled sleeving is nice and looks good. The cable is rated for up to 240 watts which is great but it's Anker’s stats on how it will be able to handle bending and pulling that I’m excited about. Most people seem to wear out or ruin their cables long before they need to worry about it supporting an even higher wattage. If this cable works as well as they are advertising, then maybe it will change that up. If it doesn’t it does have a lifetime warranty so that’s a nice touch as well.