These Two Charging Deals Will Either Save Your Life or Waste Your Money
Hello everyone. Today, we’re diving into one of those “life-changing tech deals” that websites love to shove in your face – usually sandwiched between the latest AI panic piece and a poorly disguised listicle about phones that will “save humanity.” This time it’s not apocalyptic software, but two humble pieces of hardware: a UGREEN 100W 4-in-1 GaN USB-C Charger (with retractable cable, because apparently chunky wall bricks weren’t exciting enough) and an Anker Surge Protector Power Strip that’s so loaded with ports it looks like it was designed for a Bond villain running a LAN party in his lair.
The UGREEN 100W Charger – Because Apparently 45W is for Peasants
Let’s start with the UGREEN brick of modern gaming-grade overkill. This thing boasts 100 watts of raw charging power – the kind of amperage that makes your average bundled phone charger feel like a hamster running on a wheel. That means if you have, say, a flagship phone that tops at 45W charging, you will still be able to look smug while wasting the other 55W on… heating the air, I guess.
It’s got two ports capable of hitting that full 100W potential, one of which is a built-in retractable USB-C cable. There’s also a 30W USB-C and a USB-A topping out at 22.5W for your “legacy” devices – you know, those things you keep around because you can’t justify trashing them yet. Of course, as soon as you start plugging multiple devices in, the wattage is shared. Just like in MMOs – you can’t expect to DPS at full blast if you insist on buffing your entire raid at the same time.
Now, the retractable cable is legitimately convenient. It’s one less cable for your bag – meaning one less snake to untangle every time you want to juice up after a long day of scrolling doom feeds and playing “just one more match” until 3 a.m.
The Anker 2100J Surge Protector – Electricity’s Answer to a Loot Chest
And then comes the Anker Surge Protector Power Strip (2100J). It’s basically the Swiss Army Knife of wall sockets: 12 AC outlets, one USB-C at 20W, and two USB-A ports at 12W each. That’s 15 possible things you can power. Fifteen. That’s not “enough for most people.” That’s “enough for an entire esports team, a coffee machine, and maybe a few reptile tanks.”
It even comes with surge protection rated at 2100 joules, an 18-month warranty, and a lifetime warranty on up to $200,000 of connected devices. Which, let’s be honest, sounds great… until the fine print inevitably reveals that the warranty doesn’t cover “acts of God,” “acts of stupidity,” or “using it to plug in 10 gaming rigs during a thunderstorm.”
It’s the kind of product that would have saved me in my university dorm when my room looked like a cyberpunk nightmare – LED lights, game consoles, chargers, and yes, a mini-fridge all leeching from two sad wall sockets. In gaming terms, it’s a base upgrade so you can build faster and run more systems without your power grid waving a white flag.
My Diagnosis
As your ever-critical tech doctor, let me prescribe a dose of reality. The UGREEN charger? Excellent if you’re dealing with multiple high-powered devices or you’ve decided your laptop should be fueled at the same rate as a Tesla. For the average user? Massive overkill – like bringing a rocket launcher to a pillow fight. The Anker strip? Practical, durable, and solves the age-old outlet famine. If I had to choose one to keep, the strip wins – because power management is an ongoing lifestyle choice, while 100W charging just feeds your caffeine-speed lifestyle that much faster before you hit the inevitable burnout.
Fast charging is great, but energy management? That’s the real boss fight you should be worried about.
Verdict
Overall impression? The UGREEN charger is impressive, techy, and solves a genuine problem – for a small population of people who live with their laptops and tablets chained to their bodies. The Anker surge protector, though – it solves a problem literally everyone has, and does it without demanding some absurd future-proofing pitch. One is niche hardware flex, the other is a daily driver for actual human life.
I call this one: Good value for the surge protector, slight eye-roll for the charger unless you really need that much juice. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely my opinion.
Source: Satisfy your charging needs with these two deals!, https://www.androidauthority.com/ugreen-100w-charger-anker-surge-protector-power-strip-2100j-deals-3585145/
