Considering that a lot of laptops can now be charged via USB-C, then a charger such as the Voltme Revo 100W that can handle a higher output than the regular chargers is pretty much a necessity. And besides the better output, there are a few more advantages that the new GaN chargers have over the traditional ones. Fist of all, the devices can be far smaller, despite offering 100W+ power output and multiple ports.
| Voltme Revo 100W | |
|---|---|
| Amazon.com | Check Product |
| Amazon.it | Check Product |
Secondly, despite their very compact size, these chargers do not get too hot. That’s because the energy is not wasted as much as on the traditional chargers, leading to far less heat being lost. Now here’s the thing, Apple has released its own GaN charger that competes very well in both output and price with the third-party devices, so why not go with the brand with a better PR? I suppose the best reason would be that the charger only has one port available, so you can only connect one device at a time, while the Voltme Revo 100W and other chargers can power up multiple devices at the same time.
Furthermore, it’s worth mentioning that so far pretty much all third-party chargers have been able to provide a clean, close to ideal output, so there is no risk of damaging a sensible device such as the MacBook Pro. The Voltme Revo 100W is a compact charger that has a plastic case covered by a black matte finish and it does measure 2.6 x 2.5 x 1.3 inches (6.6 x 6.3 x 3.3cm), so it’s just a little bit larger than the Alxum and Baseus 100W GaN chargers, but smaller than the UGreen 100W charger.
The manufacturer decided against leaving the case completely flat and added a faint pattern on the sides which I suppose differentiates the device from the rest. If you have the US-based charger, then the plug will be retractable, so it’s incredibly easy to carry around in a bag and even in a pocket – and it’s quite the feat considering the 100W output. The non-US versions are a bit larger since the plug protrudes outwards and it’s not retractable.
On the other side of the Voltme Revo 100W charger, there are three USB ports and, immediately after connecting the device to a power source, an LED will light up above the ports (it has an interesting three-line pattern).
The top-most port is a USB-A which can deliver up to 60W as long as it’s the only port that’s in use, otherwise, the USB-C will have priority. That being said, there are two USB-C ports and a single one can output up to the maximum 100W, but, when used at the same time, the USB-C1 (the one with the Power Delivery icon) will output only 65W, while the second USB-C port will get limited to 30W. The same will happen when you use both the first USB-C and the USB-A port, but, in case you charge devices using all three ports, then the manufacturer says that the output would be 65W + 24W.
I assume that the latter is for the USB-A, while the former is shared between the two USB-C ports, but I will test it myself to see what they actually meant. Before moving forward, I need to mention that both the USB-C ports can output 5/9/12/15V at 3A and 20V at 5A. The USB-C output is 4.5/9/12/15V at 3A and 20V at 3A, so very similar to the USB-C ports (these are the ideal values that need to be reached by the charger). Now let’s check out the actual performance of the Voltme Revo 100W.
The first thing that I checked is whether adding a new cable to one of the free ports would pause the connection of an active port. And it did. If I connected or disconnected any cable from any port, the charging would pause for a brief moment for any existing connection. But there is more. With some GaN chargers, I saw that even if I was to connect a single cable, without charging anything, the ports would automatically pause and then act as if a new device was added.
But that’s not really the case with the Voltme Revo 100W which is great news since you won’t have to bother removing cables, but it’s very strangely implemented and quite inconsistent. Basically, it does so by disconnecting and reconnecting a device multiple times. For example, while I was charging up a laptop, as soon as I connected a second cable and then quickly disconnected it, the power to the laptop was paused and resumed about five times. If the devices that you’re powering up have an inner battery, it’s not that big of a deal, but anything that requires continuous power will not work well with the Voltme Revo 100W.
That being said, when a 13-inch 2017 MacBook Pro was connected to either of the two USB-C ports, these were the stats revealed by a small multi-meter: 19.73V and about 57W.
I have no device that would push the Voltme Revo 100W to the maximum, but we still get an idea about what to expect. Also, I checked the temperature management and as you can see from the photo, it does get slightly heated up, but still fairly decent considering the power output.
After connecting another device (an iPhone) to the secondary USB-C port, it didn’t really change that much, as long as the output didn’t exceed 30W (and in my case, it didn’t).
I also checked the USB-A port and due to the limitations of my multi-meter, the output was only 5V and 11.7 watts, but I have no doubt that it can do more. Before wrapping everything up, know that the Voltme Revo 100W does have built-in protection against overheating, short-circuit and over voltage. While the Voltme Revo 100W GaN charger does not come with cable into the package, I did receive a USB-C to USB-C cable which was very flexible (reminded me of the Thunderbolt cables) and had metallic connectors + some protection against tearing.
Voltme Revo 100W
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Pros
- Very compact charger
- Uses the GaN technology
- Two USB-C ports and one USB-A port
- Decent temperature management
- Can output 100W
Cons
- When connecting a new device or cable, all the existing connections will pause
- For recalculating the power output, the charger could pause and resume a connection multiple times in a row
- No cable in the package (you can get a separate one from Voltme)