Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsPoor Design Leads to Poor Usage
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2019
The packaging is great, leading you to believe that this will be an amazing product. And the cable, plug, and pad all feel "heavy" and solid. But that's where you start to see the flaws. For example, the power cord is hard connected to the plug, and the plug is a HUGE transformer taking up tons of room on a power strip (I can't use a plug on either side, so it effectively takes up 3 slots!). Unlike most other pads, the cable is a custom plug for the pad, and as mentioned, permanently attached to the transformer plug, so a) hard to replace and b) difficult to work with (I have lots of USB adapters, would have loved to simply plug into one of those). Anker's pads, for example, are easy to configure with different cables and USB power adapters.
Does it require this huge plug to deliver some high speed charging? Other pads don't. And I don't see anything magical here vs other charging pads around the house by other brands plugged into a variety of usb chargers, at least with an iPhone X.
The pad looks large and feels heavy, which seems great, but the "sweet spot" seems to be a TINY circle in the exact center of the pad. Throw your phone down a centimeter off center, and it won't charge. The pad is so big, you assume that you have lots of area to plop the phone on and have it charge, but actually most of the pad appears to be wasted space.
Mophie usually makes some great things; I've had charging cases and external battery packs last for years across many travels. But this pad was an overpriced mistake. Anker makes far more effective and better priced pads, and often go on sale; they are easier to configure if you have some spare USB chargers and their pad is sized in such a way that it's an easier target to drop your phone on and know you are getting a charge going.
I wouldn't purchase it again unless the price was way below competitors and I had a bunch of open plugs in my surge strip or an open plug on my wall. And who has that these days?
