Satechi’s New Charger Is a Must-Have for International Travel

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When I travel, I bring multiple devices that require some sort of mid-trip power-up (laptop, tablet, phone, earbuds, headphones). Add in two portable chargers — which also need to be recharged at some point — and I have at least seven devices that need some sort of dedicated juice.

I don’t trust or particularly like the USB outlets in hotels and airports, so I usually bring two types of plugged-in chargers (if you’re counting, we’re at nine devices and we haven’t even gotten to the cords yet). This was why I was thrilled to try Satechi’s latest travel charger, which offers not only four USB-C ports and a helluva lot of wattage but comes with a unique feature: Small, interchangeable travel adapters.

The not-so-elegantly named 145W USB-C 4-Port GaN Travel Charger promises to charge up four devices at a time via gallium nitride technology (that’s the GaN part). Long explanation short, it’s a semiconductor material that’s slowly replacing silicon because it offers increased efficiency and you can make the chargers smaller.

The charger also features 3.1 power delivery, which allows for both faster charging and the use of high-power demanding devices (4K monitors, LED TVs) on those USB-C ports. Add in “smart power distribution,” which adjusts power delivery on the ports and the connected devices, and you have what seems like an ideal solution for tech hoarders who travel.

We spent several days with the device on a jaunt to Portugal. Overall, there’s a lot to like here and I’ll definitely be using this again, but the Satechi charger does come with a few important caveats.

Satechi 145W USB-C 4-Port GaN Travel Charger — You can charge four devices at once, but you’ll want to plan which devices uses certain plugs

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The specs

3.78” x 2.99” x 1.22” (L x W x H)
346g
Comes with four adapters (US, UK, EDU, AU)
Includes a mesh carrying bag
Charging speeds up to 140W for a single device
145W total for charging up to four devices simultaneously

What works

It’s a slick-looking device and the adapters are easy to swap out. Charging was ridiculously fast — whether we had one device in or three, which we maxed out at because of a lack of USB-C cords — and could have been faster if we had consulted a diagram on Satechi’s online store (see below).

What kind of works

You’re going to get maximum efficiency for the devices you plug in if you consult these diagrams. Basically, it’s not just the number of devices you have charging but which ports you’re using.

Review: BioLite’s Charge 80 Wants to Power Up Your Laptop

At $70, this portable power bank offers a lot of juice for a small price

What needs work

That included mesh bag is ok, but it feels rather stuffed when both the charger and adapters are all shoved in there. The charging unit does not come with any USB-C cables and it doesn’t have a built-in USB-A port, which means your older devices (and/or older cords) won’t be compatible. The whole device is also rather heavy.

But the biggest issue here is that it’s only really good for travel in specific countries or areas: the US, UK, EU and Australia. Hopefully, Satechi will offer some additional plug types in the future.

Like pretty much all travel chargers, you’re also at the whim of hotel and airport designers who seem to love putting electrical outlets in odd or hard-to-reach places. This modest-sized unit did not fit on the outlet near our hotel’s desk, so I had to move a bedside table and plug the charger into another outlet in a rather awkward corner.

Overall thoughts

Satechi’s 145W USB-C 4-Port GaN Travel Charger is ideal if you’re traveling for more than a few days and you’re bringing along a lot of very recent tech — as in, the kind that uses USB-C. It was great to charge up my MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone 15 all at once; I had to plug my Bose headphones (essential for planes) into a power bank that still offered a USB-A port.

There’s also no wireless charging option here and I’m not sure how they could add that, but I feel like somebody’s going to figure that out in a year or so.

Until then, this will be my international travel charger of choice. I’ll still need to bring a few portable power banks for daylong excursions, but it’s nice to know that even when my devices dip close to zero power after a day’s constant use, they’ll all be up and running quickly once they’re plugged in.