Anker GaNPrime Power Strip and Charging Station 2022 REVIEW

Anker’s charging solutions now have next-generation technologies built in.

I’m a firm believer in supporting companies that prove themselves to you through how well their products work. For many years, I’ve been a supporter of Anker Innovations because they have created a lot of charging solutions that I frequently use. I used to only use original manufacturer charging products because I was nervous about how well third-party products would work with my devices.

I’ve trusted Anker for a while now and I’m thrilled that they are releasing their ‘next generation’ charging products through their Series 7 product lineup. Along with a gorgeous set of chargers, Anker is also launching power strips and charging stations as a part of the series.

About Anker & Series 7

Anker Innovations was originally formed in 2011. It’s a Chinese-based company with its headquarters located in Changsha, Hunan, China. It started out by creating replacement laptop batteries, but soon expanded to include smartphone batteries, wall chargers, and portable power in its product lineup.

Today, Anker is a global leader in charging technology and a developer of unique, consumer electronic products that support premium audio, mobile entertainment, and the emerging smart home space. Anker Innovations actually operates six brands including Anker, AnkerWork, eufy, Nebula, Soundcore, and AnkerMake.

Anker’s Series 7 products are designed to ‘embrace future technology’ and feature GaNPrime which provides faster-charging speeds in more compact form factors. GaNPrime is also the most intelligent, most powerful, and greenest charging system ever created.

Series 7 Main Features

Smarter & Faster.

All of Anker’s Series 7 GaNPrime products feature PowerIQ 4.0, Anker’s proprietary power-allocation algorithm that automatically detects and adjusts the voltage output of connected devices and shortens the overall charging time.

• PowerIQ 4 dynamically adjusts the power distribution every 3 minutes, releasing any extra power output to the other devices being charged. For example: When simultaneously charging two 67W MacBook Pro 14“ our new GaNPrime charger will reduce the total charging time by 62 minutes.
• New GaNPrime chargers will be compatible with over 1,000 mobile device

Smaller.

Series 7 products feature Anker’s proprietary mini-transformer technology. This means that GaNPrime products are up to 53% smaller making them ideal for multi-taskers on the go or those who work remotely.

Safer.

Series 7 products utilize ActiveShield 2.0 which enhances protection by intelligently monitoring temperature and adjusting power output to safeguard your connected devices.

• Monitors temperature 3 million times per day.
• Compared to previous generations, ActiveShield 2.0 has an increased temperature detection frequency of 75%.

Greener.

Anker’s new GaNPrime chargers improve the overall efficiency of AC to DC power by 2% compared to previous generations of Anker GaN. Additionally, by using the latest GaN semiconductors instead of legacy silicon, GaNPrime products can cut carbon emissions by up to 30%. According to Anker, “If every person in the U.S. used our new 150W GaNPrime charger for a year. The power it saved could power all of Hawaii for 1 month.”

First Look: Anker 615 Power Strip and Anker 733 Charging Station

Two of the newest products to take advantage of the GaNPrime power features are the Anker 615 Power Strip and the Anker 733 Charging Station. Both of these products include multiple power ports including at least one for AC output. The full specs of each product are outlined below.

Anker 615 USB Power Strip

This power strip is actually a part of Anker’s Series 6 products, but it is still a GaNPrime featured item. Because it is part of the Series 6 lineup, it only features Power IQ 3.0 but it does still have ActiveShield 2.0. The power strip has two (2) AC ports, two (2) USB-C ports, and one (1) USB-A port for charging devices. It’s specifically designed to provide power to Apple and Samsung devices and it has a maximum power output of 65W. The list below outlines the potential power output of each port when you are charging the device simultaneously.

Anker 727 Charging Station

This charging station provides up to 100W of power to connected devices. It features multi-device fast charging. Four ports allow for multiple devices charging with high, 100W single-port fast charging. The Anker 727 has two (2) AC ports, two (2) USB-C ports, and two (2) USB-A ports for charging devices. This charging station is 50% thinner than traditional power strips and makes a great travel companion.

The list below outlines the potential power output of each port when you are charging device simultaneously.

Pricing & Availability

The 615 Power Strip and 727 Charging Station are both available starting July 25, 2022, on Amazon.com and Anker.com. The power strip is $69.99 and the charging station is $94.99.

Testing

When I test chargers or power stations like these products, I charge connected devices for 30 minutes and record the products’ progress every 10 minutes. Then, I divide the total amount of battery percentage gained by 30. That gives me the percentage per minute charging rate of the charger. I will also use an infrared thermometer to gauge any temperature readings when a charger seems to be warmer than normal.

Each of these particular power strips provided different power outputs so I used different test products for each device. The Anker 727 has a maximum output of 100W so I charged an ASUS Zenbook laptop with it. Because the power strip provides 65W power output, I charge an iPhone 12 Pro and AirPods Max headphones with it. The results of each of the charging tests are shown in the tables below.

Anker 615 Power Strip

This test ran for a total of 29 minutes. I didn’t notice any heat radiating from the power strip. It was always cool to the touch – even around the charging ports that were being used. The iPhone was plugged into a USB-C port and the AirPods Max was plugged into the power strip using the USB-A port.

Anker 727 Charging Station

This test ran for a total of 30 minutes. With this charging station, there was a considerable amount of heat on the top and bottom of the charger. I noticed it first when I charged a power bank with it. At that time, I wasn’t doing ‘official’ testing and the charging station was resting on top of a blanket. Therefore, there was no airflow on its bottom. The thermometer read 166ºF.

Since I had that experience before the timed charging session, I knew to make sure the charging station was sitting on a flat surface and to monitor its heat closely. While this test was going on, I had both the laptop and the charging station sitting on top of a bookcase. Even though the charging station didn’t register 166º during this charging session, it still got up to 129º after 30 minutes. The top was around 115º.

Conclusion

Anker makes some truly wonderful charging products. The 615 Power Strip and 727 Charging Station are great examples of some of their innovations. The new technologies built into these products are remarkable and well worth the investment. I’m particularly impressed by the power strip. The charging station is great but the heat collection after such a short charging session is concerning to me – especially for travel.

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