Kick up the power to keep your gear in the game.
The Power Delivery (PD) Quick Charger (QC) 3.0 20W charging brick arrived in a style similar to the recently reviewed KickPOWER Type-C and Lightning Cables. You will find the light blue/back title along the top of the cover panel and Fast charger PD Power Delivery/QC 3.0 Quick Charger just beneath the title. Beneath this section, you will find a light-blue accent border and a black background with a slightly raised, glossy image of the PD QC3.0 Fast Charger. Along the bottom left of the panel, you will find a larger blue border and then another black section. Instead of static panels, the company chose to wrap the artwork around the top and side panels. The left side panel provided the Kick Power name and the email address (www.kickpower.com). The right side panel provided a blue-bordered window and four icons along the bottom: Over Voltage Protection, Over Current Protection, Thermal Protection, Short Circuit Protection. The light blue accents added some much-needed color to the package and served to separate this device from others within the KickPOWER line.
I liked the white-on-black color scheme, the image of the device, and the side window. The back panel listed the blue-black title along the top of the panel, a blue-bordered clear window just beneath the title, and then listed the product specifications (USB-A QC 3.0/2.0, SCP, FCP, AFC, Apple 2.4A, DCP-1.5A, and USB-C PD 3.0/2.0, QC 3.0/2.0, SCP, FCP, AFC, Apple 2.4A, DCP-1.5A), manufacturing labels, and an SKU barcode along the lower section of the panel. Unlike the window on the red-colored packaging of the Type-C cable, or the green-colored packaging of the lightning cable, the window on the back of the blue-colored quick charger had a round, oval cutout. Just beneath the window, they included a “FEEL ME” instruction, which allowed me to appreciate the smooth, cool texture of the white-colored charger device. Perhaps my favorite feature of this product was the orientation of the Type-A wall plug (more on this below).
To access the charger I cut the tape along the bottom panel and slid the inner clear tray out of the outer packaging. The white-colored 4.7-ounce wall charger resembled an Apple Charger with clean white coloration and overall shape. The top panel had the KickPOWER Quick Charger name/logo, while the product specifications (Model U087 Fast Charging Power Adapter, Input 100-240V 50/60Hz/0.5A at 20W, Type-C output 5V/3A 9V/2.25A 12V/1.5A Max, Type C and USB total output 5V/3A max), manufacturing labels, and the “Made In China” logo were on the side panel. The opposite side and bottom panels were left clear. The back panel had a Type A wall plug, which was oriented perpendicular to the long axis. Thanks to this design, one can plug the device into a standard wall outlet; the long axis of the device will orient from side to side instead of up-down. The narrow design prevented blockage of the lower wall outlet and proved easy to fit into a standard surge protector/power strip. The main/front panel had a USB-C “PD” port, USB QC 3.0 port, and a large, bolded “20W” along the bottom.
The KickPOWER Quick Charger measured 1 11/16 inches long by 1 5/8 inches tall by 1 1/8 inches thick. I plugged the charger into a standard wall outlet, a Klein Tools Multimeter into the USB-C port, and then a USB-C cable between the multimeter and iPad Pro 11”. The multimeter initially displayed 12.24V/1.59A. When I plugged a DROK USB-A multimeter into the USB-A port, the Klein Tools Multimeter dropped to 5.05V/1.43A. I then plugged a USB-A to Lightning cable between the DROK multimeter and my iPhone 12 Pro Max. The USB-A multimeter displayed 5.02V/1.75A while the Klein Tools Multimeter read 5.04V/1.43A. I started both devices (iPad Pro 11” and iPhone 12 Pro Max) at 36% at 5:48 PM. At 5:58 PM, my iPad was at 39%, and my phone was at 43%. At 6:41 PM, my iPad was at 52%, and my iPhone was at 70%. By 7:06 PM, my iPad Pro was at 60%, while my iPhone was at 82%. By 7:30 PM, my phone was at 90%, and my iPad Pro was at 67%. At 8:05 PM, my phone was fully charged, and my iPad Pro was at 72%. I removed my phone from the charger, and the multimeter returned to 12.24V/1.14A. By 8:30, my iPad Pro was at 89%; by 9:16, my iPad was fully charged. To further test the output, I plugged the DROK USB-A multimeter into the USB-A port and the USB-A to Lightning cable into an iPad Mini 5th generation; the multimeter displayed 5.13V/2.01Aa. Lastly, I plugged the Klein Tools Multimeter into the USB-C port of the charger and a USB-C cable into my MacBook Pro 15″. Excitedly, the charger was able to power my MacBook Pro, displaying 12.24V/1.56A. I was quite pleased to find a small charger that could provide power to every one of my portable devices.. The only downside was that it would take 5hours and 40 minutes to fully power my MacBook Pro 15″ with the 20W power adapter.
The 20W charger worked well for both USB-A and USB-C output. If interested in maximally charging a device, I found that I could use either the USB-C or USB-A outputs individually, but not both simultaneously. If time was not of concern, the ports will output at a reasonable speed and fully charge both devices. I was pleased with the packaging, the size of the device, the coloration, and specifically with the orientation of the Type-A wall plug. If I had one suggestion for the design of the KickPOWER QC version 2.0, I would move the product specifications to the opposite panel from the KickPOWER logo. If you are looking for a dual output USB-A/USB-C charger, consider the KickPOWER 20W charger.
Learn more about the KickPOWER Fast Charger PD/QC 3.0.
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