Fast charging is fast (pun unintended) becoming an integral part of our tech lives. The days when we used to leave our phones connected to power outlets when we went to sleep and hoped to find them fully charged by the morning are pretty much history. Today, a phone that takes more than an hour to charge is frowned upon (although some super premium phones remain stubbornly sluggish in this department, and do not even include chargers in their packages). And super fast charging is not just limited to smartphones, notebooks and tablets too charge much faster than in the past.
There is a catch, though. Fast charging requires fast chargers. Yes, many devices that support fast charging come with their own chargers, this means that you have to add a bunch of chargers to your backpack, which can make it significantly heavier, as most fast chargers are hefty propositions and some are almost as large and as heavy or heavier than the phones they charge. Fortunately, there are chargers made by third parties that can not only charge devices fast but also come with multiple ports, allowing you to charge more than one device at a time. Unfortunately, these come with stiff price tags – even the super budget-friendly Amazon Basic 65W multi-port charger is priced in the vicinity of Rs 2,000. Fortunately (again), one of them has gotten super affordable, which is why we are covering it here.
A compact, smart charger…now at half its price
We are talking of the CMF Power 65W, which was released late last year as part of the first products released by Nothing’s more budget-friendly sub-brand, CMF. The CMF Power 65W was launched at a price of Rs 2,999, and that remains its official price even today. However, some variants of it are available at Rs 1,499 on Amazon, which is almost half the price at which it was launched. We had found the CMF Power 65W to be a very good charger even at its original price of Rs 2,999. At Rs 1499, it becomes hands down the best third-party fast charger you can get for not too much money.
The CMF Power 65W is super compact by fast charging standards – it is almost square-shaped, being 56.6 mm long and 55 mm wide, and is not too thick at 30 mm (by charger standards). It is also only 150 grams heavy, making it easy to carry in a bag and even in a jacket pocket. It is very sturdily built and made of polycarbonate, and comes with three ports: two USB Type-C and a conventional USB-A one. It has a two-pin connector with smooth rounded metal pins, and thanks to its compact form factor, it can fit into most power outlets without overbalancing or falling off (a problem we face with some chargers). In a very innovative touch, CMF offers the charger in two shades – a regular black and a very bright and striking orange. Not surprisingly, it is the black variant that is available at a lower price right now.
Speedy charging across all three ports
The compact, solid design helps, but what makes the CMF Power 65 a really good proposition at its price is its performance. The charger uses Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology for fast charging and that makes it compatible with just about every device out there, as it supports all major charging protocols, including PD3.0, QC4.0+/3.0/2.0, SCP, FCP, PPS, AFC, Samsung 9V2A, DCP, and Apple 2.4A. And each of its three ports can deliver a very brisk charging performance – both USB Type-C ports can charge at a speed of up to 65W, while the Type-A has a very respectable charging speed of 36W. And you still get very good charging speeds if you choose to charge multiple devices at the same time – if you charge two devices from the Type-C ports, one will charge at 45W (still fast enough for most smartphones, and good enough for many notebooks) and another at 20W (close to the maximum charging speed for an iPhone!).
Use a Type-A and a Type-C together and the former will give you 45W, while the latter will provide a very brisk 45W charge. It is only when you go the whole hog and charge three devices at the same time that the charging speeds dip – if all three ports are connected, one Type-C port will charge at 45W, while the other two will charge at 7.5W each. The key point to note here is that no matter how many devices you choose to charge (one, two or three), at least one will be getting very fast charging.
A great charger that does not charge much in terms of price
Those are not just numbers. The CMF Power 65 was able to charge about 65-70 per cent of our iPhone 15 in half an hour and took slightly more than two hours to charge a MacBook Air. It was also comfortably charging our OnePlus Buds Pro and smartwatches. The charger can heat up a little, but it never reaches uncomfortable levels and comes with assurances of a number of protection measures including against overheating, excessive current and short circuits.
All of this is in a form factor that is incredibly compact. Yes, it would have been cool to get a cable or two with it, or perhaps a charging speed indicator of some sort, but that is just us being picky. At Rs 1499, the CMF Power 65 is hands-down the best fast charger you can get for multiple devices! It was a very good deal even Rs 2,999, at fifty per cent off, it is irresistible for those who seek power at a brisk speed.
