Excitrus’ NitroCharge 30 Pro is simple in its design, durable as hell in its execution, and has the ability to maintain a charge for a LONG time when you’re not using it. While the case issue is something you have to consider, depending on your emotional attachment to your phone, this is one of the best charging solutions to your MagSafe compatible devices. All of this for $59.99? God, what a steal.
Typically, I don’t put much stock into external charging devices. I have bought a few Apple devices and have been for the most part very unimpressed with their performance. While laying a phone on an Apple MagSafe charger will definitely do the trick when charging is needed, after a few hours, it pales in comparison to a straight USB-C to lightning. I can charge my phone in 30 minutes with a USB-C to lightning hooked directly to my laptop’s USB charger. So, call me skeptical when Excitrus claimed they had made a wireless, portable MagSafe charger that you could just lay your phone on have it recharged in under an hour. Even more skeptical is the claim that it works with my 13” MacBookPro. All for $59.99. Not bloody likely, right?
Let’s see how it did.
Test runs
iPhone 11
When I placed my iPhone 11 on the NitroCharger 30 Pro, it worked as advertised. Once it connected with the phone, the NC30 began to rapidly charge my phone pretty well. It took around 40 minutes to obtain a full charge from 28%, or about 10% charge for every 10% of battery life on the NC30, which isn’t bad considering the alternative. Typically, I would say my Apple MagSafe takes probably an hour or two to get a full charge from 0%, but when you’re on the go and need your phone, it’s not the best method of getting something done in a hurry. Like I stated in the first paragraph, you’re best hooking a USB-C cable to lighting via the MBP MagSafe charger to get maximum time saved during the charger process.
Excitrus’ NitroCharge 30 Pro ($59.99) works as promised. While the 120 Pro ($99.99) is advertised to do a 7-minute charge, and I believe it after watching this, the lower version of it does just as well. The functionality of the device when charging a phone is simple, as the device has a giant ‘+’ to indicate where the phone should be lined up, and you simply place the phone on the device and watch it go. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it works. Of course, it does have one caveat to the process — phone case issues.
My phone case is a SPECK case. They have always had wonderful simplicity to their design and good for at least one big drop. Maybe two. Anyway, the case is enough to protect, but not big enough to be obnoxious, and the NitroCharge 30 Pro wants nothing to do with it. I cannot place my phone on the charger and get it to work without first taking the case off. While the promise of a ‘through your case charge’ was never in the PR release, the case blocks all communication between charger and phone, and it’s an opportunity for that phone to detach from the charger and smash onto the hardwood floor. That possibility is very real. I have five kids. I have one that loves stealing phones (yes, bad parenting, I can feel it). The idea of having a phone sitting on a charger that is magnetized (and it is) without a case gives me a lot of anxiety. Then again, if the phone falls and shatters into pieces, I don’t have to call anyone or speak to the world. Wait…is this a plus? No. The phone is important. My point in all of this failed attempt at humor is you have to take the case of your phone off to get it to work. Is it the worst thing in the world? No. Is it a risk? A little. Again, the magnet helps keep it somewhat on there, but it still is just a risk, especially if you’re sporting an iPhone 12 and have basically paid for a computer. Let that sink in.
At the end of the day, the Excitrus NitroCharge 30 Pro does its job with phones. It is simple, it is quick, and it’s a beautiful device when you don’t feel like hunting that plug down that your children have stolen. A little bit more security or strength to get through a phone case would be nice, but I get it. The Apple MagSafe doesn’t like my phone case either.
MacBook Pro 13” (2017)
Ah, the little Mac that could. While I’m not a huge fan of the 13” MBP and all its UBS-C insanity and the dongle-mania that comes with it, the machine has served me well on several editing sessions (Final Cut Pro X is just the best — seriously). This little Mac does its best to keep about an hour and some change charge when in full video mode. Being that it’s three years old and has no GPU to be found (Intel doesn’t count!), it has been a workhorse on a lot of projects. LOTS of projects. So it sucks energy like a kid draining a Capri Sun on a hot summer day.
Excitrus’ NitroCharge 30 Pro does a good job with keeping the old sport charged when my children have stolen my Apple charger to charge their iPad or phones. The charge is about 15% of the device’s battery for every 5-7% charge of the MBP. While that doesn’t seem like a good solution for replacing your MBP charger, it isn’t supposed to replace it — it’s supposed to keep your laptop alive for ‘just the right amount of time’. For example, there have been days where I go to work and I find myself charger-less thanks to a little 7-year-old gremlin stealing the charger from my bag in the middle of the night. She is evil as she is wonderful (I do love her). Anyway, when the charger goes missing I have to turn to the NC30, which will get me to a percentage that will allow me to snag whatever I need before the laptop dies again. While I wouldn’t want to depend on it to keep my laptop fully charged all the time, it will be enough to allow me to get to the files I need and move them to another computer for work. The NC30 is good in that respect and is a neat option for a quick transfer, but really nothing more than that, as it should be nothing more than that.
Other odds and ends about the NitroCharge 30 Pro
While the proof of charge is in the pudding, the NitroCharge 30 Pro has a good handle on simplicity and longevity. It’s a simple device that doesn’t require a Master’s degree to understand. You have a USB-C plug for your USB device’s output. You have a USB input to charge the thing. You have one button on the side to tell you how much you have the device charged (a little LCD window on the edge reads you the percentage). There isn’t much else to this thing. It’s supposed to work right out of the box and it does.
Now, the unsung hero aspect of this device is how long it keeps a charge. We received this the week of February 11th. I charged it up immediately out of the box. I ran a lot of my tests during that week. A week later, we had a horrendous ice storm for what felt like an eternity that knocked out the power to a good chunk of Kentucky. Thankfully, our street was missed and we kept the charge going, but it was still nice having the charger around in case power went out. From that week on, the device lay dormant in my bag. February ended, March came/went, April limped on, and here we are in May. Between the ice storm and today, I didn’t touch the thing. When I pulled it out of my bag it was still sitting at 76% charged. For nearly three months, it went through different weather, different environments, was probably heavily abused in the bag, and it still works and kept the charge. It’s insane how long it kept its charge and how well it still worked after such a long time doing nothing. Most chargeable items would have just died and gone to charger heaven, waiting for resurrection, but the NitroCharge 30 Pro stayed the course in its functionality. Folks, that is mightily impressive and unexpected. Kudos to Excitrus for making an excellent product.
Conclusion
Excitrus’ NitroCharge 30 Pro is simple in its design, durable as hell in its execution, and has the ability to maintain a charge for a LONG time when you’re not using it. While the case issue is something you have to consider, depending on your emotional attachment to your phone, this is one of the best charging solutions to your MagSafe compatible devices. All of this for $59.99? God, what a steal.
