It’s not particularly easy to get excited about a charger. I mean, it’s something we pretty much take for granted as we game on our consoles, permanently attached to a power supply. But when we take our gaming sessions into the cloud, utilising the likes of Xbox Game Pass titles on our mobile devices and laptops, battery anxiety can become real.
That’s where the Excitrus 100w Magnetic Wireless Power Bank comes in. I mean, the excitement is in the title. Just.
The Excitrus 100w Magnetic Wireless Power Bank is a beefy piece of kit, but it’s one that will ensure that you can keep gaming into the wee hours, no matter where you are; safe in the knowledge that the long commutes or times when you are away from a proper power source need not be of concern.
A huge slab of a device, the Excitrus Power Bank is certainly not one of those super portable, highly pocketable, cheap and cheerful chargers that you’ll throw in your pocket for when juice is required. This is a really big unit, both in size and weight, with it coming in with vital statistics around 80 x 195 x 30mm, weighing in at the best part of 550 grams. Yeah, it’s not light and it’s not small.Â
It’s a device that is bigger and heavier than your mobile phone, but it’s that heft which allows it to work some serious magic, charging up in no time at all, before unloading it’s juice in a matter of mere minutes. Waiting is something you’ll rarely have to do with the Excitrus Power Bank.
Charging both the unit itself and of that heading out to the device of your choice is done mostly thanks to a USB-C connection. With a short USB-C to USB-C cable included in the box – although we’ve found using our Google branded power brick and cable that accompanied our Chromebook and phone to be of most use – charging devices is easy; plug in, switch on the unit and away you go.
Two USB-C ports are included on the power brick, kicking around on one of the lead edges. One of these works a 100w angle and another that of 45w. A full size USB-A will cover what you need in terms of 3.0 18w power. Really though, does anyone, or anything, make light work of USB-A now?
There’s more though and the Excitrus adds in wireless charging too. This maxes out at 10w, so should only really be used when all other avenues are exhausted, but dropping your mobile device on top of the Power Bank should ensure wireless capabilities. Press blurbs point to this working well with iPhone, but we’re Team Android and have discovered it is rather tricky to line up the wireless coil inside the phone with the unit itself – and even then intermittent connection has been had. It may be the design of our Google Pixel 6 Pro that is the main fault, but it’s certainly not as easy as dropping the phone on and being done with it. For this reason – and the fact that cabled charging is so much quicker – we’ve mostly opted to utilise the 100w USB-C port.
Using USB-C and the Excitrus is more than capable of powering up a laptop too. Again, a simple plug and play system will have you notching up the juice in your favourite laptop without ease.
We guess numbers and stats are of massive importance to many who will be using this Power Bank and whilst we’ve always been of the mindset of marketing stats with a pinch of salt, what Excitrus are claiming with the 100w Magnetic Wireless Power Bank seems to be pretty close to reality. Back of the box numbers claim that a laptop can go from 0-60% charge in an hour, whilst a smartphone would reach the dizzy heights of 85%, with recharging of the unit itself nearing completion in that same time frame. That same box claims 75 hours of mobile phone charge is capable of being found in the Excitrus, 16 hours of charge for a tablet and 15 hours for a laptop.
These will obviously depend fully on the device at hand but we’ve been mighty impressed with how this has kept us playing Xbox Game Pass titles via our laptop and our mobile phone. It’s seemingly a device that is capable of delivering so much juice that only the most hardcore of Cloud-based Game Pass sessions is going to be able to deplete it fully.
It’s helped that the Excitrus Power Bank looks great too. Well designed and of rectangular form, the externals have been treated to a gorgeous green fabric material, ensuring that it’s always nice to hold in the hand. Black railings see it then ooze quality whilst the single pressable mode button is highly tactile and immediately accessible. Hidden away on those railings is a rather neat little display window, detailing exactly how much charge is left in the pack itself. It’s a great touch that ensures you’ll be kept in the power loop at all times. Even nicer is the fact that should you so wish, the mode button, but also lets you utilise a Bluetooth Charging Mode, suitable for a smart watch or Bluetooth headphones – you know, devices that need less of a power push.Â
However, those looks and that power come at a cost. This is far from pocketable and whilst it would be fine to fling onto a rucksack, the weight could well be an issue. For the most part many may go looking for a much more portable, slimmer device. The Excitrus certainly isn’t that.
However, there’s definitely a place in the market for this; for the power user looking to charge their phone, their laptop, their tablet or their headphones in a cinch. The sheer power and speed that the Excitrus 100w Magnetic Wireless Power Bank is able to deliver is nothing short of immense – and that will most certainly be the biggest of draws.
Huge thanks go out to Excitrus for providing us with the 100w Magnetic Wireless Power Bank for review. If you wish to gather up all the power you could ever need, you’ll find the unit available from the Excitrus website and over at Amazon. It’s priced around $100.
