Sixty-five watts is the number on this charger, and you only get all of it from one port with nothing else plugged in. The moment a second cable goes in, the charger becomes a small negotiation. For a travel bag holding a MacBook, an iPad and an iPhone, that negotiation is the whole review.
Owner feedback tied clearly to this exact model is thin. Much of it comes from close relatives in the same range, so I will say when that is the case.
Product image from the Amazon listing.
Which Charger This Is
UGREEN has sold many 65W Nexode chargers with almost the same name. The one here has three ports: two USB-C and one USB-A. Cult of Mac reviewed a charger with that layout under the code CD244-2C1A, and its plug folds away. A New Zealand retail listing for the same port layout gives the size as 2.59 by 1.57 by 1.22 inches and the weight as 4.58 ounces. It also lists 100 to 240 volt input, so the charger should handle mains power abroad with a simple plug adapter.
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Retailers use a mix of codes for what looks like the same or a very similar product, including CD244, 10335 and CD306. Some 65W Nexode models have four ports, and the Nexode Pro is another product again. I can’t tell you which revision ships today, so check the code on the label when it arrives.
Size is a fair talking point, but keep it in proportion. Cult of Mac notes that Apple’s 20W charger is two-thirds the size of this one. That sounds like a lot until you remember that this one replaces a laptop brick as well as the phone charger.
How the Power Gets Shared
This is what most buyers need to know.
The listing gives each USB-C port a maximum of 65W and the USB-A port 22.5W. Those limits apply to one port working alone. A review on My Helpful Hints spells out the shared numbers. With two USB-C devices, the top port gets 45W and the other gets 20W. With the top USB-C port and the USB-A port, you get 45W and 18W. With all three in use, the top port keeps 45W and the other two get 8.5W each. That reviewer’s unit came from UGREEN as a sample and is listed as CD306, so read it as a guide.
The 45W on the top port is the figure that matters most, and it shapes how you should pack. Put the laptop on the top port, always. The Cult of Mac writer sums up the general rule: “the more ports you engage, the more the power is distributed.”
What does that mean for real Apple gear? The My Helpful Hints review lists the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 and the MacBook Air from 2020 among compatible devices, along with iPad Pro and recent iPhones. An Air on 45W with an iPhone on 20W looks like a very comfortable pair, and that is the setup where I think this charger makes the most sense.
With three devices, the phone and tablet drop to 8.5W each, so they will top up slowly. This is fine overnight in a hotel. It is poor in an airport with 30 minutes to spare.
A larger MacBook Pro is a different story. Apple ships bigger adapters with those machines. Even 65W from one port is less than those machines can take. Plug one in here and it should still charge, just more slowly. Plug in any other device too, and the laptop drops to 45W. Under heavy work, the battery may drain faster than it fills. No owner report I found measured that, so treat it as my reasoning from the wattage.
Product image from the Amazon listing.
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The Short Blackout When You Plug In
Here is the behaviour that surprises people. In an OzBargain thread on a related three-port 65W Nexode, one commenter says: “no it doesn’t slow down the power actually cuts out momentarily when you plug something else in.” The same person explains: “what happens is it redoes the USB-C handshake and distributes power accordingly.”
BGR’s round-up of UGREEN complaints describes the same thing for multi-port chargers in general and treats it as normal. It is. Most laptops will shrug at a pause of a second or two. But if you have an external drive running off a bus-powered hub on the same block, or a phone doing a long update, a plug-in event can interrupt it. My tip is to plug everything in first, then start your work.
The retail copy also carries two quiet warnings worth reading. The listing says to unplug cables that are not in use, because an idle cable can limit the output of the other ports. So a spare cable left in the second port may cost your laptop power. It also says that if you charge an Apple Watch through the USB-A port, you should not use the second USB-C port at the same time. That is a specific limit for exactly the sort of person who would buy this, and no review I found mentions it. Check it against the sheet in your own box.
Heat and the Failure Reports
Heat does not seem to be the problem here. Cult of Mac said the charger “never even got warm,” though that writer did not charge a MacBook with it, so the test was gentler than a laptop on full power. I found no detailed owner measurement for this model under a real laptop load.
Long-term reliability is the bigger worry. In an OzBargain deal thread on a related Nexode, a commenter warned that some units stop working after a few months, and quoted Amazon reviewers: “This charger worked flawlessly until it died six months after purchase.” Another quoted review says it “only lasted 2 months before failing.” In the second thread, the same commenter mentioned reports of ports dying.
Please read those with care. They come from one commenter, they are second-hand, and they cover a related listing. The BGR piece also points out that unhappy buyers post more than happy ones, and that its worst stories involve other UGREEN models, such as a 300W desktop unit. I can’t give you a failure rate, and neither can anyone in these threads.
Still, I would keep the receipt. Picture day 180, in another country, and the laptop port goes dead. That is the failure that hurts with a charger you carry on every trip.
Product image from the Amazon listing.
The Small Print of Traveling Light
Open the box and you will find no cable, as Cult of Mac noted. Budget for a USB-C cable rated for the power you want. Its other complaints were mild. The shell is plastic, and three ports is fewer than some rival GaN chargers offer. Galaxy owners get one more catch. The listing says the 65W USB-C port only supports the first version of Samsung’s Super Fast Charging. If your bag mixes brands, read the fine print.
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I also want to be plain about what this article cannot show. No review or owner report I found tested a full MacBook, iPad and iPhone stack for hours with a meter on each port. The sharing figures come from reviews and listings.
One Block for a MacBook Air Bag
I think this charger suits one person very well: someone who carries a MacBook Air or a 13-inch MacBook Pro plus a phone and wants to leave Apple’s brick at home. Use the top port for the laptop, keep idle cables out, and you should be happy.
Skip it if you own a large MacBook Pro and want full charging speed, or if you need three devices filling fast at the same time. A charger with more total power would suit you better. And if a failure in month six would ruin a trip, carry a cheap spare.
For that lighter travel bag, the UGREEN Nexode 65W USB-C Charger is a sensible pick, as long as you check the model code on arrival and keep your proof of purchase. This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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