This beastly 500W charger replaced every other charger I had – with six ports to boot

I remember when USB chargers needed just one port on them. Then chargers with two — and even three ports appeared. Then the industry shifted to USB-C, and it seemed like we not only needed more ports, but more power.

I’ve been using a Ugreen Nexode 300W charger for over a year now, and that five-port (4x USB-C, 1x USB-A) unit is a charging behemoth. 

Also: The best power banks you can buy

But it’s time for the 300W unit to step into the shadows, as there’s a new unit coming to take its place – the Ugreen Nexode 500W six-port GaN desktop charger.

Announced back in January at CES 2025, this charger is a beast. While it only measures 5.75 x 2.39 x 4.51 inches (146 x 60.6 x 114.6mm), it weighs in at a hair under five pounds (77.6 ounces/2,200 grams). This is definitely a desktop charger, not something you’re going to be taking on holiday with you.

Power to the unit is fed using a 6.6 foot/2-meter main AC power cord, and it can handle worldwide power inputs (100-240VAC, 50/60Hz up to 7.0A max).

This charger has real presence on a desk.

The six ports split up this way: a single USB-C port that can push out a maximum of 240W, another four USB-C ports handling up to 100W, and a legacy USB-A port that’s good for up to 22.5W. The maximum total power output, as the name suggests, is 500W. 

Powering the unit are six separate Ugreen GaNInfinity chips, which allows the unit to push charging efficiency up to 95 percent, better dissipate the heat generated by charging, and allow the unit to be as compact as it is.  

As well as being packed with all the usual protections found in modern chargers — such as over-current protection, over-voltage protection, overload monitoring, short-circuit protection, surge protection, and over-temperature protection — temperatures are checked over 100 times a second, the unit also features an orientation sensor so if it topples over, the charger ramps down the power. 

And even if that somehow doesn’t work, the unit is housed in a polymer shell that is rated V-0 rated flame-retardant, a standard that is used in the automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics industries, and is the highest level of flame retardancy a material can achieve under the Underwriters Laboratories’ (UL) 94 standard. 

This means that the material with automatically extinguish a flame within 10 seconds, and will not drip any flaming material.

Also: I pried open a cheap 600W charger and found this weird lump of ‘goo’ inside

I’ve been testing, and using, the Nexode 500W charger for a few weeks now, and it’s perfect. It outputs exactly what it says it will on the spec sheet, and the output is smooth and consistent, even under heavy load, and it can do that without day in, day out without overheating. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Ugreen Nexode 500W is a powerful device with fantastic durability. If you have lots of high-power devices to charge: laptops, tablets, and even e-bikes, this is the perfect charger for you. One charger like this can replace several smaller charger, simplifying cabling and freeing up desktop real estate.

The charger is not cheap, but this is as cutting edge as chargers get, packing a lot of power and safety features into a small — albeit weighty — unit.

While this isn’t a charger for everyone, and it isn’t one to take traveling, it’s the perfect charger for those of us with piles of devices that need to be regularly topped up. It has now replaced my Nexode 300W charger, and I’m expecting this one to work as hard and as reliably as its predecessor did.