Everything about the Anker Prime 250W Charging Station is overkill, and that makes it the ideal Black Friday 2024 deal. It gets you an over-the-top charging station for a wide variety of gadgets at a far more sensible price than usual.
I’ve been using the chunky charging dock for a few months, and it has probably all the charging ability most people will ever need.
A much more reasonable price
Usually $170, the Anker Prime 250W Charging Station is a massive amount of money for a charger. However, at $110 in the Black Friday deal on Amazon, it’s far better value considering the amount of power, features, and versatility available. There are six charging ports in all — four USB-C and two USB-A — and, as the name suggests, a total of 250W charging power.
What makes the charging station so versatile is its range of charging speeds, LCD display, and clever side control. The primary USB-C port can charge at 140W, making it suitable for laptops. Anker claims a 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro’s battery will fully charge in 90 minutes. The other front USB-C ports provide a maximum of 100W charging each, while the USB-A ports on the side of the Charging Station send a maximum of 22.5W to attached devices.
Charging speeds are shown on the station’s LCD screen, and you can manually adjust each one using the dial on the side of the unit and select priority charging if you’ve got multiple devices plugged in. Or you can select Anker’s AI Power Mode and let the system automatically detect the power each device requires and then fine-tune it to your preference. There are even different modes to charge two laptops simultaneously or multiple devices at slower, consistent speeds overnight.
Is the Anker Charging Station overkill?
Think that’s a lot? I haven’t even begun to explain the level of overkill yet. The Charging Station has Wi-Fi built in, which allows it to show the current time on the front, and there’s an app for the charger, too. Through it, you can adjust many of the features remotely instead of using the screen and side-mounted dial (it’s no bad thing, as the dial system can be a bit fiddly), download firmware updates for new features and support for new standards, and even view power curves.
All this is before the many safety and charge protection features, plus a continuous temperature monitor to ensure the unit doesn’t overheat. There is no question the Prime 250W Charging Station offers more features, provides more information, and likely more power than many people will ever need. But if you’re like me and own a laptop, more than one phone, a smartwatch, headphones, and a smart ring that all need charging and have different charging requirements, then suddenly the Charging Station starts to make a lot of sense.
The display, clock, app, and Wi-Fi connection are all crazy features for a charger, and while none are absolute necessities, I really appreciate the ability to update the firmware. After all, this is an expensive enough charger that you should be able to keep and use for several years, and it would be very welcome if it received updates to enable support for the latest charging protocols, provided the hardware is suitable.
Built to last
The Anker Prime 250W Charging Station is a chunky thing, and its construction gives me confidence it will hold up over time. The metal body and internal electronics make it quite heavy at 643 grams, plus a thick two-pin cable attaches centrally to the back of the unit. Once it’s in place, you’ll probably want to keep it there, and the rubber runners under the case will certainly stop it from shifting around when you tug on the cables. The good thing is, with the clock displayed on the LCD screen, it even serves a function when it’s not charging a device.
It’s a hard sell at $180 unless you’re absolutely sure you’ll get the most from its possible charging speeds and features, but at $110, it’s much easier to justify.
After all, it’s not hard to own four or even five devices that regularly need charging these days, and plugging them all into a single “station” is always preferable to having four or five separate chargers dotted around the house or plugged into an extension lead. I’ve set the charger up in my living room on a shelf and plugged hardware in when needed. It has been reliable and useful, and I love its geeky data overload I never thought I’d want to know, like charging voltages.
It has taken over from the Anker Prime 200W Charging Station, which now resides in my bedroom. If you’re not convinced you’ll need the 250W model’s screen, Wi-Fi, and power, the 200W Station does away with these features, slims the body down, and can be yours for $56 in Amazon’s Black Friday deal. Both are in regular use in my home, and I’m happy to recommend either, especially at these much-reduced prices.
