[UPDATE June 11, 2017]
I finally got around to asking Satechi for a replacement. They replaced it quickly with no trouble.
1) As other reviewers have remarked, it now seems to start up reliably.
2) Although I'd still like it to be a little less fragile, I can live with it, now that I know to be careful.
[ORIGINAL, unedited]
I like the power meter, a lot. It has told me some interesting stuff about how my devices charge (see below) Unfortunately, there are three problems, one of which is a show-stopper:
1) [minor, but irritating] As noted by others, the screen lights up with a sparkly display sometimes. This seems to happen after it's been unplugged for a bit.
2) [very serious] The meter is fragile. It is a 2-inch lever arm acting against the connector that's plugged into the laptop. If anything gets pushed or pulled up or down, the internal connections (solder joints, I expect) can pop loose. This happened to mine - although I can't recall any particular time when it got flexed like that. The male connector now feels kind of like a loose tooth, and I sometimes have to nudge it around to get it to turn on and charge my laptop. More serious is that the same force would be acting on the laptop's connector and circuit board. So... BE VERY CAREFUL. Especially, don't pick up the device with the meter and cable plugged in - the weight of the cable might be enough to break it.
The only way that I can see for Satechi to solve this problem is to replace that connector with a short pigtail, which is what a lot of the older USB-A meters have.
3) [kind of nerdy-nit-picky] The mA-hour display is wildly incorrect in some circumstances. I hadn't realized - until the Satechi showed me - that some devices change the voltage they request depending on their needs. My late-2016 Macbook Pro requests 20V when it's charging or active. When it's sleeping and the battery is charged, it requests 5V and consumes less than 50mA. That's actually pretty cool. However, the Satechi displays cumulative mA-hours by adding up current over time - regardless of the voltage. So, if you try to compute watt-hours by multiplying mAh and voltage, you're multiplying a sketchy current X time by a voltage that may not be the actual voltage that's been used.
This sounds absurdly nit-picky, but it has a real impact on an important use case: I want to see how much energy (watt-hours) it takes to charge a my laptop (or phone) and compare it to the stated capacity of the battery.
The only way for Satechi to deal with this is to display mWatt-hours. Laptop batteries are rated in watt-hours (49 for my MacBook Pro). When USB-C battery packs come along, they're going to have to deal with the same issue - is that 30,000 mAh at 5, 15, or 20 volts?
UPDATE: Received replacement meter and have not seen the sparkle cold-boot screen on it! However, it has a notably louder hissing sound.
ORIGINAL:
It is mostly fine. It works. However, it seems to have an issue with cold booting. If I haven't used it in a while and plug it in, it will simply display sparkles on the screen and stay like that (photo attached). It's fine after unplug and replug, though. I just have to have the habit of replugging it...
As another reviewer has mentioned, this meter won't turn on unless a device is actually being charged. To illustrate a bit:
Works: charger -> meter -> phone
Doesn't work: charger -> meter -> nothing
However, this varies between chargers. Some of my Type-C chargers seem to supply power by default and the meter will turn on (and say 5V 0A), but the stock chargers for both the Pixel and the Nexus 5X do not appear to supply power until there's a receiving device plugged in and being charged. This isn't necessarily the meter's fault, and I'm not sure which of my chargers are behaving "correctly" (should Type-C chargers always be feeding power even when there's no device to receive the power?)
The meter has to be passthrough so I agree it shouldn't count as a receiver, and shouldn't trigger a charger to provide power when it doesn't normally. I'm not blaming the meter, just mentioning the behavior.
The Type-A meter I had had a button on it to flip the screen orientation, this meter does not. It would have been nice to be able to flip the screen orientation.
Nitpick: There's not enough clearance on the male end to plug into my phone through the phone's case. I wish the meter was either more narrow or had the male plug stick out more.
I give this meter 3 stars due to the cold booting issue because it tells me this product was not properly tested and the design was not polished.
Call me a geek — I like to know how my chargers and cables are working. I have a number of USB Type-A charging meters, so I was very excited to see Satechi's USB Type-C meter. Since purchasing it, here's what I've discovered.
Because this meter has Type-C on both ends, you can place it (a) between the cable and the device supplying the charge, OR (b) between the cable and the device receiving the charge. This means that you can calculate the voltage drop across the length of a Type‑C cable — which is much easier to do using this device than it is to measure the resistance of the cable using a standard multimeter.
The Type-C cables that came stock with my Pixel and Nexus 6P phones exhibit the least voltage loss — roughly 0.1 V. On the other hand, I have a few cables from CHOETECH, and these exhibit the greatest voltage loss — about 0.5 V. I have a number of cables from Tronsmart, and these range from 0.2 V to 0.3 V loss. As you would expect, the Satechi meter confirmed that the cables with lower voltage loss (and therefore lower resistance) were able to deliver measurably higher current to my Pixel and N6P phones.
Because the Type-C connector is "reversible", you can always plug in the Satechi meter so that its display faces you. Unfortunately, even when the display is facing you, the numerals on the display can still be upside-down. There's no way to rotate the numerals of the display by 180°, so be prepared to "turn your head" as necessary to read the meter. With that said, the OLED display is bright and it exhibits high contrast. Even with tiny numbers (2.3 mm in height), it's very easy to read. Voltage, current, charging direction, and accumulated mAh are the only parameters that are shown. The display's update interval is about 1.7 seconds.
The male plug of the Satechi meter has an "elbowed" base to it, so the plug fits fine into my Pixel, which is protected within a Ringke case. I also have no problem fitting the meter's plug into my N6P, which has the original Google microfiber-backed case.
Keep in mind that you have to be careful plugging the meter into a Type-C port. The meter is big enough that if you put any torque on it, the meter or the port will probably break. (Of my Type-A meters, I like the ones that have a short cable permanently attached, allowing the meters to dangle off of the port without fear of torquing the USB connection.)
All-in-all, I'm happy with the Satechi Type-C meter. As I write this, it's the only one that I can find to purchase. I imagine as USB Type-C becomes more ubiquitous, other manufacturers will be offering Type-C meters. For now, this is the one that I'm carrying with me in my "tech bag."
I use this with a Lenovo A12 (Awesome 2-in-1!). It is my first USB "C" device, and I wanted to see if the charger that came with it put out greatly higher power levels than the USB plugs I had from my iPAD and other USB 2.0/3.0 wall chargers. In short, Yes, it does! I have a USB 2.0 tester that I was always happy with, but needless to say, it cannot properly display values higher than 5.x volts. The Satechi does so perfectly. No weird screen glitches like previous reviews, so maybe they fixed the issue, or I just got "lucky". Not as sturdy a construction as my old USB tester, so I am going to be more mindful of being careful with handling it.
I've only had this for a couple days; however, so far I am completely satisfied with it. I have a similar USB-A product, and this one is a lot nicer. Since USB-C is so much more versatile (in terms of voltage, amperage, and direction), I find this device quite useful.
Pros:
* Shows volts and amps at the same time
* Shows direction energy is flowing, which is extremely important for USB-C
* Adding a cumulative mAh reading is a nice bonus feature
* Since it is USB-C, one never has to deal with the power meter being upside down and therefore hard to read, which can easily happen with some USB-A power meters.
Feature Product
- MONITOR YOUR POWER - measures voltage, current and power input over time to ensure your device is receiving an adequate yet safe charge
- PASS-THROUGH CHARGING - monitor power while simultaneously charging your Type-C device
- EASY TO USE - features a bright, easy-to-read display that automatically turns on when you connect the power source to your device. Please remove clear protective layer from meter display before use
- SLIM & COMPACT - its portable design easily stores in your laptop bag, purse or briefcase!
- COMPATIBILITY - 2018 MacBook Air, 2018 iPad Pro, 2016/2017/2018 MacBook Pro, 2015/2016/2017 MacBook, 2017 iMac, iMac Pro, Lenovo Thinkpad, Yoga 900/910, Dell XPS 9250, Chromebook, ASUS ZenBook Pro, HP Spectre x360, Elite X2, Lumia 950/950 XL, Acer Aspire Switch, Microsoft Surface Go/Pro, IdeaPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro, Razer Blade Stealth/Pro and more
Description
Calculate and measure the power draw of your laptop or Type-C smartphone! Use the Satechi Type-C Power Meter to measure Volts, Amps, and mAh from compatible Type-C ports! With a sleek design and easy-to-read display, the Type-C Power Meter is the perfect solution for monitoring your Type-C port's power.
Measure Your Type-C Device's Power
The Power Meter will measure the Voltage (Volts), current (Amps) and milliamps hours of your port's power source in real time.
Pass-Through Charging
Monitor power while simultaneously charging your compatible Type-C device.
Design & Display
A slim and compact design makes the Power Meter easy to store in your bag - in addition, the bright display ensures easy to read power measurements.
Compatibility
2018 MacBook Air, 2018 iPad Air, 2016/2017/2018 MacBook Pro, 2015/2016/2017 MacBook, 2017 iMac, iMac Pro, Lenovo Thinkpad, Yoga 900/910, Dell XPS 9250, Chromebook, ASUS ZenBook Pro, HP Spectre x360, Elite X2, Lumia 950/950 XL, Acer Aspire Switch, Microsoft Surface Go/Pro, IdeaPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro, Razer Blade Stealth/Pro and most other USB-C devices.
Please Note
Voltage range 4V-30V
Current range 50mA-9.99
Max total 65W
Display will not turn on until both Type-C device and power supply are connected
Please remove clear protective layer from meter display before use. 1 Year Manufacturer Warranty
There's not really much to say except that this does exactly what it is supposed to do. Plug it between your computer and a USB-C device, and it shows you the voltage and current used. Pretty handy for troubleshooting any weird stuff happening with your peripherals. I was able to pinpoint a problem with a USB-C/SATA adapter in less than a minute. Now I know exactly which piece is defective and what the problem is.
One minor quibble. No manual was included with the device although Satechi does email an electronic copy directly to you at the time the order is placed on Amazon. In fairness, it doesn't really need a manual anyway since there are no buttons or controls of any kind -- just insert it between your computer and the other device. Impossible to do it wrong. However, be warned: this meter doesn't seem to "wake up" until a peripheral is actually attached. Thus, you can't just plug it into a USB port to test if the port is "live". On the other hand, it is unlikely that you'll get a meaningful health indication anyway unless the port is under load.
This little USB-C multimeter helps me get a visual idea of power flow to and from my laptop. I have tried this with both the wall charger (power TO the laptop) and with the USB-C to Lightning cable to my iPhone (power FROM the laptop). This little device gave me a nice readout on volts and amps and directional flow. On top of all that, it's super easy to use. No configuration, no switches or buttons; just plug it in and it does its thing. Like any multimeter, be sure to give it time to settle before reacting to values you see on the display.
A very useful tool that will allow me to spot problems with ports and/or cheap accessories before my devices suffer any damage. Another tool in the toolbox!
I've purchased plenty of the USB power monitors on eBay and most of them were junk. This however, is a really high quality product. Display is easy to read and seems to be very accurate. A nice feature is that it keeps track not only of voltage and current but also the current over time for mAh. I kept track of the % battery remaining on my phone before plugging in the charger and the mAh reading on the charger after a full charge and the results were very consistent.
It’s great! Super straightforward to use and hasn’t caused problems. Only minor issue is that it’s wasy to damage the connector by yanking the cord.
Really wish all the people professionally reviewing USB PD charger and USB batteries would actually use these to measure charger rate and watt ratings...instead of just saying stuff like “charged my iPhone fast!” which doesn’t distinguish between 12W and 18W charging for example.
This is super small and lightweight It almost feels hollow. I can confirm it measures loads 5V @ 2.3A, 14.5V @ 2A and 19.5V @ 2A. The display does not always come on when a plugged into power or when a cable is attached. It will come on when an load is attached to charge. I am not sure if this is normal/expected, but the display seems to reboot when switching from 5V to a higher voltage, i.e. 14.5V. It seems to work fine otherwise.