Zyron PowerPod 140W PD 3.1 4 port GaN 5 Travel Charger – Yes 140W (off-grid review)

The Zyron PowerPod 140W PD 3.1 is a 4-port travel charger capable of delivering 140W USB-C  charging or 140W spread over four ports.

It is only fractionally larger than the Zyron Powaforce 100W GaN 5 charger – new tech charging that has become a staple in the CyberShack test bed. Move over for 140W!

This is a significant charger for two reasons.

• It is the new standard PD 3.1, which allows for chargers up to 240W and is a significant upgrade over PD 3.0, which is limited to 20V/5A/100W. This supports 28V/5A/140W.
• It uses the latest GaN (Gallium Nitride) technology, improving AC/DC conversion to 95%, adding lossless sensing and better heat management. Don’t underestimate the Gan 5 advantage – most chargers (apart from the latest Anker Gan Prime series 7) still use GaN 3.

A word of advice – cables!

When buying a UBS-C to USB-C cable, it is likely to be 2W—in other words, it is limited to 20V/2A/40W charging. If you buy a 3W cable, you can get up to 20V/3A/60W charging. These generally top out at 2m; the longer the cable, the more it loses efficiency.

To go above that requires 5W cables, e.g., 28/36/48V x 5W = 140/180/240W. These voltages may require an eMark chip in the cable, and the power standard is AVS. These are backward compatible.

Data rates are limited to 480Mbps – only USB-3 (5 or 10Gbps), USB-4 (20/40Gbps) and Thunderbolt 3 or 4 cables can achieve 40Gbps, usually at up to 50cm cable length.

Australian Review: Zyron PowerPod 140W PD 3.1 4 port GaN 5 charger (as of 6 October 2024*) Model ZY-WC-140W-2C1A

Website	Company Product Page 240W 5A USB-C cable
Price*	RRP $169.99, including free AU shipping
Warranty	2-years ACL and local support 30-day returns
Made in	Vietnam
Company	Zyron is an Aussie company established in 2021 to study the emerging GaN (Gallium Nitride) technology. Since then, it has sold 50,000+ chargers and is fast becoming a niche global supplier. Its latest products are made in Vietnam.
More	CyberShack off-grid news and reviews

New ratings in 2024

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations), and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it could be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

We are also tightening up on grading. Pass means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.

First Impression – love the travel case and accessories – Pass+

The hard-sided zippered travel case made no sense to me until I opened it and saw that it has five different 240V power plugs – AU, EU, UK, US and a plug to convert it to a desktop using a standard 2-pin cable plug. Ah, a travel charger!

It also has a 2m x 5W braided USB-C to USB-C cable. It is 100 x 30 x 75mm (97mm with the power adapter) x 370g (plus the travel case).

Ports – Share 140W

	Single port only Maximum	Two	Three	Four
USB-C1	PD 3.1 8V/5A/140W PPS 5-21V/5A/100W	65W	65W	65W
USB-C2	PD 3.1 20V/32.25A/65W PPS 3.3-21V/2.25A/65W	65W	45W	45W
USB-C3	PD 3.1 20V/32.25A/65W PPS 3.3-21V/2.25A/65W	Or C2+C3 40/20	20W	20W
USB-A1	PD 5V/2.4A/12W			12W

Tests – Pass+

Unfortunately, we do not have a 140W device like a MacBook Pro M1, so tests are limited to 100W.

• Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 120W. Our VA meter shows it responding from as low as 45W to 97W, depending on load. ✅
• Motorola Edge 50 Pro with its 125W charger. It matched the 18V/5A/95W from the Moto charger and gave similar charge times. ✅
• USB-A downstream charge 5V/2.4A/12W – ✅
• Using all four ports showed the volt/amp/wattage within spec. It became slightly toasty (44°) ✅
• Supports Samsung, Motorola, and other PPS fast-charge protocols. ✅

Remember that the top port outputs the most, and as you plug into other ports, it shares the wattage. If you were using 100W PD.3.1, you could use the USB-A 12W etc.

We also noticed that devices appeared to charge faster (not tested).

Safety – Pass+

It uses the Navitas GaNFast/GaNSense Gan 5 chipset (also used by Anker GanPrime series 7). These include safety features such as over-voltage, current, and temperature for safer charging. GaNSense is a more efficient way to measure precisely what a USB-C device needs, making it more energy efficient. The device detects cable type so as not to overstress or overheat the cable.

CyberShack’s view: The Zyron PowerPod 140W PD 3.1 4 port GaN 5 Travel Charger is excellent.

GaN 5, four ports, combined 140W charging, Navitas chips and made in Vietnam by an Aussie company. It sounds pretty good to me.

You can sense Zyron’s enthusiasm (who picked that name?) in its approach to using the device for a review and its willingness to provide full specs—something so often overlooked by the big guys.

This offering holds its own at a very reasonable cost. Add an Aussie company and it gets our buy recommendation.

Rating

(Using 70/100 as a pass mark)

• Features: 85 – Four ports sharing up to 140W
• Value:85 – Excellent value and has RCM C-Tick certification
• Performance – 90 – meets or exceeds all tests for 140W.
• Ease of Use: 85—Plug it into the wall socket and go. It is understandably a little heavier with four ports. It can be converted to a desktop charger.
• Design: 85 – Compact. The hard-sided travel case and cable are a bonus.