The good folks at Orico have sent me their latest power-strip to review. On the surface, the specs are pretty good - two UK sockets, two USB-C for PowerDelivery, and two USB-A for legacy devices.
Let's put it though its paces!
Specs
Physically, it is a little larger than I was expecting. The two UK sockets are far enough apart to easily get your fingers around the plugs. Similarly, the USB ports are well-spaced. There's a tiny LED to show that power is connected, but it isn't offensively bright.
The UK plug is tiny:
Even better, it comes with a proper fuse! The power cord isn't removable, but is long enough for most purposes.
How much power can it supply? This is what the spec sheet says:
| V | A | W | |
|---|---|---|---|
| USB-A | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| USB-A | 9 | 2.22 | 20 |
| USB-A | 12 | 1.67 | 15 |
| USB-C | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| USB-C | 9 | 2.77 | 25 |
| USB-C | 12 | 2.08 | 25 |
But there is a fly in the ointment. While 25W is the most that a single USB-C port can output, the power drops once multiple devices are connected. If you have two or more plugged in, the total output is limited to a mere 15W. Not per-port; total!
25W is already fairly low by PowerDelivery standards, so you won't be using this to power your gaming laptop while charging your tablet and headphones.
Real World Testing
I used my Plugable USB-C Power Meter with some high-quality USB cables. The Orico mostly lives up to its promises.
When charging my laptop from either USB-C port, I was able to measure 22W (12V ⎓ 1.85A). Pretty close to the spec.
As soon as I plugged my phone into the other USB-C port, that dropped that down to just under 8W (4.8 ⎓ 1.65A) per port. Again, right on the promised 15W total.
The USB-A port happily delivered 7.5W (5V ⎓ 1.5A) - much lower than expected. That dropped to around 5W (5V ⎓ 1A) once a USC-C load was connected. The C port was only delivering ~10W which wasn't enough to meaningfully charge the laptop.
Final Thoughts
The flat plug is handy for plugging this in to those hard-to-reach spaces. The cable is long enough for most uses. The mixture of ports isn't for everyone, but handy if you still have legacy devices you need to power.
It meets the promised specification - but the specs are a bit of a let-down. You can get smaller devices which will do 60W charging from USB-C, and they'll spread that out over all their ports.
The two UK sockets are a nice-to-have, but I can't help feeling that they'll mostly be used for adding additional chargers.
It is cheap-ish - US$30 / £20 - and comes in a range of colours. If you need a long cable and don't need ultra-fast charging, this will do.
One thought on “Gadget Review: Orico Power Strip (UK)”
@Edent I have a couple of their older boards like this (2 or 4 240V and 4-6 USB-A) with a removable IEC cord - very handy for going on holidays to know you need fewer plug adapters and have a handful of basic USB in a compact form
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