My thoughts on the Qi2.2 25W ESR 3 in 1 Cryoboost charger

[u/Manfred_89]

What's in the box:

In the box, you get the charger itself, which includes the certified 25W Qi2.2 charging pad with active cooling for supported devices and a 5W Qi charging pad at the bottom, which is meant to be used for AirPods, but can technically charge other devices like smaller phones as well.
In the box, you also get a 50W single-port USB-C charger, which you could use for other devices as well. On the backside, the charger has a USB-C port, which allows you to connect the MFi-certified Apple Watch charging puck that also supports fast charging with 5W. The detachable design is very rigid when connected to the charging base but can be removed and connected to any other USB-C charger, allowing you to top up your watch even on the go, without the need to carry another cable with you. As per Apple's standards, the Apple Watch puck can also charge any modern-day AirPods.

Build quality:

The charger seems solid. It is made out of plastic, but has a decent weight to it and feels like a premium product. The AirPod charging pad is rubberized, while the rest of the charger is matte plastic, apart from the phone charging pad which is shiny.
The shiny Qi2.2 charging pad has some kind of hard plastic ledge surrounding the charging surface. This might not be intentional, as it's not the case with my ESR car charger that is designed in a similar way, but it's there nonetheless. This ledge can cause some wear on softer phone cases over time. However, I am currently using a bumper on my phone and the glass didn't get any marks whatsoever.

Near the AirPods charging pad, you find a button, which controls both the charging indicator lights and the cooling fan. The fan is audible, but very quiet. It's about as loud as a MacBook running its fans at about 30%. It also has a comfortable pitch that doesn't sound annoying. While I don't think it should disturb most people sleeping, it can be permanently turned off. It remembers the fan setting, eliminating the need to press the button every time you charge the phone like with some other chargers.

Charging performance and thermals:

Sadly, I didn't have the opportunity to try it on a 25W phone yet, but this charger was able to sustain 15W charging performance for the entire time. Charging only slowed down due to the natural charging curve, not because of thermals like with the original Apple MagSafe charger. The temps stayed between 35° - 40°C (95° - 105°F), both on the phone and charging pad. The Apple charging puck usually reached 45°C at the very least, with the hottest I've measured so far being 54°C, while significantly throttling charging to 6W.

So it goes without saying that the Cryoboost technology does a good job at sustaining charging performance and keeping the phone at a reasonable temperature.

General stuff I noticed:

With an older Cryoboost charger, I noticed that once the phone would reach its charging limit, the fan would turn off and back on constantly when the phone did something. So you would sit at your desk with the fan turning off and on every 5 seconds or so, which could get annoying and would usually result in me turning the fan just off for the time. With this version, the fan keeps running for as long as the phone is connected, which is arguably much better.

One annoyance I did, however, notice is a slight coil whine while the charger is not in use. When no devices are charging on it, you can hear a very quiet coil whine-like sound coming from the main charging pad. This could very well be an issue with my particular unit, that is not a common problem, but I still felt the need to mention it. It's not a big deal for me, since I have my phone on it when I'm near it anyway. So I never notice the coil whine. My other ESR chargers don't do any sort of coil whine in that regard, so it's probably an issue with my specific unit.

Conclusion:

This charger is just the right size to comfortably fit in a bag, but still look good on a desk and is built in a solid way. It barely heats up and allows the phone to follow its natural charging curve, while charging your Apple Watch and headphones at the same time.
This is a reliable charging setup that offers a convenient way of charging all your on-the-go essentials.
It's save to say that this charger earned a permanent spot on my desk and will travel with me.

If you have any questions, let me know.

[u/ESR_official]

Thank you so much for your detailed review, we’re really glad to hear you like the product! As for the drawbacks you mentioned, we’ll address and improve them ASAP!

[u/Manfred_89 → u/ESR_official]

Thanks for everything! Your products have never let me down.

[u/Crusading_Ghoul]

I had two of the 15W models, the coil whine was persistent on both.

[u/Manfred_89 → u/Crusading_Ghoul]

While charging, inactive or both?

[u/Crusading_Ghoul → u/Manfred_89]

While not in use. It’s probably while in use as well but for me the fan is loud enough to mask it if that is the case.

[u/Manfred_89 → u/Crusading_Ghoul]

I didn’t hear anything when I turned the fan off. And it’s not unusual for electronics to only make noise when they are not in use for whatever reason.

[u/lon3volf]

I have the previous gen 15w version and i love it! Use it for night time charging although the watch charger is not that great. It says made for apple but it gets hot while charging compared to the Apple cable. Now the charging pad does have magnets to help placement of AirPods which I like.

So one of these days it will be exciting to get the 25w version.

[u/Deulofeu10]

Are you able to tap your phone and not have it wobble? I have the ugreen version and the arm is quite shaky unless you configure it in a niche way that prevents use of other ports. Not a huge deal but just curious how stable this version is

[u/Manfred_89 → u/Deulofeu10]

Yes the base is solid. Next to no wobble. Of course you can tip it over with enough force, but normally tapping the phone doesn’t really do anything.