Smallest 60W USB-C charger ever? Innergie C6 Fold review

Intro

I really liked the last Innergie USB-C charger I reviewed earlier this Summer. While this newer C6 Fold GaN model (a re-branded version of the 60C Pro launched in 2019) shares the same sleek design aesthetic and good performance, I actually don’t like it nearly as much.

Full disclosure: While this is not a sponsored post, the product(s) reviewed were provided at no cost for evaluation purposes. Products received in this capacity are destined for teardowns, future device interoperability testing, and/or charitable donations.

1. Intro

2. Feature Summary

3. Unboxing and Physical Characteristics

4. Usability

5. Testing

6. Conclusion

   1. Update from Innergie

Feature Summary

• non-detachable recessed 2-prong USA-style AC/Mains folding power plug (international variant has snap-in adapters)

• 100-240V universal AC input

• 1 USB-C port with 60W

• 5, 9, 12, 15, 20V

• PD 3.0

• GaN technology for 91.5%+ efficiency

• 3 year warranty

• 60mm x 30.4mm x 30.4mm (2.36″ x 1.2″ x 1.2″)

• 55mL (3.4 ci) volume

Unboxing and Physical Characteristics

If there was one word to describe the appearance of the charger it would be “cute”. It is 60mm x 30.4mm x 30.4mm (55mL or 3.4 cubic inches volume). But this diminutive appearance is deceiving – at 86 grams (3 oz) it feels amazingly solid. The initial impression upon picking it up is of quality. The plastic finish is polished with no visible injection mold seams and like the C6 Duo, there is raised “Innergie” lettering to provide some grip. The AC/Mains blades neatly tuck away so that they will not snag or scratch anything while in a bag. The blade flip-out mechanism gives a solid thunk when dropping into the extended and the recessed positions. Also like the C6 Duo, its slenderness makes fitment on a power bar simple since no adjacent receptacles are blocked.

Outer packaging

Usability

Unfortunately, with the small size comes some usability issues. Me, my wife, and my son all agreed that it was difficult to flip up the AC/Mains blades. The recessed area is 4mm deep and 7mm wide at its deepest and slopes up to a 13mm wide opening with a smooth internal filet. This is just too small to get a good grip on the blades and sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right. For older folks with arthritis, this is a deal-breaker as it will just result in frustration. Innergie can improve the design here by making the charger about 2-3mm longer so that more space can be dedicated for gripping the AC/Mains blades.

Another concern is that the C6 Fold has raised lettering on only one side of the charger. Having lettering on two sides (like the C6 Duo) provides added grip for plugging and unplugging the charger. With these two changes, I think usability would be improved tremendously with negligible change to portability.

Recessed AC/Mains plug

Testing

I charged a variety of low-power devices like cell phones and they worked fine. As did dummy resistive loads at 5V, 9V, 12V, 15V and 20V as advertised. I focused mostly on laptop charging though since that is the primary use case for this product. And for that I used my trusty Surface Laptop Studio.

I loaded up Furmark Stress and ran it for about an hour at 100% PSU load. The AC/Mains power meter averaged 63.7 watts and the USB-C PD meter averaged 58.125 watts for a 91.2% efficiency – very close to the 91.5% claim. My test equipment isn’t the most accurate so I’ll give Innergie the benefit of the doubt and assume it meets the 91.5% claim. At lower loads like ~45W, I believe the charger exceeded 92% efficiency, but I don’t have photos or notes with specifics on that.

After 1 hour, the temperature reached 70.6°C in 21.6°C ambient (49° ΔT). For surfaces that need to be frequently touched on an electronics device, this is about the max you’d want. This is not hot enough to burn, but is a bit uncomfortable if you hold it for more than 2 seconds. For areas that don’t need to be touched frequently, up to 90°C is OK per TUV safety standards. And because this is a PSU, its not expected that you’ll be touching or holding it frequently.

Similar to the C6 Duo, Innergie claims robust overcurrent, overvoltage, overheating, overpower, and short-circuit protection via their “Innershield” branding. I don’t have the proper equipment to test all of these claims but I was able to trigger an immediate shutdown/reset by applying a 5 ohm resistive load and initiating 20V charging with a PD trigger – I assume this was the overcurrent protection kicking in since such a load would draw well beyond the 3 amps specified.

Test rig with Surface Laptop Studio Core i5 running Furmark

63.7 watts at AC/Mains

58.125W on USB-C PD meter

>70°C after 1 hour at 100% load

Conclusion

As I mentioned in the introduction, I really liked the larger C6 Duo charger I reviewed earlier this year. And I like the build quality of this C6 Fold model too. But given the difficulty I had with flipping open the AC/Mains plug and the chassis running on the hot side, this is not a charger I would recommend for general use. But if you absolutely need the smallest 60W charger on the market and loathe the possibility of AC/Mains blades scratching something in your bag, it does work and meets the manufacturer claims. Anker has a competing ultra-compact Nano II 65W charger that is shorter, but wider (42mm x 36mm x 44mm). Overall, the Anker is easier to use because the AC/Mains blades are easy to flip up, but its additional 6mm width makes plugging in devices on adjacent positions on many power bars extremely difficult if not impossible.

Update from Innergie

An Innergie representative let me know that they are planning to make a v2 product with improved ergonomics so it is easier to flip up the AC/Mains blades. Can’t wait to see the improvement!