Lightweight and stylish charging struggles to find it’s footing
The STM Charge Tree Go charging station looks to tread some well worn ground in the accessory market as a 3-in-1 wireless charging dock for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. The ‘Go’ in the name points to the portable aspect of the device which looks to give an ideal charging solution on…well…on the go.
Out of the box the biggest selling point of this product is clear to see. A lot of charging trees and multi device charging solutions on the market try to look ornamental, to sit nicely on a bedside table, but the ChargeTree Go takes a different approach. It’s a black angular brick not much thicker but not much bigger than a regular smartphone and in this form is a straight forward wireless Qi charger ready to go. At it’s base is a hinge which allows it to unfold and stand upright for a smartphone to sit in the dock at a comfortable viewing angle. While unfolded a wireless charging pad at the rear of the device is exposed and ready to use and with a small pop out charging unit for your Apple Watch. From a design perspective it’s quite nice. It looks smart and unobtrusive, sits my iPhone up at a good angle to check notifications while charging and is an inoffensive little solution when compared to some of the louder offerings available out there.
I’ve seen a lot of 3-in-1’s with this odd mirrored metal look. They have a sturdy base, a big reflective shiny arm poking out the top and a couple of big old circles to snap your devices onto. Some of the worst even have plastic arms coated in a metallic reflective layer to look luxurious but to the hand feel cheap an low quality.
The ChargeTree Go does a good job of looking clean but the materials used haven’t felt great during my time with it. The little pop out watch charger felt like it could be
prone to breaking and a little fragile the first time I went to use it and on repeated uses those concerns haven’t eased. The hinge that props the smartphone charger up and provides access to the AirPods charger has a great snap to it but leaves me concerned as to how long that might last and at what point I’m going to have to watch my iPhone slowly lean back and fall asleep on my AirPods as the hinge has failed on me.
Material is important and this device is entirely made up of plastic that lacks the strength and sturdiness I would look for in a device like this. That being said it keeps the charging station super light which leans into the portability aspect. You could pop it into a rucksack and forget it’s there which, based off the name of the product, is probably exactly what they were going for. When I think of a really great 3-in-1 charger I tend to think of some of the heavy hitters in the market like Mophie, Belkin or Anker and the offerings from all of these feel of a better quality than what STM have brought to the table. Anker’s 3-in-1 Cube comes to mind immediately as a sharp, clean charging solution made of some really great materials but they’re likely going to come at a higher price and that’s where I find recommending this product a bit of a challenge.
I think a device like this with the materials it uses and the design choices made would feel reasonably priced around the £40 – £70 marker but at almost $120 (no clear UK purchasing options were available at the time of writing this review) it becomes a really hard sell. Not least of all because you will have to be shelling out a little extra for a 20W charging brick as one is not included in the box. Honestly there are products out there that feel about as god as this does for about half the price. There are other products available that are marginally more expensive but considerably nicer across the board. So it makes it really difficult to recommend on that point alone.
As for charging…it does. It definitely does that. There’s nothing particularly exciting to say on that front. I found it about as consistent as you might expect when compared to other Qi chargers on the market. Most of the fast charge functionality I’m used to enjoying on an Apple Watch Series 7 worked pretty well and so on that front it’s pretty good. The exclusion of a plug was frustrating as mentioned, especially considering the price and while i know by now it’s old hat in the tech market to leave a plug out of the box I do feel if you’re selling a literal charging solution then you should probably make sure there’s a plug in there. The USB-C cable in the box was a little shorter than I might like but once the actual charge tree wast plugged into a standard 20W Apple plug using this cable worked well. I did have to resort to a slightly more powerful power supply at one point and it seemed to really struggle to balance it, charging initially before quickly cutting out, so sticking to a 20W as suggested on the packaging is definitely recommended. I also saw pretty consistent charging across my devices when using all three charging pads simultaneously. I’ve seen and used cheaper alternatives that have struggled to actually deliver on all 3 charging options at the same time but that wasn’t something I experienced here. A final point to mention on charging is that there is a thin LED strip across the front of the device to indicate when something s device is charging. Left of the strip for the Phone, right of the strip for the AirPods and the watch charger had it’s own little light on the side. It would be a cool little addition but frustratingly after a couple of minutes they turn off. It left me constantly double checking to make sure everything was charging ok. Being able to glance at this LED as and when I need to would have been nice but instead I was left with a mean case of charging anxiety.
All in all STM have managed to put together a nifty little product with a great aesthetic that gets the job done. The mean edges give a blade runner vibe that I really liked but that style slips away as soon as I hold the product in my hand. The plastic is a shame and makes it feel cheaper than its price point suggests so I find it really hard to recommend when there are some great products out there that do pricey and premium or cheap and cheerful with a lot more grace than the STM ChargeTree Go.
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