Review: Nimble Wireless and Portable Chargers are Reliable and Beautifully Designed



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At the end of August, a new brand of accessories called Nimble, from a trio of former Mophie employees, offered its customers a variety of chargers designed and shipped in environmentally friendly and environmentally friendly conditions. sustainable development.



Under the direction of Ross Howe (Nimble CEO), Jon Bradley (Creative Director) and Kevin Malinowski (Brand Marketing), Nimble's line of accessories remains modest for two months and focuses specifically on a collection of eight wireless chargers and portable chargers. During this period, I have been fortunate to use all Nimble products. Despite some problems with the range, it is clear that quality before quantity matters over Nimble.

Design

Specifically, Nimble sells four portable chargers, four wireless chargers and three accessories, and some of the same design elements appear in the device lineup.



Nimble names portable chargers by estimating how long you will be able to extract the battery: a 3-day charger (10,000 mAh, $ 49.95), 5 days (13 000 mAh, $ 59.95), 8 days (20,000 mAh, $ 69.95) and 10 days (26,800 mAh, $ 99.95). Each of them includes a magnetic accessory for cable management, a USB-A to USB-C cable and the 10-day portable charger inserts an AC adapter brick.



For wireless chargers, Nimble sells a wireless pad ($ 39.95), a wireless dual pad ($ 49.95), a wireless stand ($ 49.95), and a wireless travel kit ($ 59.95). , $ 95). Individually, you can purchase a dual USB wall charger ($ 19.95), a USB wall charger ($ 12.95) and a 2 pair USB-C cable ($ 12.95 – $ 17.95).



Each Nimble product is built in partnership with a supplier who uses recycled aluminum, herbal bioplastics, organic hemp and other natural materials to make the company's production less impactful on the planet. When packaged, Nimble uses 100% recycled paper boxes that contain no harmful ink, plastic, or dyes.





In the end, Nimble's position on reducing its carbon footprint did not have a negative impact on the design and usability of its products and may even have improved in some respects . The portable chargers have a nice weight and feel solid in the hand, with a recycled aluminum case bordered by the characteristic Nimble TPE, which combine to create a satisfying product of superior quality.

For wireless chargers, Nimble uses a combination of durable tissue blends including organic hemp, recycled plastic bottles and herbal bioplastics. The resulting effect is a wireless charger covered with soft-touch fabric, available in the light gray and anthracite gray color options. Rubberized feet placed under each feeder also help prevent shaking. A white LED on the back will alert you when your iPhone is charging.

Double wireless pads in light gray and anthracite gray

At the moment, Nimble wireless chargers are not officially Qi certified because the company has decided to focus on obtaining all the appropriate CE and UL safety certifications. Nevertheless, Nimble tells me that they are all built exactly according to Qi certification specifications, and he intends to include Qi certification for wireless chargers starting in the first quarter of 2019.

I'm going to address the specific issues I've encountered with some devices in the corresponding sections below, but overall, I've really liked Nimble's design choices for his first set of designs. # 39; accessories. These are subtle products with small footprints and beautiful accents, and wireless chargers in particular look great wherever I put them in my apartment. If you combine these quality improvements with efforts to reduce the company's carbon footprint and at reasonable prices, you can see Nimble start to gain a reputation in the market.

Wireless Chargers

Wireless Travel Kit / Wireless Cushion

The Nimble Wireless Travel Kit is essentially an oversized USB wall charger with the company's wireless pad with magnetic connection, which has turned out to be one of my wireless iPhone chargers. favorite ones that I've used again.

This is mainly due to the fact that the detection of the charging pad of the wireless pad is excellent, allowing me to place my iPhone X both parallel to the design of the pad itself and perpendicular, as well as multiple arrangements staggered between these angles. This makes it ideal for use at the bedside of the patient in the dark, but a problem I've encountered with many Nimble wireless chargers has appeared frequently: the tablet LED is just too bright the night.

iPhone X charge in the three investment scenarios illustrated above

Sitting on my bedside table, the Wireless Pad LED was bright enough to hit the wall behind the table and turn it on. During the tests, I had to use a pile of books to cover the light. Bright lights have prevented a handful of otherwise fun wireless chargers from becoming permanent pillars on my bedside table, and for now, it seems like the same thing for the Nimble Wireless Pad.

As with the rest of the wireless travel kit, the USB wall charger has a small compartment containing the supplied USB-C to USB-A cable. When it is open, it offers two USB-A ports for you to charge multiple devices from one computer. unique destination during your trip. When you're ready to go, you can tuck the cable into the compartment and place the wireless pad over everything to close it.



The wireless travel kit is easily Nimble's most creative accessory, but its design has drawbacks. On the one hand, it takes a bit of work to replace the 3.5-foot USB-C cable in the cable management compartment, and once you have created the magnets that melt the Wireless Pad (basically the cache) to the USB wall charger, they are no longer particularly powerful.



The weak magnets are a bit of an Achilles heel for Nimble products, and in the two months that I've tested everything, the company has updated some of its features with improved magnets as a result first reactions of users. Although this enhances the aspects of the portable chargers, I saw no noticeable difference in the strength of the magnet with the updated version of the wireless travel kit. The update corrected the problem that a powerful hissing sound could be heard from the USB wall charger during use.

As far as charging is concerned, the USB wall charger has been a reliable charging source for many devices in recent months, and the 7.5 W Wireless Tablet has recharged my iPhone X from 29 to 100% in just three hours.



When it is used, the USB wall charger occupies the entire space of the socket, so you will not be able to use the other socket any more. It is also a bit tedious to tilt and connect the USB-A cables into the ports in the USB wall charger's cable management compartment, given the limited space available. As you will see with the rest of Nimble's accessories, despite these few pinches, I really loved the design, usability and usefulness of the wireless travel kit.

Dual Pad Wireless

Nimble's Dual Dual Wireless Pad is essentially a longer version of the Wireless Pad that allows two devices to charge at the same time, but because of its location with LEDs and its low detection of coil charging, this accessory has posed some of my biggest problems.



The first version that I tried had badly registered an iPhone that I had placed on the left side of the pad, while the right side was working as expected. Its diode (located on the back of the rug, to the right of the USB-C port) also flashed sporadically for no reason every time it was plugged. Nimble has sent me an updated version.

The new device has been working as planned in recent weeks, charging two iPhones at the same time, each supported by Apple's 7.5W Fast Charging standard. I found it tied with the Wireless Pad, feeding my iPhone X from 11% to 98% in three hours.



Unfortunately, the LED of this accessory corresponded to the brightness of the one found on the Wireless Pad. I used it more often in the living room or the kitchen.

Wireless support

If you prefer a vertical charging option, Nimble sells wireless support, which is essentially a slightly longer version of the inclined wireless pad. In the middle of the back are a plastic foot and a small plastic head that you can push to force this section out through the front of the foot.



This piece of plastic one inch long serves as a resting place for your iPhone while charging. You can also replace the bracket, push the plastic node back into the device and use the wireless base charger as a horizontal charger as well.

I liked wireless support, and its user-friendly structure for travel makes sense considering Nimble's inclination for compact models, but I would have preferred a more rugged vertical loader. I've been having the Wireless Stand in my kitchen since September and several times, I've placed my iPhone X too hard on the charger, which has caused it to crumble.



My iPhone never fell out of the charger while it was in use, but I have never particularly appreciated the fact that only a small piece of plastic one inch long holds it in place, the depth of which was just below the thickness of the iPhone itself.



Given the small size of the wireless base (my iPhone X sits about an inch higher when it was turned on), I would not recommend the base for an iPhone Plus or Max but I enjoyed the additional utility of the extra USB-A port. The stand was also the charger that made my iPhone the hottest, but it has never been so alarming, and the heat of the smartphone back is typical of any wireless charger.

I've also found the same charge rates on the wireless base: from 24%, my iPhone has reached 100% in two and a half hours.

Portable chargers

The Nimble handheld chargers are essentially the same accessory with different battery capacities, and I have found them all working similarly over the last few months. For this reason, I will not break down each of them as I did with wireless chargers, but rather give my overall impression of this category of Nimble products.

I've finally used the 5-day (13,000 mAh) and 10-day (26,800 mAh) portable chargers, mainly because these are the two devices that include three total USB-A ports and a USB-C port for fast charging on compatible iPhones. Comparatively, the 3-day and 8-day portable charges have two USB-A ports with a USB-C fast charge port each.



I started using it as often as possible 10 days to test the largest portable charger from Nimble. Even though it did not last 10 days, I came out of the device 6 to 7 days before his death. . At that time, the 10-day portable charger powered my iPhone X by less than 10% to a capacity about six times (in total, it should power an iPhone X / XS about nine times), my iPad mini 4 by less than 10% less than once, and a handful of half-capacity charges were scattered.

For fast USB-C charging, Nimble chargers meet the expected standards: they can power an iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X, XS, XS Max or XR from 0 to 50% in about 30 minutes. Using the quartet of Nimble portable chargers associated with Apple's USB-C to Lightning cable (required to quickly charge an iPhone), each battery has powered my iPhone X about 1% to 50% in exactly 30 minutes. When the fast charge is active, the Nimble side indicator lights up in orange. Otherwise, a green light indicates a normal charge.



The USB-C fast charge is also the best pair for the Nintendo Switch charger and the Nimble portable charger, because with a normal USB-A charge, the switch will run out as you play and can only be charged when He is on standby. I've used the 10-day laptop battery and the USB-C to USB-C cable from my 12-inch MacBook to connect the switch switch accessory to Nimble, and I've started playing Super Mario Odyssey with the switch with a range of 3%, around 11 pm. the morning. I played all day and the Switch managed to stay in the evening with the help of Nimble, the console being fully charged at 4:45 pm. this afternoon.

The graphically intense games on Switch last between 2 and 3 hours. Therefore, if you empty the console, use Nimble's 10-day portable charger while you play and deplete it. You can have 12 hours of autonomy without having to -docke it.



In terms of form factor and utility, the 5-day portable charger has always been my favorite. At just 4.5 "x 3", the camera fits perfectly in my hand and takes up less space in my bag than the 8-day and 10-day chargers, while providing a 13,000 mAh battery big enough to justify his transport. It's also the smallest with the most USB-A ports at three, and the point before portable chargers start to gain noticeable weight (0.75 lbs for 5 days vs. 1.03 lbs for the 8 days).

The portable charger 5 days

Each of these chargers includes a Nimble speckled TPE magnetic mount, designed to house the USB-C cable. It attaches to the bottom of the portable charger and a notched flap allows you to save the cord with the charger. Although I love Nimble's continued efforts to promote the organization and management of cables, I again found that its performance was far from ideal.

The magnets on the attachment are not very powerful (although they improve in the updated accessory that Nimble has sent me), and the belt that holds the cable can be difficult to handle. In general, I found it faster to tidy the Nimble USB-C cable with the other cords in my backpack and to give up the built-in organization.



For a normal charge, on the entire range of devices Nimble, I have followed a full charge of the iPhone X from less than 10% to 100% in an interval between two and three o'clock. For example, the 8-day portable charger powered my iPhone from 8% at 18:50 to 100% at 9:25 pm. In another test, the 10-day portable charger charged my iPhone 10% at 16:30 to 100% at 18:46. Chargers 3 days and 5 days got the same results during their tests.



Although the magnets are of poor quality, the Nimble handheld chargers have never failed, and they all worked consistently throughout my tests, with no faulty USB ports or uneven load readings on the accessories.

Bottom line

Nimble has a solid selection of accessories to offer to its customers, who should be satisfied with their purchases despite some disappointments as to the well-designed design of cable management and others. characteristics.



Slender wireless chargers are ideal for anyone who travels a lot or prefers chargers with small footprints. The portable chargers are large enough to allow reliable charging on the go for a smartphone, tablet, etc.

How to buy

Nimble only sells its devices online for the purpose of reducing the cost of products. So you can find them all on Gonimble.com or Amazon. The best place to buy them over the next two weeks though will be on Nimble's own site, as the company has organized a big sale for Thanksgiving and Cyber ​​Week for the holidays.

Nimble will start by offering 30% off on the featured items in its online store and 20% off everything else in the days before Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Today, this means that the entire website benefits from a 20% discount and that the wireless dual charger ($ 34.97, instead of $ 49.95) and the 8-day portable charger ($ 48.97, instead of $ 69.95) both offer a 30% discount. To see what will be featured in Nimble's vacation discounts, be sure to visit our Black Friday Roundup.

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