Update (October 14, 2024): The Belkin BoostCharge Pro Wireless Charger has been recalled and should not be used. Details here.
It’s Tuesday morning, and I didn’t feel like working at home today, so after breakfast, I headed out to the co-working space I joined in the spring. As I got ready, I realized my MacBook Air’s battery was a little low. I used it a lot yesterday and didn’t charge it overnight. My Apple Watch Ultra battery was a bit low, too, thanks to the extra drain of the watchOS 10 beta.
With plans to spend most of the day away and on foot, I wanted to travel light, so instead of grabbing my big 25,600 mAh Anker battery, I went for the Belkin BoostCharge Pro charger. The compact charger, which Belkin sent me for testing about a week ago, seemed perfect for this kind of scenario. The charger is compact and lightweight compared to larger options and has the added benefit of a built-in Apple Watch charging pad.
The BoostCharge Pro is roughly 5” (12.7 cm) long, 2” (5.08 cm) wide, and 1” (2.54 cm) tall. That makes it shorter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, about 3/4 that phone’s width, and the thickness of a couple stacked on each other. At that size, the BoostCharge Pro is significantly lighter than bigger battery packs and easily fits in a bag and some pockets.
What you give up with a smaller battery like this is power. The BoostCharge Pro features a 10,000 mAh battery, which is great for charging smaller devices like an Apple Watch and iPhone, but it isn’t going to get too far with a Mac. That said, I’ve found that the BoostCharge Pro can fill about a third of my M1 MacBook Air’s battery, which is plenty for topping it off, which is exactly what I did when I arrived at my co-working space this morning.
The BoostCharge Pro has a USB-C port on one end and an Apple Watch charging pad on the top. As soon as I was ready to start, I plugged the charger into my MacBook Air and dropped my Apple Watch Ultra on the charging pad. One of my favorite aspects of the BoostCharge Pro is that it can charge an Apple Watch at a full 7.5 watts, which few Watch chargers do. That’s a must for the Apple Watch Ultra, which takes forever to charge at lower wattages. Like other Watch chargers, the BoostCharge Pro’s charging pad can charge second-generation AirPods Pro headphones too. The Belkin charger’s USB-C port delivers 20 watts of power, which works well for an iPhone or iPad, and also does a respectable job charging a Mac.
Next to the BoostCharge Pro’s USB-C port is a button that, when pressed, lights up a series of four LED lights that show how much charge remains in its battery. The outside of the charger, which comes in black only, has a soft touch casing, which I like, but the battery can get quite hot when outputting its full charging capacity. You’re not going to burn your hands, but on a cold winter day, the BoostCharge Pro can easily double as a hand warmer.
As I’ve found with other Belkin accessories I’ve owned, the BoostCharge Pro is on the pricey side at $99.99 compared to similar capacity chargers. However, what you get with the BoostCharge Pro that most alternatives lack is solid construction, a nice design, and 7.5-watt Apple Watch charging, which makes it an excellent on-the-go option that eliminates the need to keep a spare Apple Watch charging cable in your bag.
The BoostCharge Pro isn’t the battery I’d take on a week-long trip, but for days like today, it’s perfect. In the hour it’s taken to write this first draft, my MacBook Air has been topped off, and my Apple Watch Ultra has added about 50% charge, making it a great companion for a day on the move.
The Belkin BoostCharge Pro is available from Belkin’s online store.
