Acefast Z4 PD218W review – See what’s charging

Acefast makes some of the best-looking peripherals, chargers, and earphones, and the Acefast Z4 PD218W charger continues the company’s design philosophy. 

The Acefast Z4 PD218W might be a big and bulky charger, but it has plenty of features that can help you get rid of desktop clutter. The charger is especially great for modern devices that use USB charging, such as the new MacBooks, Windows PCs, tablets, and even console controllers. 

While the Acefast brand is less recognizable than others in the industry, the company has slowly been making a name for itself with good-quality products. We’ve reviewed plenty of Acefast devices, including a charger that doubles as a Nintendo Switch dock and a pretty-looking normal phone charger. The Acefast Z4 PD218W power station charger is the first of its kind from Acefast. Let’s see if it’s worth the asking price or if you should opt for another. 

What’s Inside the Box 

The Acefast Z4 PD218W power station comes in good quality packaging. The design is the same colorful one seen on other Acefast products. However, the overall box is surprisingly heavy—after all, the device itself weighs 655 grams. The packing is secure, and the contents arrived in pristine condition. 

Inside the box, you’ll find the Acefast Z4 PD218W power station, a 5-foot power cable, and booklets. There are no additional cables here; you’ll need to provide those yourself. 

Design and Build Quality 

The Acefast Z4 PD218W review can’t be complete without acknowledging the unique feature that differentiates the charger from countless others: a colorful TFT screen. Yes, the charger comes with a screen that gives vital information right on the charger itself. The screen is limited in color but draws virtually zero power. I expected some power draw, but the value is so low that it’s negligible and registers as zero. 

The screen is a great way to get information at a glance. Do you suspect a phone is not charging at its full potential? The charger’s screen won’t lie like some fruit-name companies. The screen on the Acefast Z4 PD218W is not only there for show; it serves a purpose and does it well. 

The build quality is also good. The Acefast Z4 PD218W follows the same transparent design as other Acefast devices, like the Crystal 65W charger. So, there is no metal on the outside of the charger. I’m not sure about the inner casing, though, although it wouldn’t make sense to encase metal in glass. Despite that, the charger has some real heft to it. Please don’t drop it on your foot; it has the potential to send you to the ER. 

Ports and Charging 

The Acefast Z4 PD218W power station comes with three USB-C ports and a USB-A port. The port configuration is ideal for a modern desktop. 

The 1.33-inch screen shows the ports and refers to them as C1, C2, and C3 for USB Type-C and A1 for the lone Type-A port. The display also details the watts and voltage of each port in a neat table-like arrangement.  

There’s a square physical button on the charger that switches charging modes. Press the button to change the charger’s behavior and cycle through different wattages for different ports. The button feature to change modes is also distinct from other chargers, like the UGreen chargers. 

Usually, chargers handle the power delivery themselves, but the Acefast Z4 PD218W gives you control. However, the manual method has its benefits, too. You can easily limit which port gets how much power. There won’t be a “power struggle” between devices when connected to the Acefast Z4 PD218W. 

The downside is that you can easily forget which mode is active, which may slow down charging. I forgot that the device was on Mode D and wasn’t providing power to the USB Type-A port. In Acefast Z4 PD218W defense, it clearly displays which port is getting how much power, so that mistake is entirely on me. 

User Experience 

I love the Acefast Z4 PD218W. It’s compact, looks good, and the screen is just the cherry on top. I’ve started using this as my daily work driver and have no complaints about its performance. The charger does get a bit hot, probably because of the glass-like outer chassis. In my testing, I found the charger loses around 20W to heat, slightly ineffective when compared to other desktop chargers but nothing too significant. 

The other reason why Acefast Z4 PD218W is such an easy recommendation is the price. The charger is available for $80 most of the time but also gets discounted when on sale. Even for full price, the Acefast Z4 PD218W is well worth the investment. Similar desktop charging solutions can easily run above the $150 mark.