Mu One User Review

Introduction

A colleague recently pointed me at the Mu One USB-C charger which seemed like a perfect fit for my travel kit, so I bought one. I travel a number of times a year and hate to be somewhere not have charger, cables etc. when I need it, so I try to have all the things I need in my travel kit while of course still need to be able to carry it.

I have used the the single and dual port USB-A Mu chargers for a couple of years and have been really happy with them, mainly as they allows a Irish / UK power plug that's flat, which mean they fit well in my travel kit.

I don't have any USB-C test equipment, so I can't verify the technical details of the charger, but I have tried to put the device through some amount of normal use. I'm writing this up as I in the past have found it hard to find more practical information about the more niche electronic devices I'm interested in - so hopefully this is useful for other people.

If you have any questions, do feel free to reach out to me, e.g. through @simonlbn on Twitter.

For photos in higher resolution see https://qxnitro.smugmug.com/Blog/Mu-one-user-review.

Conclusion

A good travel / portable power adaptor, but a bit on the expensive side for other use-cases.

The Good

• Very compact and flat, especially for the Irish / UK plugs, meaning it is easy to fit in travel kits.
• It's light enough that having it directly plug into a socket without falling out is not a problem.
• Plugs interchangeable to existing USB-A Mu chargers.

The Less Good

• Rather expensive.
• Not USB-IF certified.
• No Australian plug.

The Mu One Overview and Specifications

The Mu One International is a 45W USB-C charger which supports Power Delivery and has changeable international plugs. It mostly makes sense as a travel / portable charger, though of course can be used as a generic USB-C charger if you want.

The main features are:

• It's fairly small.
• The charger and the plugs are flat, so it fits simpler to fit into travel kits.
• It comes with 3 different detachable plugs:
  • Irish / UK AKA (Type G)
  • EU (Type C)
  • US (Type A)

It doesn't come with a USB-C cable, but rather has a USB-C receptacle, so you need to buy a cable yourself.

As far as I can see, the Mu One is not USB-IF certified - at least I can't find it on the USB website, and the product does not mention USB-IF anywhere. Given all the quirks of USB-C, I prefer products which have at least tried to prove they are USB spec compliant. Not a dealbreaker but is a minus.
On the note I should mention that the Irish / UK plug is standard compliant according to Mu, which may not be the case for other similar plugs.

As of this writing the price is 60 GBP in the Mu store. There exists a version with only the Irish / UK plug called Mu One: British, which is a bit cheaper at 50 GBP. I haven't tried this version. For price reference, my primary normal USB-C charger, the Nekteck USB C Wall Charger 4-Port 72W USB Charger, is 32 GBP.

According to the specifications, the charger can do the following voltage and amps:

• 5V 3A
• 9V 3A
• 15V 3A
• 20V 2.25A

Using the Mu One

Overall, it just works. For me the primary feature is the slim design and specifically the slim Irish / UK plug, which means I can fit the USB C charger in my electronics kit bag.

I previously primarily traveled with the Apple USB-C 61W charger in my carry-on. The charger itself takes up more space than the Mu One, but also has the problem that it's so heavy that when used with an adaptor plug, rather than with a cable, it may fall out especially with US plug. This means I generally also travel with an Apple power cable taking up even more space. Given how much lighter the Mu One is, I don't think it will be a problem falling out the socket. Use so far with EU plug has indicated this will not be an issue.

The plugs fit well on the charger, and has a tighter fit with the charger than the Mu USB-A chargers.

The plugs do seem to move a bit, but not enough for it to loose connection.

It has worked without issue with the various devices I tried connecting to it, that includes:

• Apple Macbook Pro 15" 2017 (primary devices I tested most with)
• Apple iPhone 8, through USB-C lightning adapter
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 3
• Google Pixel 3
• Nintendo Switch

It does get somewhat hot when in use at full power, but not burning or significantly more so than other compact high power chargers I have tried.

A nice minor feature is lack of status light so you get brightly lit room when trying to sleep.

I noticed that since the charger plugs directly into a wall, a long USB-C cable may be advisable to be able to use a laptop while it's plugged in - at least my 1M cable has been to short a few times. My other laptop / USB-C chargers have cable on the 220/110V side so length of USB-C cable has been less of an issue for me with those chargers.

Disclaimer

As of this writing I only had the charger for a couple of weeks and the only trip I have used it on a family trip, so I haven't tried it in various airports / airplanes etc. yet, but only "at destination".

I have no financial interest in Mu, or otherwise get any money for writing about this. No links are affiliate links.

English is my second language - I would be really surprised if there we not be spelling or grammatical mistakes. Hopefully they don't disturb significantly from the content.

I'm not really happy with how Blogger formatted this, but until I start writing more - it's not worth the effort to try and fix by switching to another system.