Review: Fusion’s WTU-050 Qi Wireless Charger and Wireless Charging Receiver

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Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 9

Fusion has sent us their compact wireless charger and receiver aimed for everyone to use, including visually impaired fellows, for us to review. We have a short preview of their product that you can check out right here. They have exchanged the previous one used in that preview after we found a defect and they have even made it better than how it was before! Great service as from what I can see.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver

 

Packaging

Their products were securely packaged and was kept safe from any damage. It has a large pink band going around the clear plastic packaging giving all the features and technical details of their product. They sent us their wireless charger and wireless charging receiver bundle that is on retail for approximately $100.

There’s quite a lot of little goodies that came along in the package.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 2

From top left to right, there’s: a magnet, Fusion’s WTU-050 Qi wireless charger, microUSB to lightning and 30-pin adapter for Apple products, screws and double-sided adhesives, a larger double-sided adhesive, Fusion’s WRU-050 wireless charging receiver, and a microUSB to USB cord.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver

Fusion also brought their LCU-100 USB charger that has 2 ports that can charge 2 devices at once. Quite a useful traveling accessory to have in my opinion.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 3

Design: WTU-050 Qi Wireless Charger

Fusion’s wireless charger is built nicely and feels compact yet still sturdy. It has a semi-transparent plastic build with a rough texture on top. Since it is semi-transparent, you are able to partially see the insides of the wireless charger with the coil being more visible than the other parts. There is also a small hole in the middle for the magnet to fall right in.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 4

On the top left corner is a charging imprint with LED notifications that notify you with green, orange, and red LED lights. There are also 4 screw holes for you to easily attach it to the bottom of any wooden tables to hide the wireless charger while still retaining its functionality

If ever you’re planning to place it under a glass table, screws won’t help you. Good thing though that Fusion has provided us with double-sided tape to be able to use it under a glass table.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 5

The first product they sent us came with a red microUSB cord which did the job, but was quite out of place since everything else is black. They have changed it now to a black one which is of much higher quality with double shielded select-grade OFHC copper revision 2.0.

Design: WRU-050 Qi Wireless Charging Receiver

Fusion’s wireless charging receiver has the same design as their wireless charger also having the same type of semi-transparent rough textured plastic. It is for devices that use a microUSB port for charging and comes along with an adapter for Apple products.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 6

It’s a tad bit thick for my taste and it cannot be hidden under any case without making a significantly uncomfortable bulge, if ever the case can still fit. Take note though that both the wireless charger and wireless charging receiver have braille on them for visually impaired people to easily identify them. Having that extra thickness could be a plus for them. I would appreciate a much thinner wireless charging receiver that would still have braille on it since it would be less bothersome. It would also give the opportunity to cover it up with a case without any traces of it.

Functionality: WTU-050 and WRU-050

As a regular wireless charging pad, the WTU-050 works very well. Having the magnet placed in the middle, the charging receiver would quickly snap to the proper position. We did find it a bit awkward since the smarphone would be covering the charging pad along with the notification light. We had to put the phone sideways for it to be seen. It does give a loud beep when it starts charging your device and if ever an error has occurred. The alarms can compensate for the blocked notification light. It is made though to be under the table, which gives more surface area for the phone to lie on, but the notification lights would certainly not be seen unless if it’s through glass.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 9

Using the adapter for Apple products wasn’t a problem since it worked just as it should. It is very awkward to use though and highly impractical. The receiver works for Apple products, but it’s not recommended as there are much better ones out in the market.

 

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 12

The WTU-050 is said to be able to have a distance of 11mm between the receiver and charging pad and still have it work, whether it would be through glass or wood. As I was going to test it out, I found it a bit difficult to look for a wooden table that is 11mm thick or less, and so I had to improvise.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 8

We used a book instead as a replacement for we can adjust the thickness of it and determine the furthest distance it can charge. Luckily, we found a book exactly 11mm thick, and in theory, it should be able to go through the entire book and still give juice to your device.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 10

As we worked on it we found a few problems. Having the magnet on the wireless charging pad dramatically decreased the distance of how far it can charge, and the magnet is not strong enough to get the receiver to snap into place through the book. The receiver had to be touching the charging pad for it to charge with the magnet in it.

When we realized that the magnet was the cause of the problem, we knew we had to take it off, the next problem started here. The magnet does its best as a magnet, it definitely got stuck in its little slot on the charging pad and we had to go through tremendous efforts to get the magnet out and continue the testing. After about 10 mins, we finally got it out and continued to work.

Fusion Wireless Charger and Receiver 11

It was a bit tricky getting the distance just right where it would be stable enough for it to charge, but not too close that it is practically just like any other wireless charger. The furthest we could go was at about 9mm which gave a stable charge. Anything further and it would start to disconnect often or not charge at all. It didn’t have any problem at all when used through glass though as long as the glass is only about 9mm or thinner.

Verdict

Overall it is a good wireless charger and receiver made of durable materials. Its focus for the visually impaired is right on the spot with its design since it can be easily distinguished. Functionality-wise though, it was a bit short of its 11mm claim. Although 9mm is already a good accomplishment, with the new Qi wireless standard that can charge much further, I believe the market for this is slowly depreciating. But if ever you do need it for a blind friend, this is a perfect wireless charger with its braille and magnetic positioning to help guide the device.

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It is available here in Fusion’s website for $69 and $35 for the wireless charging pad and receiver respectively. You may slash off a few dollars if you buy it both as a bundle for $100.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Did you only try the charging pad with the fusion receiver or did you also try to charge an built in qi-reciever, ie say a nexus 5/6/7 device?

    Since it’s the only device I could find at the moment that is able to charge over the 5mm distance as the others I wonder if the receiver is required to enable that distance and maybe to protect the phone of the higher output that the wtu-050 gives out?

    • During the testing, we were only able to use the wireless charging pad with its bundled receiver. Although after the review, we were able to use other kinds of receivers which worked similarly with the bundled one. The magnet doesn’t work very well with the others though since it doesn’t really lock it in the center.

      The wireless receiver is what regulates the power that is going to the device. So no matter the output of the wireless charging pad, what ever is the maximum limit of the receiver, then only that amount will reach the device.

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