The best wall chargers include a display so you don’t have to guess about how much power is flowing. The BMX GaNsta Pixel has one too… and it’s both cool-looking and really easy to read.
More than that, the charger goes up to 140 watts — plenty to power your MacBook. Plus, there are three USB-C charging ports and a USB-A one, too.
I put the Mac/iPhone accessory through real-world testing and came away impressed. And I love its large display.
BMX GaNsta Pixel review
Your MacBook comes with a wall charger that’s perfectly functional. It’s also too bulky and much too limited by its single USB-C port. There are plenty of better options out there, especially if you’re taking it on trips.
There’s no need to travel with a bulkier charger than you need. You can get one that is smaller than Apple’s while also packing multiple ports so you can power up your iPhone, iPad, etc., all at once.
The BMX GaNsta Pixel is an outstanding alternative to Apple’s own wall charger. Leave that one at home and travel with this more portable and flexible third-party option.
And that’s true whether you want the 140W version or the more affordable 100W variant.
A full 140W of USB-C charging in an accessory that's 43% smaller than the charger that comes with your MacBook.
Three USB-C ports plus one USB-A, and the Pixel display shows exactly what each port is doing.
- 140W but much smaller than Apple's charger
- 4 ports for multiple devices
Table of contents: BMX GaNsta Pixel review
- Wall charger that’s way smaller than Apple’s
- Love that screen!
- Watts and watts of power
- BMX GaNsta Pixel review: Final thoughts
- Pricing
Wall charger that’s way smaller than Apple’s
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The wall charger measures 2.5 inches by 2.4 inches by 1.4 inches. That makes it about 40% smaller than Apple’s 140W version. It weighs 0.46 pounds, noticeably less than Apple’s.
I’m testing the 100W version of the BMX GaNsta Pixel, but the 140W one is the same dimensions. That caught me by surprise – I expected the more powerful version to be larger.
But Apple’s rival offering is a lot bulkier, and yet it only packs a single USB-C port. The BMX GaNsta Pixel sports three of them, plus a USB-A port.
Flip-out power prongs fit U.S. outlets, and there are adapters for the EU, UK and Australia in the box. And a charging cable!
The product comes in orange, blue or gray if you want to make a fashion statement.
Love that screen!
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The standard features make BMX GaNsta Pixel excellent, but its screen makes it brilliant. I love it because it takes up one whole side of the wall charger. There’s never any peering at tiny numbers on a small screen — these are a full 1.1 inches tall! I can read them at a glance, and even them from across the room if I need to.
The display’s design is unusual. BMX called it “retro-futuristic,” with every letter and digit written out in large pixels with lots of blank space. Really, it’s just an LCD behind a panel pierced with a pattern of holes, but the look is so cool.
A button on one side of the GaNsta Pixel lets me choose to display how much power is flowing through each individual port, or the total. And I can rotate the display so the letters/numbers are upright no matter how the charger is arranged.
I like knowing how much power is going to my devices. Mostly, I want to be sure that sufficient current is actually moving so I can troubleshoot if it’s not. I don’t want to wake up in the morning on the first day of a business trip to find out my computer is half-charged because it was only getting a trickle of juice all night.
Watts and watts of power
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
I did real-world testing on the BMX GaNsta Pixel with my Apple devices and some power banks. My review unit is the 100W version, not the 140W one.
Two of the USB-C ports on this version of the wall charger are supposed to be able to put out 100W. I can confirm this, both with what the charger’s own screen shows and with my own multimeter.
The third USB-C port tops out at 65W, and it hits that mark in my testing.
The USB-A port is rated for 22.5W, but the most I could get was 17W. That said, I don’t use USB-A for much, so I’m a bit low on gear to test it.
It’s important to note that the four ports put out a total of 100W. Plug devices into the first two, and one gets 70W and the second gets 30W. Use all three USB-C ports at once, and the ports max out at 45W, 30W and 20W.
On the 140W version, either of the first two USB-C ports can pump out 140W. When they are both in use, they offer 65W and 45W. Add a third accessory, and it gets 20W while the max power from the first two USB-C ports doesn’t change.
I connected my iPhone 17 to the BMX GaNsta Pixel, and 28W of power flowed, just as I expected. My iPad Pro got the expected 42W-45W.
BMX GaNsta Pixel review: Final thoughts
A wall charger that pumps out 140W without being bulky belongs in the travel kit of anyone heading out with a MacBook Pro. The 100W version is well suited for travelers with a MacBook Air.
And I love the easy-to-read screen. Love. It.
★★★★★
Pricing
The BMX GaNsta Pixel 140W Charger costs $89.99. The 100W version costs $79.99.
A full 140W of USB-C charging in an accessory that's 43% smaller than the charger that comes with your MacBook.
Three USB-C ports plus one USB-A, and the Pixel display shows exactly what each port is doing.
- 140W but much smaller than Apple's charger
- 4 ports for multiple devices
BMX provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out more in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
