USB-C cables - Seems like the wild west! Who makes decent ones?

[chmedly]

It seems to me that we've entered another round of "keep trying another cable till you find one that works" with the state of USB-C and thunderbolt. I have cables that look and feel like they are quality but various devices don't work. And then other cables that seem a bit flimsy but seem to work fine. Some that I think might be "brand name" and others that have no recognizable markings. Some cables seem to work one direction but, flip the connector over and they don't. And then there are all the questions about 2.0 vs 3.0 vs 2x2 vs thunderbolt etc. 

Are there any brands that we know we can trust? How about brands or models that are reasonably priced and work? 

 

 

[johnno23]

Sadly in my experience it is a hit or miss affair.

I have a couple of simple dirt cheap ones that work and also some very expensive Belkin Thunderbolt that are simply useless and give issues.

Something else that I believe impacts the usability of many cables is actually the components used in many of the USB c and thunderbolt devices.

I spent good money on an overpriced thunderbolt M.2 enclosure and the Belkin cable simply does not work. I bought one from ugreen which was a fraction of the price and it fired up and worked immediately.

I simply have a drawer now with lots of USB thunderbolt cables due to the madness over the years.

I have also started adding little plastic labels to my cables with a number and made notes on my PC as to which device the corresponding number will work on.

Apologies i cannot be more helpful but as you stated it seems like the wild west.

[dizmo]

I've been enjoying my INIU cables, though I only really charge with them.

[NobleGamer]

Evidently USB of various form factors, is the wild west, even aside from the dumpster fire of obfuscated naming conventions for USB protocols 3 and higher

 

LTT should do a USB cable testing video just like they did with HDMI.

 

If you are using USB for device charging purposes and especially when using a cord longer than 2 feet (or 0.6 meters?), USB cables become more of a black box with risk that they may not work reliably for charging because there's less if any info about their power related specs than traditional power cords AND that has to be reconciled with charger specs if you want confidence about "will it work" independent of your impression of a manufacturing brand's "quality". That's my understanding reinforced by my previous question to this forum about USB cable to charger compatibility.

 

Cable manufacturers seem to rarely provide enough wire specs (e.g. wire gauge, amp capacity, etc) - At best expect only a wattage rating maybe with # of amps, make sure that matches the charger spec, then pray that the wire in the cable itself is thick enough for the electricity math to check out on not dropping the voltage/amps/whatever too far down over the cable's distance to result in issues with charging.

 

I say all this to say that I have only ever bought 5 ft charging cables from Anker that have lasted me for several years with moderate ~2 amp load each. It was only recently that sometimes the charging will start & stop for at bit randomly.

FYI: LTT dropped Anker as a sponsor because their security brand Eufy was marketed as "local only storage", but (as a reply to a prior post of mine articulated) some guy on Twitter raised a stink that really revealed moderate to cheap consumer security products from any brand end up storing at least pictures in the cloud in order to serve up app notifications. It can be decrypted but only in a really obscure way that requires device specific data that no normal thief or hacker would feasibly learn/know.

[saintlouisbagels]

10 hours ago, HomicidalPingu said:

You go for a decent brand with specs listed on the box

Oh my sweet summer child. If only online shopping was that easy.

 

What is a "decent brand" ? There's no objective benchmark for that. Just word of mouth from people that you trust. There's also no objective benchmark if the "people you trust" are trustworthy people.

 

"Specs listed on the box"

You don't do a lot of online shopping do you? People fudge specs all the time. LTT has plenty of videos of bullshit Chinese products too.

[LogicalDrm]

20 hours ago, NobleGamer said:

LTT should do a USB cable testing video just like they did with HDMI.

I'm pretty sure this was among the first big topics they said they would test once Lab was all good to go.

[Likwid]

I'm using Club3D adapters and cables, haven't had any problems, compared to cheaper ones.

[Mark Kaine]

So far i bought 2 and they're great. The one that failed pretty much instantly was the one that came with my Samsung phone... mass manufactured cheap trash product who's producer puts most of their money into advertising (it feels like) instead of in making actual quality products. 

 

 

Note: both cables i bought cost nearly 20 euros, you get what you pay for (most of the time) i guess 

[cooky560]

Honestly I've just used whatever is cheapest on Amazon since USB-c came out and never had any issues

[Tams]

13 hours ago, cooky560 said:

Honestly I've just used whatever is cheapest on Amazon since USB-c came out and never had any issues

 

But what for?

 

If you're only charging at around 20-30W and only occasionally if ever using data, then any old cable will likely be fine (though avoid the cheapest as they might be fire hazards).

 

If you are after USB 3.whatever, USB 4, Thunderbolt 3, and/or charging at 60+W; that's where the minefield of incompatibility is.

 

I go for Belkin for basic USB C cables and for charging cables of all sorts.  For data, I've found Cable Matters are reliable.  As for the Chinese OEMs with bizarre names... well Anker (really just a Chinese OEM rebrand), UGreen (often work, but there are some horror stories out there), and a few others seem to deliver, but I don't trust them.

[AirTayJay]

On 5/21/2023 at 3:33 AM, LogicalDrm said:

I'm pretty sure this was among the first big topics they said they would test once Lab was all good to go.

Yes!! I was so excited with Linus said they'd be testing and recommending cables. Didn't he also say they'd be working on selling their own cables in response to the sheer number of terrible ones out there?

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

I find the IKEA USB A to C cables ok quality actually. And they're less than €2 a pop.

[cmndr]

My current strategy is to get 5 packs from Anker or similar. 

USB cables are an area where reliability is hard to judge and being able to fall back on a brand makes sense. 

Shipping also costs more than the cables so... 5 packs or more make sense. 

[cooky560]

On 5/23/2023 at 10:52 PM, Tams said:

 

But what for?

 

If you're only charging at around 20-30W and only occasionally if ever using data, then any old cable will likely be fine (though avoid the cheapest as they might be fire hazards).

 

If you are after USB 3.whatever, USB 4, Thunderbolt 3, and/or charging at 60+W; that's where the minefield of incompatibility is.

 

I go for Belkin for basic USB C cables and for charging cables of all sorts.  For data, I've found Cable Matters are reliable.  As for the Chinese OEMs with bizarre names... well Anker (really just a Chinese OEM rebrand), UGreen (often work, but there are some horror stories out there), and a few others seem to deliver, but I don't trust them.

I use my usb-c cables largely for fast charging my headphones, and these cables work just fine for that. I haven't really done much usb4 stuff yet.

[Poinkachu]

6 minutes ago, sajesak said:

Hello. Does anybody have a reliable source of high-quality USB charging cables for mobile phones? It seems like I've tried every brand, sheath type, connector plating type, price, and vendor(Amazon, AliExpress, etc.). I've never been able to find charging cables for all of my family devices that last more than a few months when used daily, except the original cables supplied with the devices, they seem to last forever. I need lengths from one foot to 10 ft 8n both B micro and C. And at this point, I'm willing to pay any price, lol. please help!

Eh, depends on what kind of specification you need.
My Type C all works fine, from the magnetic ones I bought from Aliexpress for charging like maybe around 3 years ago, to the Orico 10gbps ones I bought for my portable NVME.

 

Quote

that last more than a few months when used daily

What do you mean by this exactly ?