Query: Recommendations on how / where to buy USB cables?
So since the USB-C spec came out, there are so many different cables advertising different optional capabilities.
Even if you are careful to select a cable which does what you need, there is a good chance it won't have all capabilities as advertised, you only find out when it arrives.
The situation on Amazon is particularly bad, with co-mingled stock and questionable brands like XZZTTG and EIUTOO dominating the listings.
For me, now, I'm specifically struggling to find a short replacement cable for my Samsung T7 SSD, which came with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 cable which was ~15cm and flexible. It was very nice, but they're not sold seperately!
So, where do you look these days to find a listing of decent and reliable accessories like USB cables?
UPDATE:
Great recommendations on brands to look for.
Thanks all!
Belkin are expensive to the point of being overpriced, but have been my go to with 100% success when I need specific capabilities at the upper end of the spec and don’t have time to mess around with anything questionable.
Ugreen are otherwise my default and seem solid/reliable, but I wouldn’t bet everything on them if I really needed 120Gbps alongside 240W or whatever. Same goes for Anker, but I prefer Ugreen since Anker doubled down on lying about software security in their home electronics.
A decent trick I’ve found if I’m searching more broadly is to go for thunderbolt cables rather than USB. Thunderbolt is effectively a stricter subset of modern USB’s more advanced capabilities, with better standards and branding, so you’ve got a better chance of getting what you need even if you’re just using it for USB.
Thunderbolt cables! Great shout, thanks!
Ok great, I think of them as being ludicrously priced as in the early days of TB. They're not!
Will check them out thanks!
+1 for Ugreen, I like their chargers.
Recently went through a whole rabbit hole trying to check their Tüv/UL accreditation.
It's done for lots of products, but not always well advertised for some reason…
Just a heads up, make sure you stick with passive cables, or double check that they are actually usb compatible. Shouldn’t be a problem if you are getting cheap cables, but it’s worth being aware of. Some active TB cables either aren’t compatible with usb 3, or aren’t compatible with usb c alt modes (can’t remember which). I know this specifically from the long fiber optic TB3 cables.
I had a laugh finding out that my Thunderbolt dock wouldn't work with my partner's work laptop because some kind of permission needed to be enabled. So much for the Work from Home setup I'd built.
Afaik that has likely to do with thunderbolt itself. The protocol effectively offers a full PCI-E connection over the cable, which a lot of companies view as a security risk. So that part gets blocked in the bios of company laptops.
I came to the same realization a few years ago when I had two identical laptops (from different companies) where one did work without issue and the other didn't.
Out of interest, what’s “Tüv/UL accreditation”, and is it easily checked? I recently had a power strip (not from any of the brands mentioned here) fail in a potentially dangerous way, despite showing a British safety accreditation, so it’s on my mind to verify these things in detail right now and I’m wondering if European standards bodies might be more reliable.
+1 for Belkin cables. Additionally, these days I seek out cables that specifically mention they are USB-IF certified as those so far always mention clearly what specs they claim to follow. This also goes for Belkin cables.
Ugreen lives in this murky middle ground of quality for me. I have had some of their products over the years and the quality is all over the place.
They also do sell some products that are outside the USB spec. Some of these products are handy exactly because they are not following the specifications. For example, usb-c to usb-c extension cables I used for a while and that worked for me because I only needed high speed capabilities (usb2). Other times I had some issues with these sorts of products. None of these products mention the fact that they are technically not USB compliant.
Knowing this has made me a bit weary about their "regular" products making me wonder how compliant they are there.
I like that way of looking at it, actually. Ugreen and similar brands won’t necessarily be following the actual spec, but you can rely on them to hit that middle of the bell curve baseline of functionality.
Will it charge my phone? Yes. Will it charge my phone fairly quickly? Also yes. Will it deliver exactly the wattage that a Gen 3.14 annex-42 cable is rated for? Ehhhh…
You can trust them to be what 80% of use cases need a cable for, and do so with decent build quality, but not necessarily to be the rigorously engineered technical product you need the other 20% of the time.
Anker makes good cables but had a bit of shadiness in the past regarding other products.
UGreen is usually recommended but the one C-to-C cable I brought from them died an early death. Good power bricks so far though.
Other than that, Monoprice. They're my go to for most cables. Not that sexy but fairly priced and decent in my book.
What’s was their shadiness? I always had a good perception of them but I guess I’m out of the loop
https://www.theverge.com/23573362/anker-eufy-security-camera-answers-encryption
I've always liked Anker products, but recently went to their website to buy a Bluetooth speaker so that I wouldn't have to buy from Amazon, but couldn't find them at all. Product search didn't give me anything useful either.
For this I'd look for USB-IF certified cables. In addition to the brands already mentioned Cable Matters and OWC have both been good. They make some charge only or 2.0/480Mbps cables so be sure it lists what you want (5, 10, 20, 40, 80 Gbps).
Came here to say this. I’ve also had good experiences with Cable Matters and OWC. Additionally, for cables assigned to “serious” use (high throughput), I’ll buy Thunderbolt instead of regular USB-C, because they’re cross-compatible and Thunderbolt certification is a considerably higher bar to meet than USB-IF certification is, ergo the best USB-C cables are Thunderbolt cables. This however gets prohibitively expensive past a certain length.
My go to is always monoprice. They are never my favorite cables, but they are always good, and much cheaper than the competition.
Monoprice, Startech
I'll add JSAUX as a brand that I've had decent success with for USB stuff. I've been using their flat right-angle USB-C adapters to reduce strain on the cable connecting my work laptop to it's dock. Those adapters seem to have handled power delivery and 4k video just fine for going on two years now, I think.
(JSAUX first came to my attention as a brand for being one of the first with a third-party Steam Deck dock. The name's admittedly a bit alphabet-soupy, but they've been around for years and have a decent social media presence unlike the XZZTTGs and EIUTOOs of the world.)
I'll second JSAUX, I've gone through a few of their cables and they last a good while even with pretty abusive usage.
Likely overpriced but currently I use Apple's. Been patiently waiting for LTT's cables
This recently came out and looks nice: PowerCord by Twelve South
I’ll give a +1 for Apple, and hopefully LTT once they come out.
There is one particular cable from Apple that is better than anything else. It’s a white braided usb c to c cable. It’s only usb 2 with 3A charging, but all I need out of my cables most of the time is charging. It’s very thin, very flexible, and doesn’t hold kinks like almost every other cable I have tried. The only problem is it is only sold with the AirPods Pro gen 2. I don’t understand why they don’t sell it separately. I would happily replace all my charging cables with them, especially if they also had a 2m version. But no, for whatever reason it’s exclusive to the AirPods. Come on, Apple; just let me give you more money.
Apple has been packing those woven fabric USB-C cables in with iPhones and iPads too. I agree, they’re extremely nice and practically the polar opposite of their bio-rubber predecessors that would get gummy after some amount of time.
Not exactly what you’re searching for but…
One day I bought several 2m Nylon cables from Anker to account for all the possible permutations of USB-C and USB-A. When I need them shorter, I just tied them with a velcro « cable tie ».
I’ll wait around for other comments since I’m also curious how to solve your problem. :)
i'll make an out-there suggestion: ikea. their cables have been reliable, well-made, and with clearly defined specs. i typically stick with ikea or anker when i have to buy a new cable, which btw isn't very often since my existing cables from ikea and anker just keep working.
IKEA is also known to have surprisingly good rechargeable batteries (possibly white labelled eneloops?) so this follows!
If you're in Canada, primecables.ca
Anker and UGreen are my go-to's these days, for cables and charging blocks. I've purchased from both and *knock on wood* haven't had any cables die from either company.
I have a couple older "alphabet soup brand" cables from Amazon that seem to be fine and I still use, but I stay away from buying from those brands now, given the complexity of USB-C protocols these days.
I do have an inexpensive USB-C tester to make sure that the cables and devices are doing what they say they can do.
My biggest issue is that everytime I find a nice one, the reviews are full of cable burns.
Club-3D and OWC are my go-tos for anything beyond the bare minimum. The price is worth the peace of mind they provide.
Others have mentioned Ugreen and JSAUX of which I've used both and they're both solid.
Recently I bought some cables and car mounts from LISEN and they have all been great and worked for everything I need them to.