I could not find many Lemmy posts about USB or video cable recommendations, please let me know if there are!
I will be moving soon, and I want get some good, quality cables that are certified by their respective thing (e.g. USB-IF for USB cables, VESA for DP cables I think) and compliant with relevant standards, since the drawer of unlabelled mystery cables is not a solution that I want to continue with. I would rather that the cables be compliant with relevant standards and preferably have clear labeling/indication of spec (but most unfortunately don’t have that).
What are the best:
- USB-C 240W charging cables?
- USB-C 40Gbps data transfer cables? (USB4 or TB3/4)
- DisplayPort cables?
- HDMI cables?
On Reddit, I see hundreds of posts gushing over Anker as the holy grail of USB cables, but then there are conflicting reports of people unhappy with Anker (bad customer service, they broke the cable, sub-brand Eufy leaking security cam footage, etc.) and preferring other brands instead. For DisplayPort cables, lots of people seem to like Club3D and Cable Matters, the latter is also recommended for HDMI cables. Many random Amazon brands are also thrown around, but those look like they’re from bots.
It’s hard to tell whether any one if made by a person or a not. Anker bots are definitely out there, I found a thread talking about how good quality the, as far as I can tell, nonexistent Anker magsafe 3 (as in the one used in macbooks, not the wireless charging puck!) to USB-C cables are. I’m also sure that other companies use bots, like Ugreen, but Anker’s are the most obvious.
For the cables that I have bought myself, Anker’s “Powerline Flow” series of cables are really nice, they don’t tangle and are made of super soft silicone. Pretty expensive for a cable that only does charging though. I have also previously bought a 2m Baseus charging cable (which does have a 240W label, which is nice!), it seem durable enough, just a little stiff, and it works fine for my laptop at 65W.
I run a repair shop, uGreen Anker Monoprice and CableMatters are our go-tos.
Love him or hate him, Linus Tech Tips recently released a line of USB cables that are built to last and clearly labelled for power and data rate at both ends. They are on the thicker side, but still very flexible thanks to the silicone jacket you seem to like. Offered as C-to-C and A-to-C. Unfortunately, they sold out very quickly and are awaiting restock.
Looking at the reviews, the silicone sleeving of these looks pretty cool! And quite neat that Creator Warehouse is able to compete with the bigger brands while not having a ridiculous price tag, the prices seem pretty good actually (but shipping to many countries will be higher, which is understandable as a smaller company). Hopefully they become in stock soon!
Whatever cables you want, buy Anker, go braided, and buy from their store and not Amazon. I don’t know what kind of monkeys are breaking them and such. The only thing that ever killed my cables in 4+ years of use was a rabbit
And boy have those rabbits killed a lot of cables. My big boy chewed through the thick plastic spiral cable sheath. No cable is powerful enough to be bunny proof is what I’ve learned.
They have powerful little toofs! Have you seen a skull or mockup? Took me seeing a model in the vet’s office to realise they have teeth way further in, loads of molars for the cromch
Is the Bunny ok? That didn’t sounds healthy
They blep out the pieces, and the energy is mostly harmless it seems. They love that spicy hay. Can confirm mine were fine with a 24v 0.5a current at the most (partner’s laptop cable while charging) but generally they have tiny hearts and can easily die from it, in theory
I love Anker but I think even when you order from their website they dropship or use FBA so you aren’t avoiding Jeff Mart
I do my best. It is frustrating when an ‘independent’ storefront uses Amazon Logistics /FBA aha. And I can’t easily avoid Amazon’s primary source of income AWS, but I can reduce their e-commerce traffic at least. I love “Jeff Mart”
Just hopping in to glaze Anker a little bit too. I’ve had their 6ft prime (had to look up the model, 240W charging, 480Mpbs data transfer) braided cable for over a year now. It lives knotted up in my work/school bag. I’m not easy on any of my stuff and it’s worked perfectly and looks as good as new.
When I’m at work the cable is sitting on the floorboard of an ambulance cooking to death because the transmission is directly under the cab and heats the floor up so much I use it to warm my lunch. It’s been ripped out of its spot, stepped on, caught and pulled on things and just generally beaten up and still works great
High power but USB2.0 speed though
Apple users won’t know the difference - I know a lot of the time data and power transfer numbers don’t matter to the average user, but I feel it’s goddamn criminal to use USB C but artificially restrict (for their non Pro phones ofc) to 2.0 speeds, while charging the same for their products as other, far better equipped phones. I have similar beef with Samsung (not their data transfer, that’s good) and their incessant restrictions on any cable that’s not Samsung, offering like 60W of charging speed max. Meanwhile many other Androids are living it up with USB3.2, max 10Gbps, and >100W since 2024
I recently bought a keychain for about $6 that’s basically a 6 inch USB4 cable with 240W PD and 80gbps transfer speed. I can’t imagine making low-speed cables makes any sense nowadays.
Monoprice has always been my go-to for boring, reliable, certified cables of any sort.
That said, Anker has never done anything wrong to me either, I just don’t completely trust them the way I do Monoprice. I have no reason for this, it’s just a vague intuition I suppose. Take it for what it’s worth.
Anker owns Eufy, a security camera company. A few years ago people were able to access footage remotely, even thpugh Eufy claimed it was only stored locally. Anker, as the parent company, doubled-down and responded poorly at first.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/anker-admit-eufy-security-issues/
Now, that does not impact stuff like cables or battery banks at all. In 2024 when I was shopping for new battery banks, Anker had the best value so I bought Anker. But the corporate response is kind of sketchy so I’m never in a hurry to buy from them anymore. And I woudk never buy anything where security or privacy could be an issue.
Yep! Anker has been making the rounds as a reliable company over the past few years. But they got something sketch about them.
I bought a dozen Anker products during the pandemic because they were reliable and affordable. But after the eufy thing, I dug deeper and my tin foil hat is on.
https://www.startech.com/en-ca/cables/usb2epr6f
CableMatters if Startech out of stock
https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1645-123-2-pack-240w-usb-c-20-charging-cable.aspx
Pretty cool that both brands show the charging spec on the cable! Props to Startech in particular for labeling that the cables are USB 2 data transfer speeds
CableMatters hasn’t always lasted forever but has never steered me wrong and always been pleased with their cables (just I have some that have died from use after 10+ years)
Same, generally good products with a small number of failures over the years
Anker or uGreen are my go to.
Startech hasn’t done me wrong yet.
For anyone in Canada, PrimeCables has cables of all kinds, in a range of quality levels. I buy their mesh-sleeved cables, and they’re very tough. Just double check the specs of everything before you buy because they have lots of similar listings with small differences, or nearly identical products with very different prices.
I’ve never had issues with Anker cables, but I’ve also never had to deal with their support.
For a DisplayPort cable the best I’ve found is the “Club3D CAC-1060” my GPU/monitor has signal integrity issues that leads to getting black screens as gsync turns on and off. This cable has gotten me the least black screens.
But outside of edge cases like mine a DP and an HDMI cable is a DP/HDMI cable. They’re not doing crazy things like USB C does. They either work or they don’t.
If you’re in Europe, the new cables from Fairphone are amazing and have a certification of durability. I’m loving mine.
https://www.fairphone.com/shop/long-life-32-cable-1m-1883?category=5
I’ve got Jsaux braided usb c cables that work well and last.
