10 ms·

I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them

258 points by baranul 2mo ago

xbmcuser 2mo ago
LTT has created true spec cables with the actual spec mentioned on the cables but they can not keep up with demand despite being expensive get sold out as soon as new stock comes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfovjw7Ts_U&t=974s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfovjw7Ts_U&t=974s
- rationalist 1mo ago
  By chance, has anyone tested Cable Matters' cables? I just bought a couple of their Thunderbolt™ 5 cables. They seem like a reputable company that would make their cables true-to-spec. Thanks in advance!
  - malfist 1mo ago
    I've not spec tested them, but astronomy gear is notoriously picky about USB cables and since I switched all of my cables to cable matters a lot of weird behaviors just stopped happening
  - ThePowerOfFuet 1mo ago
    They are excellent.
  - RestartKernel 1mo ago
    I bought a 3-meter long USB C cable from them for data and display transfer, which turned out to be the only USB C cable of that length capable of driving my display at its full resolution and framerate. However, after a year of use, it stopped transferring any sort of data. So while they're probably up to spec, the quality isn't necessarily what their pricing may suggest. Support allowed me to send it back for replacement as a "one-time exception", though I was well within the common 2-year warranty period in the EU.
  - exmadscientist 1mo ago
    We had good results testing Cable Matters stuff here at work, but that was for non-critical use so I didn't go too hard on the tests. (Actually, I didn't go too hard on any of it since it was mostly make-work from a manager trying to cause trouble, but still....) I was quite impressed by GlobTek (available at Digi-Key) and have been buying those when I need something nice. Their USB-C line are some of the best I've seen, not that I'm a connoisseur.
  - Whitespace 1mo ago
    I have some that I got to connect to my MBP, which supports TB5. Unfortunately my MSI MPG 321URX doesn't properly support it, so half of the time the DisplayPort over USB negotiation doesn't work, and the monitor doesn't connect properly. Apparently the majority of non-TB devices will have trouble with it. I can't even use the cable to charge my phone when attached to a wall wart!
    - rationalist 1mo ago
      > I can't even use the cable to charge my phone when attached to a wall wart! It sounds like maybe you have a defective cable? When I first used the cable, it didn't charge my phone until I made sure it was plugged in all the way.
- aeroevan 1mo ago
  I managed to get a few and so far am impressed. They are definitely on the chunky side but that probably comes with the durability
  - Gigachad 1mo ago
    My concern is stiffer cables are likely more likely to rip USB ports off the PCB. A lot of devices provide very little support to the USB port which is basically just hanging off pads on the PCB, so a stuff heavy cable could provide a lot more bending force to rip it off. Phones and macbooks have it done right where the outer portion of the port is built in to the device body, but most other devices don't do this.
    - TheTxT 1mo ago
      They’re chunky, but very flexible. There’s basically no memory effect to them either, so they don’t try to curl up on their own.
      - blurrybird 1mo ago
        Yeah even the shorter lengths (thicker) are way more complacent than I expected. I’m slowly replacing every cable in the house and cars. I’m up to 7 and counting.
- pzmarzly 1mo ago
  They are not TB5 compatible though, and if you are going to drive monitors through it, or connect external GPU, 120Gbit (TB5) is much better than 40Gbit TB4 gives you. If you are willing to pay a bit more, consider TB5 cables from CalDigit, StarTech, CableMatters, or Apple.
  - braiamp 1mo ago
    I can't find it anymore, but I'm pretty sure that the only reason they don't say it support TB5 is because they would need a license to say so.
    - blurrybird 1mo ago
      You’re thinking of TB4 which only requires 40Gbps. TrueSpec cables that advertise 40Gbps work fine as TB4 cables. TB5 is 80Gbps so TrueSpec isn’t capable.
  - nticompass 1mo ago
    I used LTT's 40 Gbps cable to connect my ThinkPad X270 to a USB-C monitor and it worked fine. I guess neither device there is TB5, but just wanted to share that those cables do at least support DP-alt mode (or whatever it's called).
- Cieric 1mo ago
  They also crackle out of the package, or at least the 5 I got did. Kind of sound like the thin glow sticks a bit.
  - verandaguy 1mo ago
    Could that possibly be shielding? I can't say I've seen it on USB-C-esque cables (except maybe a thunderbolt cable a while back?) but I've seen some cables use a type of aluminum or mylar-looking foil between the outer rubber sleeve and the inner sleeves and wires.
    - exmadscientist 1mo ago
      That shield is a drain wire combined with either a woven braid (most effective at lower frequencies) or a solid aluminized mylar foil (most effective at higher frequencies), or, for the best cables, both together. A USB-C cable really should be shielded. Here's a cross-section I took of a nice full-featured USB-C cable: https://ibb.co/svR5Yvyr https://ibb.co/svR5Yvyr . You can see the VBUS/GND (fat red/black), the SS pairs (white plus red/blue/yellow/brown, each one foil shielded on this cable), the USB 1/2 pair (white/green), and then the CC and SBU stuff is the remaining wiring. Notice how not just the whole thing is braid+foil shielded, but the SS pairs are individually shielded; that's really important at these speeds, and what you want to see on a good cable. Compare with two USB 2.0 cables: https://ibb.co/BHz4v1mx https://ibb.co/BHz4v1mx and https://ibb.co/GfpJmgbx https://ibb.co/GfpJmgbx ; the first one has the shield braid, as it should, but everything else is nicer on the second one. Cables!
    - Cieric 1mo ago
      Oh yeah, I do think it's the shielding. I was just kind of surprised by it since I've never bought a cable that's done that.
- HDBaseT 1mo ago
  I have a few of these cables, pretty decent although I think the USB-C ports are a bit too thin? They feel lose in multiple of my devices
  - JR1427 1mo ago
    Multiple people I know, and myself included, have experience failure of their USB-C port on their phones. I don't think they are really durable enough.
- Ekaros 1mo ago
  Didn't they not care enough and not put vendor id on their cable. Which results some devices rightfully refusing to operate at high powers... Or am I miss remembering something.
pogue 2mo ago
Is there a cheap, reliable tester that someone can recommend that will test multiple USB cable types (A, micro & C)?
- joshstrange 1mo ago
  $45 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYJL5Z67 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYJL5Z67 This is the one I use and I quite like it. I've had it for a little over a year and a half. I used it to sort (or trash) all my cables and to test new incoming cables.
  - Casteil 1mo ago
    I just got this one a few days ago so it's kinda weird I've seen it mentioned or posted about multiple times since. Guerrilla marketing? Anyway, it's definitely better than having nothing, and tests resistance as well. I tossed a couple low value/duplicate/high resistance cables because I've got too many just lying around causing clutter. Also helped 'confirm' my good (e.g. TB4+) cables that weren't labeled clearly are indeed good cables - granted, this is only as dependable as the marker chip the manufacturer added.
    - joshstrange 1mo ago
      > Guerrilla marketing? Nope, or if so my royalty/referral checks never showed up :) I bought mine back in March of last year and used it to "process" all my cables and was just a happy customer. I've been watching this space (cable testers) for years (on and off) and wasn't interested in the "raw circuit board with led"-versions so once a nicer version came out at a price point I found tolerable I got one. It's nice to have all my cables organized now (h/t to Akro mills bins, those are a dangerous rabbit hole) and now instead of just buying a new cable [0] when I need one I can go grab one that matches the specs I need. [0] Call it wasteful, call it lazy, but when faced with "I have a cable that fits the hole and is the right length but I don't know what it's capabilities are" I would often just buy a new cable with the specs I needed/wanted rather than using an "unknown" cable.
  - greenavocado 1mo ago
leviyi 1mo ago
[flagged]
Dylan16807 1mo ago
Just measuring the power info is limited use. I'm sure there's value for some people, but I only need to keep track of 0-2 high power cables. > Your no-brand 480Mbps USB 2.0 cable is indistinguishable from the super-fast USB 4 cable that can move 40 gigabits (around 5 gigabytes) of data every single second. One of those is way thicker than the other, at least. I would love for something to force a speed and power rating on USB-C plugs.
- avadodin 1mo ago
  > One of those is way thicker than the other, at least. I bet there's at least one brand with extra–thick plastic insulation.
- massysett 1mo ago
  > I would love for something to force a speed and power rating on USB-C plugs. This already exists. Cable makers can certify their cables and mark them with their data speed and wattage. I buy only certified, marked cables. If I see an unmarked cable, I assume it’s slow and low-powered…which is good enough for some things.
  - Dylan16807 1mo ago
    > This already exists. Cable makers can certify their cables and mark them with their data speed and wattage. Obviously labeling is possible. I want it to be forced. Whether that's the USB consortium having more power, or a legal requirement, or the biggest stores refusing to carry unlabeled cables. > If I see an unmarked cable, I assume it’s slow and low-powered…which is good enough for some things. That's a reasonable way to handle things. Lots of basic cables and only worry about the good ones. And if a cable is so bad that it's missing data wires or is too high resistance to get near 3 amps, it can go in the garbage.
safeimp 1mo ago
Verge recently posted this (free) app for testing on Mac's: https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/963759/whatcable-usb-c-cable-tester-app-mac https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/963759/whatcable-usb-c-cabl...
- bcraven 1mo ago
  They are just catching up with ShowHN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972511 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972511
  - Barbing 1mo ago
    Useful app, funny thread (centipede), and the MacRumors Bartender alternative link arising from the menu bar decision discussion means I might be able to ditch Ice! (reduce spacing instead)
- justinator 1mo ago
  It's not actually free, it's $14 to unlock all the features.
  - justinator 1mo ago
    Can't actually read the Verge without a subscription either.
- HDBaseT 1mo ago
  This effectively only tells you what the E-Marker reports though, the actual capabilities of the cable are still unknown. You can say the cable can do whatever you want on the E-Marker, its not the source of truth. The problem is, to actually benchmark everything, voltage drop, resistance, actual bandwidth (especially at Thunderbolt 5 speeds) requires a lot of hardware. Using a USB-C Test Controller ($13,000), connected to a Pro Keysight Infiniium oscilloscope ($258,809) is the proper way to test it. https://www.keysight.com/au/en/product/N7018A/type-c-test-controller.html https://www.keysight.com/au/en/product/N7018A/type-c-test-co...
ahs1 1mo ago
hmm, how about just being able to infer the features of a cable by it's physical form factor? oh wait...
- swrrt 1mo ago
  then you have a bunch of cables and wires that with all different types of connector that you can 'easily' identify which one is for which device. sounds familiar hah
Melatonic 1mo ago
Isnt this what "USB-IF certified" is supposed to guarantee?
- craftkiller 1mo ago
  USB-IF certified is a certification that the cable follows the spec, but that spans usb 2.0-only cables up to USB4v2 cables. The tester shows you what the capabilities are.
- dwheeler 1mo ago
  Yes, there's even a spec here: https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb_type-c_cable_logo_usage_guidelines_20240903.pdf https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb_type-c_cable_log... The cables are supposed to be labelled with their maximum speed (5, 10, 20, 40, or 80 Gbps or nothing if no data) and maximum wattage (60W or 240W). HOWEVER, I don't remember ever seeing a cable with such a label. I'm sure they exist, but I don't see them. Requiring products to be labelled, and treating mislabelling as fraud, could mostly solve this. It's definitely a real problem.
  - ButlerianJihad 1mo ago
    [dead]
  - okanat 1mo ago
    > Requiring products to be labelled, and treating mislabelling as fraud, could mostly solve this. There are too many manufacturers to hunt. Basically USB-IF needs to stop almost all shipments in the world. That's not going to happen. USB spec is completely open and free to obtain. While it allows people to develop and DIY many things, it also attracts bad manufacturers like flies. Good certified cables with correct markings exist. There are companies like Cable Matters or Startech who bother to actually certify their cables and get USB-IF TIDs. They do cost you quite a bit money though. Here are some: https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1532-123-usb-c-20-charging-cable-with-240w-power-delivery.aspx https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1532-123-usb-c-20-charging-c... https://www.cablematters.com/pc-858-123-usb-if-certified-usb-c-cable-with-8k-video-and-100w-power-delivery.aspx https://www.cablematters.com/pc-858-123-usb-if-certified-usb... https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/1m-40g-usb4-cable https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/1m-40g-usb4-cable https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/s2cepr1m-usb-cable https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/s2cepr1m-usb-cable
Melatonic 1mo ago
If you want a super fast cable and high power thats where they get pricey. "Charge only" cables can often be fairly cheap and perform well even for laptops and high draw devices.
ChrisMarshallNY 1mo ago
As always, these testers (the affordable ones) are capable of testing continuity, and, I guess, the cable chip report. If you want to test bandwidth, that's a five- or six-figure bit of gear.
- nerdsniper 1mo ago
  This keeps needing to be pointed out every thread this appears on. Plenty of cables have eMarkers that claim "40Gbps" or whatever speeds, or support 240W PD...but absolutely cannot deliver either of those. And none of these consumer level testers can test either of those claims. Resistance measurements can cursorily test claims of 240W but resistance changes with temperature which changes with current...so unless your tester puts 5 amps down the wire for 5 minutes and then tests resistance it's not a very good test.
  - maya335 1mo ago
    Yeah — "the eMarker said 40Gbps" is basically the same problem as trusting the print on the jacket. For home use I've ended up treating real capability as an empirical property of the specific cable+port+device combo: does this exact cable drive this monitor at the mode I want, under load, for an hour? If yes, it gets a colored heat-shrink band and never leaves that use case. Everything else is a phone/charge cable until proven otherwise.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 1mo ago
      That’s a very practical approach.
  - consp 1mo ago
    I had a cheap no-name cable which claims 3.1 speeds (and thus needs a marker), though it lacks all differential pairs and borks every usb connection (after I cut it, it was obvious). No clue why it contains a marker chip but doesn't have any conductors. Likely for usb-pd but you do not want to put any power though it anyway as the conductors were cheap copper clad aluminium.
- 1mo ago
kiwijamo 1mo ago
Interestingly, I have found a very mixed bag of USB-C cables I've collected over the years to generally just work for all my use cases. I can charge my various USB-C laptops at 65W with all the USB-C cables I have on hand. Maybe it's just my habit of just buying cables from known brands (Belkin is normally my go to) but I also have random cables that came with various devices of varying quality and all these also work just fine. I have a 6-port charging hub so I can see the charging wattage and I can easily get 65W to various laptops and a high capacity power bank, regardless of the cable being used. All cables also work fine for data transfer, although I confess I use USB-C for data transfer rarely so it is possible there is some variability there. YMMV but I wonder how much of this issue is just crappy low-end cables?
- socalgal2 1mo ago
  It's surprising to me you've been that lucky with Belkin. They do not have a good reputation. Maybe cables are easy so that's an easy bar to pass.
- wslh 1mo ago
  What 6 port charging hub do you have? I have a broken UGREEN one.
- ssl-3 1mo ago
  Every not-broken USB C cable allows for 480Mbps USB 2 speeds and 60W charging. In USB C terms, it doesn't get any more basic than this; that's as low-and-slow the specification tolerates. The issues come into play with going beyond that. USB 3 speeds? USB 4? Thunderbolt? DisplayPort (4k uncompressed video!) alt modes? 240W charging? These are all practical things that regular people use USB C cables for every day, but they require very specific support from the cables themselves, and that support is widely varied. Your cables work fine for what you're doing with them, but you're really barely scratching the surface of the kinds of things that can be done. :)
  - retatop 1mo ago
    Not that I disagree with you, but I _wish_ "regular people" used 240W charging every day. As far as I can tell it's still pretty niche and hard to get 240W chargers
pmarreck 1mo ago
The whole space is so scammy that I'd pay for a good USB-C cable tester
- rzzzt 1mo ago
  But how can we know which tester is good and which one is scammy?
  - _kb 1mo ago
    With a USB-C cable tester tester, of course.
    - testing22321 1mo ago
      I’ll bust your trace buster buster!
    - rzzzt 1mo ago
      Tester tester kits will need to include a known good and a known bad reference cable for comparisons.
  - pmarreck 1mo ago
    I like your "who watches the watchers" reference, but AI's reviewing AI work, and notably, people reviewing people work, are subject to the same problem! The same principles that worked for auditors tracking risk compliance in the 2000's now work for humans tracking AI-output risk compliance in 2026
  - kimjune01 1mo ago
    for throughput, you can use a stopwatch and a big movie transfer from one end to another
  - insane_dreamer 1mo ago
    qui custodiet ipsos custodes?
- j16sdiz 1mo ago
TechRemarker 1mo ago
Started using whatcable.uk app. Been amazing at finally knowing cable speed, but also device max speeds, and everything in between, without having to carry around one of those digital dongles with more limited use.
mercurywells 1mo ago
I'd like a HDMI cable tester as well, I can't seem to find one that works well with my high refresh monitor.
- b3lvedere 1mo ago
  I have had this problem with a 4K tv. I just bought an 8k certified cable. Overkill usually solves a lot of those issues in my personal experience.
- ledoge 1mo ago
  Are you buying ones that are "Ultra High Speed" HDMI certified? At least in theory, those should all be able to handle the maximum 48 Gbps bandwidth supported by HDMI 2.1
mrtesthah 1mo ago
Instead of using a dedicated device, on Macs you can also use the WhatCable app: https://www.whatcable.uk https://www.whatcable.uk
- JSR_FDED 1mo ago
  This is really good. The base is open source, and has both GUI and a CLI. For the purposes of this article, identifying what each cable can actually do, that’s covered. There’s additional Pro capabilities that you can pay for.
- jerbearito 1mo ago
  Sure, but that doesn't allow the author to share an Amazon affiliate link for a product.
yreg 1mo ago
The Anker Prime 160W power brick shows the maximum wattage of the cables you plug in. It is also surprisingly small.
- boplicity 1mo ago
  I don't think there's a USB-C charger out there that can actually pump out anything close to their rated maximum.
  - Barbing 1mo ago
    At $150 (“on sale” from $184?), wonder how close it comes: https://anker.com/products/a2687-anker-prime-charger-160w-3-ports-gan https://anker.com/products/a2687-anker-prime-charger-160w-3-...
    - yreg 1mo ago
      I have not managed to stress test it yet, I believe that so far I saw it deliver ~100W max. I got it for 110€ in some Amazon bundle together with 3 usb cables. Which is about the price of the 140W Apple brick. (We don't get the powerbricks included with the MacBooks.) But Apple's is much larger, heavier and has a single port.
      - Barbing 1mo ago
        Anker did a great job with their image comparing it to the Apple charger. Gave me a good sense of size and wattage. And it’s much lighter? Nice, wishlist!
keane 1mo ago
Related discussion “The USB Situation” (3 months ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47950993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47950993 re: https://randsinrepose.com/guides/usb/usb-guide.html https://randsinrepose.com/guides/usb/usb-guide.html Apple sells this $30 (0.5m) CalDigit cable https://www.apple.com/shop/product/hs9d2zm/a/ https://www.apple.com/shop/product/hs9d2zm/a/ and this $70 (1m) Apple cable https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mdw94am/a/ https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mdw94am/a/ There's also some interesting discussion of Thunderbolt 5 cables on reddit (6 months ago): https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1r84q54/ https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1r84q54/
user- 1mo ago
I swear ive read this exact same thread with the exact same truepsec cable mention with the exact same amazon link for recommendations.
songhonglei1985 1mo ago
[dead]
fabiensanglard 1mo ago
I have completely stopped buying USB. I only rely on thunderbolt cables and hubs now.
jerbearito 1mo ago
Does HN allow spammy posts written for the sake of sharing an affiliate link? Surprised to see this here.
- latch 1mo ago
  You can read the guidelines at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Might find this one relevant: "If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead. If you flag, please don't also comment that you did."
  - jerbearito 1mo ago
    Thanks so much!
yieldcrv 1mo ago
I just pay a premium to a reliable source: Apple Regardless of tests they do charge my most energy hungry devices and everything else Many of us are privileged enough to make our lives easier in this way and haven't thought about it
- b3lvedere 1mo ago
  I don't know how my wife and kids are treating charging cables, but the cables seem not to live that super long in their hands :) So paying premium constantly seemed like a money sink hole for me. Strangely enough once they start to buy their own damn cables instead of me paying, the lifespan of said cables seemed to quadruple. Strange strange universe we live in. :)
  - r_lee 1mo ago
    it's just psychology, there's not much thought when there just are cables around and new ones come when they break, but when you have to choose and buy ones yourself and look at the price tag and all that, you tend to place more value and significance to that thing and remember how much it costs etc... I'd say most of us have experienced this ourselves in some form at some point in our lives
ryandrake 1mo ago
> But I shouldn't have had to do any of this. It's time cables came with a label of their own, or some sort of color coding. There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. There should be a single connectivity/performance spec, and if the cable meets it, it can be called a USB-C cable, and if it doesn't, it should have to be marketed as USB-JUNK or something. This is what happens when the spec is awful and says "the cable must do 480Mbps, or it must do 40Gbps, or... whatever, have fun!"
- Kirby64 1mo ago
  Unless you want all cables to be thick, $60, and cap out at 1 meter long, this is not a reasonable standard. 480mbps USB-C is perfectly adequate for many applications. Likewise for 60W cables.
  - ryandrake 1mo ago
    So, call it USB-D or something, if one cable is significantly different (in purpose, performance, form factor) than another cable. Don't just call everything the same label, and let the non-technical buyer beware.
    - MetaWhirledPeas 1mo ago
      The naming could be better for sure.
    - stouset 1mo ago
      Okay, great, it’s called USB-D. Is this a new connector? Or do we now need to resort to labeling cables and checking the label? Do we do this for every new version and combination of versions for USB? USB-PD? Thunderbolt? DisplayPort?
      - ReactiveJelly 1mo ago
        The computer / phone should auto-detect and tell you on-screen
synack 1mo ago
I came up with a color code based on the wiring: Red for Power Only, Blue for USB 2.0, Green for USB 3 (the ones with the extra pairs connected). I use paint pens to mark every cable I come across with this code. Generally speaking, only the Green ones have special PD emarker chips. It doesn't cover every possible configuration, but it's good enough for when I'm like "I need a USB cable" vs "I need a good USB cable" I use this tester: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF95VL2Y https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF95VL2Y
- Kirby64 1mo ago
  E markers are required for USB3, so that’s why. If you have a cable capable of 100 or 240W, they will also have a marker (it’s required), even if they only do USB2 speeds.
- 3RTB297 1mo ago
  As much as the original author bemoans having to do the labeling themselves, 99% of people don't care or don't have such a mix of cables as to make it a challenge to find one to suit the task. If you care, then care enough to do small, practical things for yourself. A little loop of tape. Paint marker. Even just sorting them into drawers/boxes/whatevers by type.
  - Whitespace 1mo ago
    I think the issue isn't that it's this huge ordeal for a person to do, but that if billions of people have to do this then that's a fundamental design flaw that could have been avoided.
- happymellon 1mo ago
  I thought blue indicated USB 3.0?
bariumbitmap 1mo ago
> Any cable that can transfer data faster than USB 2.0 speeds also requires a chip to do so. I always found this confusing because USB 3.0 Micro-B cables can transfer data faster than USB 2.0 without needing an e-marker, so why do USB-C cables need one if they already have the Tx and Rx SuperSpeed wires? It seems like the answer is, roughly, "it's complicated". https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1ow1tpf/why_does_a_usbc_cable_without_an_emarker_works_at/ https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1ow1tpf/why_d... https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/13j0gev/do_usbc_to_usbc_cables_need_an_emarker_chip_to/jkcw5iv/ https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/13j0gev/do_us...
- Kirby64 1mo ago
  If you’re following USB-C standard, all cables with faster data than 480mbps and more power than 60W require an e marker, period. Whether devices will still function for USB3 without that marker… that’s another story and will depend on the device.
  - bariumbitmap 1mo ago
    I'm not disputing that the e-marker is required by the USB-C the standard, I'm saying that conceptually it's confusing that an e-marker is required for USB-C cables but not for a USB 3.0 Micro-B cable with the same wires and data transfer capabilities.
orbital-decay 1mo ago
That's an ad. There's a lot of cable testers around, most of them are crap. Cheap testers like this one are based on generic chips reading e-markers and aren't even guaranteed to support all quick charging standards. And bandwidth is another matter entirely.
- Terr_ 1mo ago
  Yeah, I found it odd that the author started talking about bandwidth and data concerns, but then testing part is only about power-transfer.
palmotea 1mo ago
I use one of these to check the wiring of the USB cables I get, especially if I'm getting a weird one. I've always been a little freaked out by the story of that Google employee who posted very trusted USB-C cable reviews to Amazon, then got his equipment fried by one that crossed the wires. https://www.tindie.com/products/bittradeone/usb-cable-checker-2-assembled/ https://www.tindie.com/products/bittradeone/usb-cable-checke... But when I care about performance, I just get a cable from Anker and don't worry too much about it. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS: WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE TINY GREEN MILK CREATES IN THE PHOTO?
- mjmas 1mo ago
  > green milk crates Looks like https://makerworld.com/en/models/1515018-110x110mm-square-stacking-baskets https://makerworld.com/en/models/1515018-110x110mm-square-st...
  - heffer 1mo ago
    More like https://www.printables.com/model/1148683-stacking-storage-basket-collection-20-sizes https://www.printables.com/model/1148683-stacking-storage-ba... No handles.
    - mjmas 1mo ago
      > No handles. The ones in the article do have handles, but they are on the sides and so almost not visible.
ReactiveJelly 1mo ago
Today my phone said "Charging slowly" and it wasn't charging at all. I miss MiniUSB. MiniUSB was always good to me.
zx8080 1mo ago
For those who seeks a data speed, it's not. It's about power ratings, not data transfer.
whatever1 1mo ago
Apart from the specs of a cable is there a way to verify the signal quality of a cable? I have lost many days trying to debug random hardware issues and the final answer was to just replace a cable.
dackdel 1mo ago
https://www.whatcable.uk/ https://www.whatcable.uk/
- Gys 1mo ago
  Yes, very useful to see what a cable is capable of. Mac only.
- psittacus 1mo ago
  And two linux ports: https://github.com/Zetaphor/whatcable-linux https://github.com/Zetaphor/whatcable-linux https://github.com/abrauchli/usbee https://github.com/abrauchli/usbee
  - dackdel 1mo ago
    nice.
krzyk 1mo ago
Is there a similar one that could test also max data transmission available on given cable?
- LiamPowell 1mo ago
  At a minimum, if plugging it in to a device and measuring waveforms is good enough for your application, you need an oscilloscope with 10 GHz bandwidth or so (don't quote me on that, I don't remember the max speed used by USB). Scopes at that level require a whole lot of R&D and very expensive components so they're really not something you'd want to buy to check your own cables. If you're talking about reading the e-marker then you can just plug it in to a device and use an app. Google will help you find one for your platform.
lrasinen 1mo ago
The Treedix cable tester is awesome. Ordered one after reading Terence Eden's positive review* and went through all my cables the day it arrived. My favorite was the cable with only the ground connected; went immediately into the bin. *) https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/gadget-review-treedix-usb-cable-tester/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/gadget-review-treedix-usb-c...
- ansgri 1mo ago
  It definitely looks to be one of the better ones. Since many of these products use same generic Chinese platforms, I looked for a similar product on Aliexpress since they have better shipping for me, but didn't find a full analog. Had to use a forwarder to order from Treedix—only to have it shipped in a very roundabout way from China.
hmng 1mo ago
I know things have become much more complicated, but still remember fondly the good intentions of the original USB spec, which, for instances, forbade any extension cables (ignored, as expected, by many), with the reasoning that users should expect that if a cable connects, it should just work. Longer cables would need to be electrically "better", and extensions would eventually cause issues with electrical paths that were too long. People still remembered the "black art" involved with, e.g., SCSI cables, where long chains would often had issues, and wanted to avoid that.
mschild 1mo ago
The problem isn't inherently USB, it's companies producing cables without properly defining specs. If you want to be certain a USB cable works, buy it from a brand that sells certified (USB-IF) cables with a particular spec you want. For example, Club3D. Yes, they'll cost more but you can be decently certain that you don't have to fiddle with it. I replaced all USB cables I own with certified ones. Since then, not a single issue with slow charging, display resolutions, frames, or data transfers.
DrJaws 1mo ago
just don't buy cables from generic or awful brands, you can go with some reputable ones like cablematters,startech, caldigit, or satechi, also you can check USB-IF members. For other cables like displayport, just buy only certified cables that can be checked on displayport site, before buying any. same for thunderbolt, etc. you may pay a bit more, but they will comply the specs and be higher quality than the other generic brands.
franze 1mo ago
I coded this as an exercise https://apps.apple.com/app/cable-detective/id6765963737?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/app/cable-detective/id6765963737?mt=1... - reads everything it can about the plugged in cables and devices, feeds it to Apples internal AI. In the latest version it even doesn't crash the computer anymore after rapid plug/unplugging action.
- rtkwe 1mo ago
  There are several apps that do something similar and the biggest issue is the marker on the chip it's interrogating doesn't guarantee the cable can actually provide that. The maker can program whatever they want into that chip and the devices will just negotiate and determine what they're actually capable of achieving anyways.
  - franze 1mo ago
    yeah, the app tries to tale this into account and gives an "unverified" label on stuff that is doubtful
    - rtkwe 1mo ago
      How does it decide what claims are dubious and which aren't?
a2ff6eeb0 1mo ago
So many words, so little content.
deleted 1mo ago
[deleted]
dwedge 1mo ago
It's interesting that I was downvoted on HN for saying the same thing about how frustrating it is that seemingly identical cables are not identical https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48908214#48917477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48908214#48917477
insane_dreamer 1mo ago
I stick with Anker -- IMO they've been reliable for chargers, cables, etc.
Mithriil 1mo ago
The first 1 star comment on the "YEREADW USB-C Tester Power Meter" marketed here is worrisome: > HOWEVER, the issue is that, for some reason, on some devices, it seems to mess with PD negotiation. On chargers that I know can output 15V, it will not negotiate to 15V, it will only charge the device at 5V 3A.

258 points by baranul 2mo ago

LTT has created true spec cables with the actual spec mentioned on the cables but they can not keep up with demand despite being expensive get sold out as soon as new stock comes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfovjw7Ts_U&t=974s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfovjw7Ts_U&t=974s

rationalist 1mo ago
By chance, has anyone tested Cable Matters' cables? I just bought a couple of their Thunderbolt™ 5 cables. They seem like a reputable company that would make their cables true-to-spec. Thanks in advance!
- malfist 1mo ago
  I've not spec tested them, but astronomy gear is notoriously picky about USB cables and since I switched all of my cables to cable matters a lot of weird behaviors just stopped happening
- ThePowerOfFuet 1mo ago
  They are excellent.
- RestartKernel 1mo ago
  I bought a 3-meter long USB C cable from them for data and display transfer, which turned out to be the only USB C cable of that length capable of driving my display at its full resolution and framerate. However, after a year of use, it stopped transferring any sort of data. So while they're probably up to spec, the quality isn't necessarily what their pricing may suggest. Support allowed me to send it back for replacement as a "one-time exception", though I was well within the common 2-year warranty period in the EU.
- exmadscientist 1mo ago
  We had good results testing Cable Matters stuff here at work, but that was for non-critical use so I didn't go too hard on the tests. (Actually, I didn't go too hard on any of it since it was mostly make-work from a manager trying to cause trouble, but still....) I was quite impressed by GlobTek (available at Digi-Key) and have been buying those when I need something nice. Their USB-C line are some of the best I've seen, not that I'm a connoisseur.
- Whitespace 1mo ago
  I have some that I got to connect to my MBP, which supports TB5. Unfortunately my MSI MPG 321URX doesn't properly support it, so half of the time the DisplayPort over USB negotiation doesn't work, and the monitor doesn't connect properly. Apparently the majority of non-TB devices will have trouble with it. I can't even use the cable to charge my phone when attached to a wall wart!
  - rationalist 1mo ago
    > I can't even use the cable to charge my phone when attached to a wall wart! It sounds like maybe you have a defective cable? When I first used the cable, it didn't charge my phone until I made sure it was plugged in all the way.
aeroevan 1mo ago
I managed to get a few and so far am impressed. They are definitely on the chunky side but that probably comes with the durability
- Gigachad 1mo ago
  My concern is stiffer cables are likely more likely to rip USB ports off the PCB. A lot of devices provide very little support to the USB port which is basically just hanging off pads on the PCB, so a stuff heavy cable could provide a lot more bending force to rip it off. Phones and macbooks have it done right where the outer portion of the port is built in to the device body, but most other devices don't do this.
  - TheTxT 1mo ago
    They’re chunky, but very flexible. There’s basically no memory effect to them either, so they don’t try to curl up on their own.
    - blurrybird 1mo ago
      Yeah even the shorter lengths (thicker) are way more complacent than I expected. I’m slowly replacing every cable in the house and cars. I’m up to 7 and counting.
pzmarzly 1mo ago
They are not TB5 compatible though, and if you are going to drive monitors through it, or connect external GPU, 120Gbit (TB5) is much better than 40Gbit TB4 gives you. If you are willing to pay a bit more, consider TB5 cables from CalDigit, StarTech, CableMatters, or Apple.
- braiamp 1mo ago
  I can't find it anymore, but I'm pretty sure that the only reason they don't say it support TB5 is because they would need a license to say so.
  - blurrybird 1mo ago
    You’re thinking of TB4 which only requires 40Gbps. TrueSpec cables that advertise 40Gbps work fine as TB4 cables. TB5 is 80Gbps so TrueSpec isn’t capable.
- nticompass 1mo ago
  I used LTT's 40 Gbps cable to connect my ThinkPad X270 to a USB-C monitor and it worked fine. I guess neither device there is TB5, but just wanted to share that those cables do at least support DP-alt mode (or whatever it's called).
Cieric 1mo ago
They also crackle out of the package, or at least the 5 I got did. Kind of sound like the thin glow sticks a bit.
- verandaguy 1mo ago
  Could that possibly be shielding? I can't say I've seen it on USB-C-esque cables (except maybe a thunderbolt cable a while back?) but I've seen some cables use a type of aluminum or mylar-looking foil between the outer rubber sleeve and the inner sleeves and wires.
  - exmadscientist 1mo ago
    That shield is a drain wire combined with either a woven braid (most effective at lower frequencies) or a solid aluminized mylar foil (most effective at higher frequencies), or, for the best cables, both together. A USB-C cable really should be shielded. Here's a cross-section I took of a nice full-featured USB-C cable: https://ibb.co/svR5Yvyr https://ibb.co/svR5Yvyr . You can see the VBUS/GND (fat red/black), the SS pairs (white plus red/blue/yellow/brown, each one foil shielded on this cable), the USB 1/2 pair (white/green), and then the CC and SBU stuff is the remaining wiring. Notice how not just the whole thing is braid+foil shielded, but the SS pairs are individually shielded; that's really important at these speeds, and what you want to see on a good cable. Compare with two USB 2.0 cables: https://ibb.co/BHz4v1mx https://ibb.co/BHz4v1mx and https://ibb.co/GfpJmgbx https://ibb.co/GfpJmgbx ; the first one has the shield braid, as it should, but everything else is nicer on the second one. Cables!
  - Cieric 1mo ago
    Oh yeah, I do think it's the shielding. I was just kind of surprised by it since I've never bought a cable that's done that.
HDBaseT 1mo ago
I have a few of these cables, pretty decent although I think the USB-C ports are a bit too thin? They feel lose in multiple of my devices
- JR1427 1mo ago
  Multiple people I know, and myself included, have experience failure of their USB-C port on their phones. I don't think they are really durable enough.
Ekaros 1mo ago
Didn't they not care enough and not put vendor id on their cable. Which results some devices rightfully refusing to operate at high powers... Or am I miss remembering something.

pogue 2mo ago

Is there a cheap, reliable tester that someone can recommend that will test multiple USB cable types (A, micro & C)?

joshstrange 1mo ago
$45 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYJL5Z67 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYJL5Z67 This is the one I use and I quite like it. I've had it for a little over a year and a half. I used it to sort (or trash) all my cables and to test new incoming cables.
- Casteil 1mo ago
  I just got this one a few days ago so it's kinda weird I've seen it mentioned or posted about multiple times since. Guerrilla marketing? Anyway, it's definitely better than having nothing, and tests resistance as well. I tossed a couple low value/duplicate/high resistance cables because I've got too many just lying around causing clutter. Also helped 'confirm' my good (e.g. TB4+) cables that weren't labeled clearly are indeed good cables - granted, this is only as dependable as the marker chip the manufacturer added.
  - joshstrange 1mo ago
    > Guerrilla marketing? Nope, or if so my royalty/referral checks never showed up :) I bought mine back in March of last year and used it to "process" all my cables and was just a happy customer. I've been watching this space (cable testers) for years (on and off) and wasn't interested in the "raw circuit board with led"-versions so once a nicer version came out at a price point I found tolerable I got one. It's nice to have all my cables organized now (h/t to Akro mills bins, those are a dangerous rabbit hole) and now instead of just buying a new cable [0] when I need one I can go grab one that matches the specs I need. [0] Call it wasteful, call it lazy, but when faced with "I have a cable that fits the hole and is the right length but I don't know what it's capabilities are" I would often just buy a new cable with the specs I needed/wanted rather than using an "unknown" cable.
- greenavocado 1mo ago

leviyi 1mo ago

[flagged]

Dylan16807 1mo ago

Just measuring the power info is limited use. I'm sure there's value for some people, but I only need to keep track of 0-2 high power cables. > Your no-brand 480Mbps USB 2.0 cable is indistinguishable from the super-fast USB 4 cable that can move 40 gigabits (around 5 gigabytes) of data every single second. One of those is way thicker than the other, at least. I would love for something to force a speed and power rating on USB-C plugs.

avadodin 1mo ago
> One of those is way thicker than the other, at least. I bet there's at least one brand with extra–thick plastic insulation.
massysett 1mo ago
> I would love for something to force a speed and power rating on USB-C plugs. This already exists. Cable makers can certify their cables and mark them with their data speed and wattage. I buy only certified, marked cables. If I see an unmarked cable, I assume it’s slow and low-powered…which is good enough for some things.
- Dylan16807 1mo ago
  > This already exists. Cable makers can certify their cables and mark them with their data speed and wattage. Obviously labeling is possible. I want it to be forced. Whether that's the USB consortium having more power, or a legal requirement, or the biggest stores refusing to carry unlabeled cables. > If I see an unmarked cable, I assume it’s slow and low-powered…which is good enough for some things. That's a reasonable way to handle things. Lots of basic cables and only worry about the good ones. And if a cable is so bad that it's missing data wires or is too high resistance to get near 3 amps, it can go in the garbage.

safeimp 1mo ago

Verge recently posted this (free) app for testing on Mac's: https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/963759/whatcable-usb-c-cable-tester-app-mac https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/963759/whatcable-usb-c-cabl...

bcraven 1mo ago
They are just catching up with ShowHN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972511 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972511
- Barbing 1mo ago
  Useful app, funny thread (centipede), and the MacRumors Bartender alternative link arising from the menu bar decision discussion means I might be able to ditch Ice! (reduce spacing instead)
justinator 1mo ago
It's not actually free, it's $14 to unlock all the features.
- justinator 1mo ago
  Can't actually read the Verge without a subscription either.
HDBaseT 1mo ago
This effectively only tells you what the E-Marker reports though, the actual capabilities of the cable are still unknown. You can say the cable can do whatever you want on the E-Marker, its not the source of truth. The problem is, to actually benchmark everything, voltage drop, resistance, actual bandwidth (especially at Thunderbolt 5 speeds) requires a lot of hardware. Using a USB-C Test Controller ($13,000), connected to a Pro Keysight Infiniium oscilloscope ($258,809) is the proper way to test it. https://www.keysight.com/au/en/product/N7018A/type-c-test-controller.html https://www.keysight.com/au/en/product/N7018A/type-c-test-co...

ahs1 1mo ago

hmm, how about just being able to infer the features of a cable by it's physical form factor? oh wait...

swrrt 1mo ago
then you have a bunch of cables and wires that with all different types of connector that you can 'easily' identify which one is for which device. sounds familiar hah

Melatonic 1mo ago

Isnt this what "USB-IF certified" is supposed to guarantee?

craftkiller 1mo ago
USB-IF certified is a certification that the cable follows the spec, but that spans usb 2.0-only cables up to USB4v2 cables. The tester shows you what the capabilities are.
dwheeler 1mo ago
Yes, there's even a spec here: https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb_type-c_cable_logo_usage_guidelines_20240903.pdf https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usb_type-c_cable_log... The cables are supposed to be labelled with their maximum speed (5, 10, 20, 40, or 80 Gbps or nothing if no data) and maximum wattage (60W or 240W). HOWEVER, I don't remember ever seeing a cable with such a label. I'm sure they exist, but I don't see them. Requiring products to be labelled, and treating mislabelling as fraud, could mostly solve this. It's definitely a real problem.
- ButlerianJihad 1mo ago
  [dead]
- okanat 1mo ago
  > Requiring products to be labelled, and treating mislabelling as fraud, could mostly solve this. There are too many manufacturers to hunt. Basically USB-IF needs to stop almost all shipments in the world. That's not going to happen. USB spec is completely open and free to obtain. While it allows people to develop and DIY many things, it also attracts bad manufacturers like flies. Good certified cables with correct markings exist. There are companies like Cable Matters or Startech who bother to actually certify their cables and get USB-IF TIDs. They do cost you quite a bit money though. Here are some: https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1532-123-usb-c-20-charging-cable-with-240w-power-delivery.aspx https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1532-123-usb-c-20-charging-c... https://www.cablematters.com/pc-858-123-usb-if-certified-usb-c-cable-with-8k-video-and-100w-power-delivery.aspx https://www.cablematters.com/pc-858-123-usb-if-certified-usb... https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/1m-40g-usb4-cable https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/1m-40g-usb4-cable https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/s2cepr1m-usb-cable https://www.startech.com/en-de/cables/s2cepr1m-usb-cable

Melatonic 1mo ago

If you want a super fast cable and high power thats where they get pricey. "Charge only" cables can often be fairly cheap and perform well even for laptops and high draw devices.

ChrisMarshallNY 1mo ago

As always, these testers (the affordable ones) are capable of testing continuity, and, I guess, the cable chip report. If you want to test bandwidth, that's a five- or six-figure bit of gear.

nerdsniper 1mo ago
This keeps needing to be pointed out every thread this appears on. Plenty of cables have eMarkers that claim "40Gbps" or whatever speeds, or support 240W PD...but absolutely cannot deliver either of those. And none of these consumer level testers can test either of those claims. Resistance measurements can cursorily test claims of 240W but resistance changes with temperature which changes with current...so unless your tester puts 5 amps down the wire for 5 minutes and then tests resistance it's not a very good test.
- maya335 1mo ago
  Yeah — "the eMarker said 40Gbps" is basically the same problem as trusting the print on the jacket. For home use I've ended up treating real capability as an empirical property of the specific cable+port+device combo: does this exact cable drive this monitor at the mode I want, under load, for an hour? If yes, it gets a colored heat-shrink band and never leaves that use case. Everything else is a phone/charge cable until proven otherwise.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 1mo ago
    That’s a very practical approach.
- consp 1mo ago
  I had a cheap no-name cable which claims 3.1 speeds (and thus needs a marker), though it lacks all differential pairs and borks every usb connection (after I cut it, it was obvious). No clue why it contains a marker chip but doesn't have any conductors. Likely for usb-pd but you do not want to put any power though it anyway as the conductors were cheap copper clad aluminium.
1mo ago

kiwijamo 1mo ago

Interestingly, I have found a very mixed bag of USB-C cables I've collected over the years to generally just work for all my use cases. I can charge my various USB-C laptops at 65W with all the USB-C cables I have on hand. Maybe it's just my habit of just buying cables from known brands (Belkin is normally my go to) but I also have random cables that came with various devices of varying quality and all these also work just fine. I have a 6-port charging hub so I can see the charging wattage and I can easily get 65W to various laptops and a high capacity power bank, regardless of the cable being used. All cables also work fine for data transfer, although I confess I use USB-C for data transfer rarely so it is possible there is some variability there. YMMV but I wonder how much of this issue is just crappy low-end cables?

socalgal2 1mo ago
It's surprising to me you've been that lucky with Belkin. They do not have a good reputation. Maybe cables are easy so that's an easy bar to pass.
wslh 1mo ago
What 6 port charging hub do you have? I have a broken UGREEN one.
ssl-3 1mo ago
Every not-broken USB C cable allows for 480Mbps USB 2 speeds and 60W charging. In USB C terms, it doesn't get any more basic than this; that's as low-and-slow the specification tolerates. The issues come into play with going beyond that. USB 3 speeds? USB 4? Thunderbolt? DisplayPort (4k uncompressed video!) alt modes? 240W charging? These are all practical things that regular people use USB C cables for every day, but they require very specific support from the cables themselves, and that support is widely varied. Your cables work fine for what you're doing with them, but you're really barely scratching the surface of the kinds of things that can be done. :)
- retatop 1mo ago
  Not that I disagree with you, but I _wish_ "regular people" used 240W charging every day. As far as I can tell it's still pretty niche and hard to get 240W chargers

pmarreck 1mo ago

The whole space is so scammy that I'd pay for a good USB-C cable tester

rzzzt 1mo ago
But how can we know which tester is good and which one is scammy?
- _kb 1mo ago
  With a USB-C cable tester tester, of course.
  - testing22321 1mo ago
    I’ll bust your trace buster buster!
  - rzzzt 1mo ago
    Tester tester kits will need to include a known good and a known bad reference cable for comparisons.
- pmarreck 1mo ago
  I like your "who watches the watchers" reference, but AI's reviewing AI work, and notably, people reviewing people work, are subject to the same problem! The same principles that worked for auditors tracking risk compliance in the 2000's now work for humans tracking AI-output risk compliance in 2026
- kimjune01 1mo ago
  for throughput, you can use a stopwatch and a big movie transfer from one end to another
- insane_dreamer 1mo ago
  qui custodiet ipsos custodes?
j16sdiz 1mo ago

TechRemarker 1mo ago

Started using whatcable.uk app. Been amazing at finally knowing cable speed, but also device max speeds, and everything in between, without having to carry around one of those digital dongles with more limited use.

mercurywells 1mo ago

I'd like a HDMI cable tester as well, I can't seem to find one that works well with my high refresh monitor.

b3lvedere 1mo ago
I have had this problem with a 4K tv. I just bought an 8k certified cable. Overkill usually solves a lot of those issues in my personal experience.
ledoge 1mo ago
Are you buying ones that are "Ultra High Speed" HDMI certified? At least in theory, those should all be able to handle the maximum 48 Gbps bandwidth supported by HDMI 2.1

mrtesthah 1mo ago

Instead of using a dedicated device, on Macs you can also use the WhatCable app: https://www.whatcable.uk https://www.whatcable.uk

JSR_FDED 1mo ago
This is really good. The base is open source, and has both GUI and a CLI. For the purposes of this article, identifying what each cable can actually do, that’s covered. There’s additional Pro capabilities that you can pay for.
jerbearito 1mo ago
Sure, but that doesn't allow the author to share an Amazon affiliate link for a product.

yreg 1mo ago

The Anker Prime 160W power brick shows the maximum wattage of the cables you plug in. It is also surprisingly small.

boplicity 1mo ago
I don't think there's a USB-C charger out there that can actually pump out anything close to their rated maximum.
- Barbing 1mo ago
  At $150 (“on sale” from $184?), wonder how close it comes: https://anker.com/products/a2687-anker-prime-charger-160w-3-ports-gan https://anker.com/products/a2687-anker-prime-charger-160w-3-...
  - yreg 1mo ago
    I have not managed to stress test it yet, I believe that so far I saw it deliver ~100W max. I got it for 110€ in some Amazon bundle together with 3 usb cables. Which is about the price of the 140W Apple brick. (We don't get the powerbricks included with the MacBooks.) But Apple's is much larger, heavier and has a single port.
    - Barbing 1mo ago
      Anker did a great job with their image comparing it to the Apple charger. Gave me a good sense of size and wattage. And it’s much lighter? Nice, wishlist!

keane 1mo ago

Related discussion “The USB Situation” (3 months ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47950993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47950993 re: https://randsinrepose.com/guides/usb/usb-guide.html https://randsinrepose.com/guides/usb/usb-guide.html Apple sells this $30 (0.5m) CalDigit cable https://www.apple.com/shop/product/hs9d2zm/a/ https://www.apple.com/shop/product/hs9d2zm/a/ and this $70 (1m) Apple cable https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mdw94am/a/ https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mdw94am/a/ There's also some interesting discussion of Thunderbolt 5 cables on reddit (6 months ago): https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1r84q54/ https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1r84q54/

user- 1mo ago

I swear ive read this exact same thread with the exact same truepsec cable mention with the exact same amazon link for recommendations.

songhonglei1985 1mo ago

[dead]

fabiensanglard 1mo ago

I have completely stopped buying USB. I only rely on thunderbolt cables and hubs now.

jerbearito 1mo ago

Does HN allow spammy posts written for the sake of sharing an affiliate link? Surprised to see this here.

latch 1mo ago
You can read the guidelines at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Might find this one relevant: "If a story is spam or off-topic, flag it. Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead. If you flag, please don't also comment that you did."
- jerbearito 1mo ago
  Thanks so much!

yieldcrv 1mo ago

I just pay a premium to a reliable source: Apple Regardless of tests they do charge my most energy hungry devices and everything else Many of us are privileged enough to make our lives easier in this way and haven't thought about it

b3lvedere 1mo ago
I don't know how my wife and kids are treating charging cables, but the cables seem not to live that super long in their hands :) So paying premium constantly seemed like a money sink hole for me. Strangely enough once they start to buy their own damn cables instead of me paying, the lifespan of said cables seemed to quadruple. Strange strange universe we live in. :)
- r_lee 1mo ago
  it's just psychology, there's not much thought when there just are cables around and new ones come when they break, but when you have to choose and buy ones yourself and look at the price tag and all that, you tend to place more value and significance to that thing and remember how much it costs etc... I'd say most of us have experienced this ourselves in some form at some point in our lives

ryandrake 1mo ago

> But I shouldn't have had to do any of this. It's time cables came with a label of their own, or some sort of color coding. There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. There should be a single connectivity/performance spec, and if the cable meets it, it can be called a USB-C cable, and if it doesn't, it should have to be marketed as USB-JUNK or something. This is what happens when the spec is awful and says "the cable must do 480Mbps, or it must do 40Gbps, or... whatever, have fun!"

Kirby64 1mo ago
Unless you want all cables to be thick, $60, and cap out at 1 meter long, this is not a reasonable standard. 480mbps USB-C is perfectly adequate for many applications. Likewise for 60W cables.
- ryandrake 1mo ago
  So, call it USB-D or something, if one cable is significantly different (in purpose, performance, form factor) than another cable. Don't just call everything the same label, and let the non-technical buyer beware.
  - MetaWhirledPeas 1mo ago
    The naming could be better for sure.
  - stouset 1mo ago
    Okay, great, it’s called USB-D. Is this a new connector? Or do we now need to resort to labeling cables and checking the label? Do we do this for every new version and combination of versions for USB? USB-PD? Thunderbolt? DisplayPort?
    - ReactiveJelly 1mo ago
      The computer / phone should auto-detect and tell you on-screen

synack 1mo ago

I came up with a color code based on the wiring: Red for Power Only, Blue for USB 2.0, Green for USB 3 (the ones with the extra pairs connected). I use paint pens to mark every cable I come across with this code. Generally speaking, only the Green ones have special PD emarker chips. It doesn't cover every possible configuration, but it's good enough for when I'm like "I need a USB cable" vs "I need a good USB cable" I use this tester: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF95VL2Y https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF95VL2Y

Kirby64 1mo ago
E markers are required for USB3, so that’s why. If you have a cable capable of 100 or 240W, they will also have a marker (it’s required), even if they only do USB2 speeds.
3RTB297 1mo ago
As much as the original author bemoans having to do the labeling themselves, 99% of people don't care or don't have such a mix of cables as to make it a challenge to find one to suit the task. If you care, then care enough to do small, practical things for yourself. A little loop of tape. Paint marker. Even just sorting them into drawers/boxes/whatevers by type.
- Whitespace 1mo ago
  I think the issue isn't that it's this huge ordeal for a person to do, but that if billions of people have to do this then that's a fundamental design flaw that could have been avoided.
happymellon 1mo ago
I thought blue indicated USB 3.0?

bariumbitmap 1mo ago

> Any cable that can transfer data faster than USB 2.0 speeds also requires a chip to do so. I always found this confusing because USB 3.0 Micro-B cables can transfer data faster than USB 2.0 without needing an e-marker, so why do USB-C cables need one if they already have the Tx and Rx SuperSpeed wires? It seems like the answer is, roughly, "it's complicated". https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1ow1tpf/why_does_a_usbc_cable_without_an_emarker_works_at/ https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/1ow1tpf/why_d... https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/13j0gev/do_usbc_to_usbc_cables_need_an_emarker_chip_to/jkcw5iv/ https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/13j0gev/do_us...

Kirby64 1mo ago
If you’re following USB-C standard, all cables with faster data than 480mbps and more power than 60W require an e marker, period. Whether devices will still function for USB3 without that marker… that’s another story and will depend on the device.
- bariumbitmap 1mo ago
  I'm not disputing that the e-marker is required by the USB-C the standard, I'm saying that conceptually it's confusing that an e-marker is required for USB-C cables but not for a USB 3.0 Micro-B cable with the same wires and data transfer capabilities.

orbital-decay 1mo ago

That's an ad. There's a lot of cable testers around, most of them are crap. Cheap testers like this one are based on generic chips reading e-markers and aren't even guaranteed to support all quick charging standards. And bandwidth is another matter entirely.

Terr_ 1mo ago
Yeah, I found it odd that the author started talking about bandwidth and data concerns, but then testing part is only about power-transfer.

palmotea 1mo ago

I use one of these to check the wiring of the USB cables I get, especially if I'm getting a weird one. I've always been a little freaked out by the story of that Google employee who posted very trusted USB-C cable reviews to Amazon, then got his equipment fried by one that crossed the wires. https://www.tindie.com/products/bittradeone/usb-cable-checker-2-assembled/ https://www.tindie.com/products/bittradeone/usb-cable-checke... But when I care about performance, I just get a cable from Anker and don't worry too much about it. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS: WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE TINY GREEN MILK CREATES IN THE PHOTO?

mjmas 1mo ago
> green milk crates Looks like https://makerworld.com/en/models/1515018-110x110mm-square-stacking-baskets https://makerworld.com/en/models/1515018-110x110mm-square-st...
- heffer 1mo ago
  More like https://www.printables.com/model/1148683-stacking-storage-basket-collection-20-sizes https://www.printables.com/model/1148683-stacking-storage-ba... No handles.
  - mjmas 1mo ago
    > No handles. The ones in the article do have handles, but they are on the sides and so almost not visible.

ReactiveJelly 1mo ago

Today my phone said "Charging slowly" and it wasn't charging at all. I miss MiniUSB. MiniUSB was always good to me.

zx8080 1mo ago

For those who seeks a data speed, it's not. It's about power ratings, not data transfer.

whatever1 1mo ago

Apart from the specs of a cable is there a way to verify the signal quality of a cable? I have lost many days trying to debug random hardware issues and the final answer was to just replace a cable.

dackdel 1mo ago

https://www.whatcable.uk/ https://www.whatcable.uk/

Gys 1mo ago
Yes, very useful to see what a cable is capable of. Mac only.
psittacus 1mo ago
And two linux ports: https://github.com/Zetaphor/whatcable-linux https://github.com/Zetaphor/whatcable-linux https://github.com/abrauchli/usbee https://github.com/abrauchli/usbee
- dackdel 1mo ago
  nice.

krzyk 1mo ago

Is there a similar one that could test also max data transmission available on given cable?

LiamPowell 1mo ago
At a minimum, if plugging it in to a device and measuring waveforms is good enough for your application, you need an oscilloscope with 10 GHz bandwidth or so (don't quote me on that, I don't remember the max speed used by USB). Scopes at that level require a whole lot of R&D and very expensive components so they're really not something you'd want to buy to check your own cables. If you're talking about reading the e-marker then you can just plug it in to a device and use an app. Google will help you find one for your platform.

lrasinen 1mo ago

The Treedix cable tester is awesome. Ordered one after reading Terence Eden's positive review* and went through all my cables the day it arrived. My favorite was the cable with only the ground connected; went immediately into the bin. *) https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/gadget-review-treedix-usb-cable-tester/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/06/gadget-review-treedix-usb-c...

ansgri 1mo ago
It definitely looks to be one of the better ones. Since many of these products use same generic Chinese platforms, I looked for a similar product on Aliexpress since they have better shipping for me, but didn't find a full analog. Had to use a forwarder to order from Treedix—only to have it shipped in a very roundabout way from China.

hmng 1mo ago

I know things have become much more complicated, but still remember fondly the good intentions of the original USB spec, which, for instances, forbade any extension cables (ignored, as expected, by many), with the reasoning that users should expect that if a cable connects, it should just work. Longer cables would need to be electrically "better", and extensions would eventually cause issues with electrical paths that were too long. People still remembered the "black art" involved with, e.g., SCSI cables, where long chains would often had issues, and wanted to avoid that.

mschild 1mo ago

The problem isn't inherently USB, it's companies producing cables without properly defining specs. If you want to be certain a USB cable works, buy it from a brand that sells certified (USB-IF) cables with a particular spec you want. For example, Club3D. Yes, they'll cost more but you can be decently certain that you don't have to fiddle with it. I replaced all USB cables I own with certified ones. Since then, not a single issue with slow charging, display resolutions, frames, or data transfers.

DrJaws 1mo ago

just don't buy cables from generic or awful brands, you can go with some reputable ones like cablematters,startech, caldigit, or satechi, also you can check USB-IF members. For other cables like displayport, just buy only certified cables that can be checked on displayport site, before buying any. same for thunderbolt, etc. you may pay a bit more, but they will comply the specs and be higher quality than the other generic brands.

franze 1mo ago

I coded this as an exercise https://apps.apple.com/app/cable-detective/id6765963737?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/app/cable-detective/id6765963737?mt=1... - reads everything it can about the plugged in cables and devices, feeds it to Apples internal AI. In the latest version it even doesn't crash the computer anymore after rapid plug/unplugging action.

rtkwe 1mo ago
There are several apps that do something similar and the biggest issue is the marker on the chip it's interrogating doesn't guarantee the cable can actually provide that. The maker can program whatever they want into that chip and the devices will just negotiate and determine what they're actually capable of achieving anyways.
- franze 1mo ago
  yeah, the app tries to tale this into account and gives an "unverified" label on stuff that is doubtful
  - rtkwe 1mo ago
    How does it decide what claims are dubious and which aren't?

a2ff6eeb0 1mo ago

So many words, so little content.

deleted 1mo ago

[deleted]

dwedge 1mo ago

It's interesting that I was downvoted on HN for saying the same thing about how frustrating it is that seemingly identical cables are not identical https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48908214#48917477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48908214#48917477

insane_dreamer 1mo ago

I stick with Anker -- IMO they've been reliable for chargers, cables, etc.

Mithriil 1mo ago

The first 1 star comment on the "YEREADW USB-C Tester Power Meter" marketed here is worrisome: > HOWEVER, the issue is that, for some reason, on some devices, it seems to mess with PD negotiation. On chargers that I know can output 15V, it will not negotiate to 15V, it will only charge the device at 5V 3A.