The quest for a decent micro USB cable.

[deejayburnout]

Peeps.

For some reason, we seem to eat through USB cables at home. All the stock ones that came with out devices have all broke, mainly at the micro USB end.

Not sure why, but it's like the 2 little teeth that help hold the plug in seem to wear and the plug falls out easily. They still work but they are no use of charging while using the device, mainly smartphones, tablets and PS4 controller.

I have tired various brand replacement like Samsung, HTC and generic ones and they all fail eventually after a few weeks. I normally buy from eBay and question the authenticity of them as they keep failing.

I have also been looking at how we use them and nothing stands out as misuse or abuse.

Can anyone recommend a decent USB cable for me to try.

Thanks in advance.

[abaxas]

User error - upgrade that first.

[deejayburnout]

Divorce is so expensive......

[chrestomanci]

I have found that ankler cables work well, but they are more expensive than cheap no name ones.

[Lee H]

I think I've found the holy grail of microUSB cables.

If you are like me and have had an older mobile phone - the old grey Nokia MicroUSB cables are like proverbial cockroaches in that they seem to be indestructible - even with 5 and 6 year olds handling it all the time to power up tablets etc.

[Jowsey]

Probably not the price bracket you want to see but I've always heard really good things from here. I've always wanted to get one for the bling factor but it just looks like a good quality cable.

[AETAaAS]

These are good cables and will charge at a good speed. Up to 1.5A compared to some thin eBay cheapos I've used which top out at 0.6-0.8A even on an empty tablet. They are more pricey but CPC have free shipping on for this month to offset the cost a little.
http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/hk...-1m/dp/CS18567

[Biscuit]

I feel your pain bro!

I have been through this same issue and have spent a variety of different amounts on different cables (including the nokia ones, which are miles better than most of the others) and ALL of them have experienced issues with these 'locking pins'.

The ones that have fared the best, and are of a pretty decent price, are the Anker ones you can get from Amazon. High gauge cable and tough connectors. I would recommend giving them a try I have tonnes of them now.

Whatever you do, avoid FRiEQ cables. They get good reviews on Amazon so i bought a few and they broke within weeks!

[jag272]

I only bought it recently so havent had chance to thoroughly test it yet but I bought an AmazonBasics one 2 weeks ago alongside some other stuff to bump up to the £20 free postage, so far it seems to be working fine. Its too new to really give any sort of life expectancy on it though.

[shaithis]

I've had issues where the cables break inside near the micro connector, so that the only way they work is to put the phone/tablet upside down to use the weight of the cable to re-align whats broken inside.

I've now purchased one of those retractable cables and it's been fine for a while. Charge time isn't great but working cable > broken cable!

[herulach]

I'll 3rd (4th) the anker cables. My current bag carry is a pair of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ilpage_o00_s00
and one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ilpage_o00_s00
They've held up to being rattled aroudn in a laptop bag for the last 12 months or so (the cables at least, I left my old charger in a hotel so that one is quite new)

[deejayburnout]

Looks like I will give a few anker cables a go. I will probably avoid eBay incase fake and stick to Amazon.

Is the micro end slim? The reason I ask is my phone case has a narrow opening for the USB cable and some are just a little to wide to fit.

[herulach]

Looks like I will give a few anker cables a go. I will probably avoid eBay incase fake and stick to Amazon.

Is the micro end slim? The reason I ask is my phone case has a narrow opening for the USB cable and some are just a little to wide to fit.

It fits my pohone with case on which has the same issue but thats more around fatness than width

[TheAnimus]

Are you able to use a wireless charger, such as Qi?

Many phones, such as Lumia or Nexus support this. If it's user error (it sounds like it) then this might solve that problem elegantly

[gl30]

Three suggestions from me:

1. Wireless charging
2. Look for braided cables - generally more expensive but the braiding does help the cable itself, at least.
3. Go for cables with ferrite cores (the big chunky black rings near the ends) as these are usually better too!

[deejayburnout]

Are you able to use a wireless charger, such as Qi?

Many phones, such as Lumia or Nexus support this. If it's user error (it sounds like it) then this might solve that problem elegantly

My nexus 7 is the only device that has wireless native, our 2 Samsung notes need aftermarket options and the wireless backs are no good with cases. Everything else doesn't have wireless. Even then I need to plug the USB cable into my wireless dock.

User error may be an issue but I think it may be more like I am getting fake cables. Going to stop buying them on eBay, and stick to Amazon.

I did buy some anker cables so waiting on them.