So I bought one of these on a lark and decided to test out my collection of USB-A to microUSB charging cables.
Wow, what an eye opener! I had heard cables can make a difference in charge rates but I had no idea it was this much.
First up, an Android phone (Moto E4):
The next best category were the pair of woven jacket 3-in-1 cables. One looks like this (minus the branding) while the other has 3 different heads permanently attached:
I have 5 retractable cables and they did surprising well. Perhaps they used thicker copper to handle the frequent bending loads?
I have 9 of these 3ft-1m flat 2-in-1 cables that aside from color look almost identical to each other. They were all over the map. Some worked great, particularly the 2 that were embedded in the retract mechanism. Others were bottom of the barrel. The only clue I had as to whether one was good or bad was that the better ones were more pliable while the bad ones felt like they were constructed from thin gauge solid wire.
Last were the 3ft-1m cables with round plastic jackets. As expected these varied a lot too, but none were better than average. One was thicker than normal and had an impressive looking choke on it. It scored mid-pack.
So, time to thin the herd. Anyone want some cheap microUSB cables?
Wow, what an eye opener! I had heard cables can make a difference in charge rates but I had no idea it was this much.
First up, an Android phone (Moto E4):
- Best: 1.8 amps
- Median: 1.2 amps
- Worst: 0.6 amps
- Best: .98 amps
- Median: .82 amps
- Worst: .5 amps
- Best: 2.05 amps
- Median: 1.22 amps
- Worst: 0.7 amps
- Best: 1.85 amps
- Median: 1.4 amps
- Worst: 0.8 amps
- Best: 1.51 amps
- Median: 1.45 amps
- Worst: 1.1 amps
The next best category were the pair of woven jacket 3-in-1 cables. One looks like this (minus the branding) while the other has 3 different heads permanently attached:
I have 5 retractable cables and they did surprising well. Perhaps they used thicker copper to handle the frequent bending loads?
I have 9 of these 3ft-1m flat 2-in-1 cables that aside from color look almost identical to each other. They were all over the map. Some worked great, particularly the 2 that were embedded in the retract mechanism. Others were bottom of the barrel. The only clue I had as to whether one was good or bad was that the better ones were more pliable while the bad ones felt like they were constructed from thin gauge solid wire.
Last were the 3ft-1m cables with round plastic jackets. As expected these varied a lot too, but none were better than average. One was thicker than normal and had an impressive looking choke on it. It scored mid-pack.
So, time to thin the herd. Anyone want some cheap microUSB cables?
