USB cables

🌱 This post is in the growth phase. It may still be useful as it grows up.

Everything I know about cables after testing them.

Charging

Type-A

Every Type-A connector I tested registered 7.8 W or fewer when charging.

Type-A to Type-C, or Lightning

I had a few cables that registered 13 W. Definitely less common.

Type-C (PD)

Most cables with Type-C connections regestered 30 W, even if they looked pretty cheap.
But there were outliers that only registered 17 W.

Type-C (PD), cable matters

Cables that I purchased intentionally for charging are the only ones capable of high-watt charging.

The Extreme Flexible USB Charging model achieved 60 W, as advertized.

My 100 W cable (now discontinued) also achived the advertized 100 W.

Data

All cables were capable of the USB 2.0 standard 480Mbps transfer speed.

Those capable of more were notibly thicker (and sometimes ridgid).

Not all high-speed cables were marked.
Brands really like to put their stupid logos on things instead. Even so, they regularly had an elongated connector… but not always.

Moving forward, I’ll prefer cables that state their rating on the connector.

Takeaways

• Thunderbolt 5 and Thunderbolt 4 cables are best as clearly marked and broadly capable. This OWC Thunderbolt 4 cable is also well-regarded.
• Cable Matters makes charging cables in flexible and braided styles with high wattage. But they only transfer data at 480Mbps
• Everything else is just kinda irritating.