Lightning cable: Apple vs Amazon Basic, and Anker PowerLine II

transmaster

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Take a look at this photo. The white cable is a new unused Apple OEM cable, the Gray cable, as you can read, is an Amazon Basic Cable. You can see the Amazon Basic cable has better strain relief, the body of the Lightning plug is longer affording a better grip especially when pulling it out of an iPhone that is in a protective case, which is most of them. Also, note the cable its self is heavier with a protective braided cover. The Amazon is a 6-foot cable. Below that is the Anker PowerLine II a 6-foot cable. Great strain relief and an even heavier cable. The Amazon Cable pictured costs $11.99, while the Anker PowerLine II cable is $12.99. The 6 foot Apple cable is $29.99 from the Apple Store, and the. Apple 3 foot cable shown here costs $19.99 in the Apple Store.

Amazon Basic on top, Apple OEM in the middle. And Anker PowerLine II at the bottom.

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I've switched to Anker when I need an extra lightning cord. Approved, cheaper, and better vs the original. What's not to like?
We've got a couple of different kinds of Anker here, but I forget the 'model' #. A few are kinda plain looking white ones, and two have a black and grey braided outer cover, sorta like that Amazon job in your pic.

We're not hard on cords, but all three of the Apple ones that came here are long gone. So far every Anker is still going strong.

I'm actually keeping an eye on one of the braided ones. I use it in my truck, and at job sites with one of those DeWalt USB dongles that turns their cordless tool batteries into a charger. I'm curious how long it will last. I'm not beating the shit out of it or anything, but I'm not exactly gentle with it either.
 
I have run into situations where the only cable that would work was an Apple cord. I bought an Anker braided cable for CarPlay and my CarPlay unit would freeze, so I went back to the Amazon cable I was using. The Anker works great for charging devices, so I guess it depends on your needs.
 
I always keep an Apple Cable and charger around for both my iPhone, and iPad. I had an iPhone 6+ when I updated it to iOS 10.0 I had a situation where I could not charge it’s battery with my Anker USB hub which has the Apple approved chipset. This was caused by a new security feature that came in with 10.0 “Do you trust this computer”. My Window 10 PC failed to communicate with my iPhone, and I never saw the trust popup. The iPhone was totally dead. A call to Apple support quickly straightened it out. Pulled out the unused Apple iPhone charger and Apple cable and that did the trick. Once charged up I got the “trust” prompt.

I have also run into the Anker Cable not working as it should. I have never figured out why. Anker has a lifetime warrenty on their cables so you can get them replaced.
 
Anker also does portable power. Any good? I've been burned by braided cords in the past.

Anker's portable battery packs are excellent. Their charging batteries are a necessity. The one I have will charge my iPhone at least 4 times, and my iPad twice. Anker also makes a very good Solar charging system.

Anker, and Amazon Basic braided cords are both very good.
 
I know I'm veering off topic a bit, but Santa's got some stockings to stuff and I'm wondering who has had a good experience with wireless chargers. I've got a couple iPhone ochos.
 
We've been getting super cheap lightning cords at the discount grocery store.
$4-$6.
We beat the Hell out of them.
They last a few months or more.
All styles and designs.
The heavy rugged ones don't last any longer than the light ones.

We returned a couple for exchange that died real quick, but its almost not worth the effort.

I saw cheap ones at the Walmart checkout the other day.
 
We've been getting super cheap lightning cords at the discount grocery store.
$4-$6.
We beat the Hell out of them.
They last a few months or more.
All styles and designs.
The heavy rugged ones don't last any longer than the light ones.

We returned a couple for exchange that died real quick, but its almost not worth the effort.

I saw cheap ones at the Walmart checkout the other day.
Do you ever get errors with those?
I grabbed a cheapy from a dollar store a few years back, and it worked, but I got that message on my phone telling me it wasn't authorized(or something), and it did funky things with the charge % bar. I got freaked out and tossed it.
 
Do you ever get errors with those?
I grabbed a cheapy from a dollar store a few years back, and it worked, but I got that message on my phone telling me it wasn't authorized(or something), and it did funky things with the charge % bar. I got freaked out and tossed it.

What is happening is there are a tremendous number ot Lightning cables with counterfit chip sets in them, you can almost bank on the really cheap cable to be fakes. Such cables often give you the not authorized caution. I gave up on these really cheap cables a long time ago.
 
Here is a basic Anker Lighning cable that I have this is one of 2 cables I purchased 14 March 2015, both cables are in daily use. This cable costs $6.49 on Amazon. I am just showing the Lightning plug end as that is were these cables almost always fail. You can just see some wear on the cable. The only thing I have done with these cables is to brush a tiny amount of Caig Deoxit Pro Gold on the connection surfaces. Pro Gold is specifically formulated for gold connections. Brush a tiny amount on both sides than plug it into the iPhone/iPad and that takes care of the connections there as well.

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What is happening is there are a tremendous number ot Lightning cables with counterfit chip sets in them, you can almost bank on the really cheap cable to be fakes. Such cables often give you the not authorized caution. I gave up on these really cheap cables a long time ago.
Yeah. I'm not sure if I even knew about the chip thing when I bought it? It was right around the time of the 5 release. I've since smartened up.

I don't get why Apple doesn't do a better job with this. Sure, the pessimist will say something like, "It's all about their bottom line". Ok, but why is it that another company, that has to pay the Apple 'tax', can come up with a better product that is cheaper?
They position themselves as a premium brand, but their cables just aren't.
 
Here are 2 Apple lightning cables the top cable came with an iPhone 6+, the bottom came with my 7+ this cable is a few thousands of a inch larger in diameter. Very hard to see. I don’t use either they are my, if nothing else works cables.

Why are Apple cables priced so high, because they can, and Jony Ive’s form over function design philosophy.

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Here are 2 Apple lightning cables the top cable came with an iPhone 6+, the bottom came with my 7+ this cable is a few thousands of a inch larger in diameter. Very hard to see. I don’t use either they are my, if nothing else works cables.

Why are Apple cables priced so high, because they can, and Jony Ive’s form over function design philosophy.

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Oh, I know.
I'm no Apple fan boy, but I use and like a few of their products. I get it how some go for the form thing with their stuff. But with cords? If ever there was a function over form topic with phones and such, the cord would be near the top of the list. And it's not like these better aftermarket cords are huge ugly monstrosities. A little more attention to the strain relief area and they're done.
 
Did you get that DeWalt drill kit you were talking about awhile back?

I did. Brushless as you suggested. Way more torque than I need around the house, but it sure works fast/great. Gonna try some Anker braided cords since braids always remind me of guitar amp cords. This cord is torn and frayed...
 
I did. Brushless as you suggested. Way more torque than I need around the house, but it sure works fast/great. Gonna try some Anker braided cords since braids always remind me of guitar amp cords. This cord is torn and frayed...
Sounds like it's seen much better days.
 
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