Charging Cables

~ Veselin

I’ve not cracked the charging issue yet. My kids run through cables very quickly because they charge their numerous devices while playing games. They twist them, bend them, and use lots of power. We also need to maintain a collection of chargers with cables at the grandparents where they’re used by the niblings as well. The devices and chargers vary greatly and I’m always in the look for improvements.

10 days ago I bought a beautifully looking Energizer cable. 2m long, 100w, looked very, very solid. It stopped working after charging my computer and phone 5-6-ish times each with an Apple’s 45-watt charger.

I was sure something in that cable was fake and decided to slice and dice it to see proof of deception. Nope. You can pull a car with it. But you can’t charge a phone.

Took me significant effort with the pliers to cut through the outside. So I guess, just another brand that wasn’t meant to be.

So what somewhat worked:

  • The Apple’s Lightning and USB-C cables tend to last months to a year with our usage. The downside is that they’re bland, look dirty, subject to dry rot and twisting. I’ve stopped buying these as they are the highest price, lowest joy level, and medium durability for our use case.
  • Vivanco’s 1m cable is my personal favorite for a durable lightning cable. It doesn’t twist as much and is thicker. My kids have destroyed some of these while playing Minecraft but I’ve personally never broken one. It’s short and ugly, so it’s far from ideal.
  • XMart’s cables with textile braid look great, probably best in term of looks from what we use. They are also 1.2m long, which is better. I have an USB-C braided cable at one of my work spots, working with a 100-watt charger, and it’s fine after a few years of use. However, those cables with multiple ends my family likes? Not so much. I don’t know why we keep buying them.
  • Cellularline’s braided USB-C cable would be my top choice. The one I got is 2.5 meters long, about 1 meter longer than it should be, and just works. However, it’s never been put through the real Minecraft test because it’s USB-C and the kids use Lightning.

UPDATE (2025-01-25) Cellularline’s Lightning cable I bought to my kids failed after less than 10 days of use using a 65 watt Cellularline charger: Not ideal.

What do you use?

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14 thoughts on “Charging Cables”

  1. We have an iPhone and iPad in the house and the original cables are long gone. With the replacement charging cables we find that one will charge one device and not the other so you can’t mix them up. As for what cables, my husband is an engineer he never throws out cables, they usually come from the cable grave in the garage.

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  3. I use official cables only from Apple for my various products I have with them. I do have a 3 in 1 charger as well that’s from another brand, but I use the cable and charger that came with it and it still works 4+ years in. Same with all my other cables. Never had to replace a single one, but I’m really careful with my stuff.

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  5. I haven’t found any that can survive kids. I just buy the mid range replacements from whatever send like the best price with decent reviews online. Everything seems to last 3 to 6 months for the kids, no matter who makes it. My only criteria is to have the braided sheath… The cats seem to dislike chewing on that material. Three of the six have a “thing” for charging cables.

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