SilverStone Reversible Phone Charging & Data Cord @ [H]

Thanks Kyle, excellent write up.

One thing isn't mentioned on their site is the amp rating of the cable. When charging did the cable get warm at all? What other products did you try charging?

Edit: an issue I can see popping up in the future is the mechanism wearing out and the cable breaking.
 
Trimlock said:
Thanks Kyle, excellent write up.

One thing isn't mentioned on their site is the amp rating of the cable. When charging did the cable get warm at all? What other products did you try charging?

Edit: an issue I can see popping up in the future is the mechanism wearing out and the cable breaking.
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Dunno amp rating, I have that question into SilverStone, and they are active on this board, so I would not doubt to see them post here.

The cable has been used extensively for charging, charging while running video for well over an hour, and I have not had any issues with it getting warm. I have only used this on my phones here at home.

I and I did comment on the mechanism and the cable quality in the article.
 
Interesting cable, and more interesting timing. With USB-C coming around the corner, the micro-side is not long for this world. But the USB-A side is a nice little addition. THough I use wireless chargers pretty much everywhere now, I could definitely see picking one of these up for my car, and for no more than $5-7.
 
I've already got a USB-C cabled smart phone. Had to invest in all new cables. Don't think any of them were Silverstone. Got cheapies off Amazon primarily. I guess I'll find out if they last or not, only been a few months.
 
EODetroit said:
I've already got a USB-C cabled smart phone. Had to invest in all new cables. Don't think any of them were Silverstone. Got cheapies off Amazon primarily. I guess I'll find out if they last or not, only been a few months.
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Congratulations. I have registered an account after over a decade of lurking just to reply to you.

You need to trash those cables you bought stat and get good ones. A lot of manufacturers are taking the USB 2.0 spec and slapping a USB-C connector on it. This is bad given the increased current capacity of USB-C. There is a google engineer who is testing random Amazon cables for this. One of those cables fried his Chromebook Pixel 2. A vast majority of the rest are about as bad.

I garner you want to find out the quality of those cables without burning down your house.

I can't give you a link because first post, but search for Benson Leung.
 
OracleofEpirus said:
Congratulations. I have registered an account after over a decade of lurking just to reply to you.

You need to trash those cables you bought stat and get good ones. A lot of manufacturers are taking the USB 2.0 spec and slapping a USB-C connector on it. This is bad given the increased current capacity of USB-C. There is a google engineer who is testing random Amazon cables for this. One of those cables fried his Chromebook Pixel 2. A vast majority of the rest are about as bad.

I garner you want to find out the quality of those cables without burning down your house.

I can't give you a link because first post, but search for Benson Leung.
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Said Engineer's reviews: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A25GROL6KJV3QG/ref=cm_cr_rdp_pdp
 
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I'd buy a couple 6ft and 10ft models if they'd make them and lower the price just a hair.
 
If the cord is as good of a quality as Silverstone says, and if it were longer (five feet) then, to me, the $15 price tag would be appropriate.

Thanks for the review, Kyle.
 
OracleofEpirus said:
Congratulations. I have registered an account after over a decade of lurking just to reply to you.

You need to trash those cables you bought stat and get good ones. A lot of manufacturers are taking the USB 2.0 spec and slapping a USB-C connector on it. This is bad given the increased current capacity of USB-C. There is a google engineer who is testing random Amazon cables for this. One of those cables fried his Chromebook Pixel 2. A vast majority of the rest are about as bad.

I garner you want to find out the quality of those cables without burning down your house.

I can't give you a link because first post, but search for Benson Leung.
Click to expand...

I'll consider myself congratulated. I think.

Here's the ones I got:

Amazon.com: USB 3.1 Type C Cable, MoKo 3ft USB 3.0 Type A Male to USB 3.1 Type C Male peripheral or mobile devices Sync Transfer data & Charging Cable Reversible Design for Google Nexus 5 / 6P, Nokia N1, WHITE: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: SIENOC Black 3.3ft 1m USB 3.1 Type C Male to 3.0 Female Data Cable For Macbook 12 inch etc.: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Type C Cable, Yoozon® 3.3ft/1m 56k ohm pull-up resistor USB Type C to Type A (USB-C to USB-A) Cable for Nexus 6P,Nexus 5X,Oneplus 2 and Other Type-C Supported Devices: Cell Phones & Accessories

And one of these since the new phone didn't have any kind of flash slot:

Amazon.com: PixelFlash USB 3.1 Type-C Invincible Connection SD + MicroSD Modular Card Reader with Detachable Cable SDHC, SDXC, TF Memory Adapter Secure Interface Zero Interference No RFI Issues: Computers & Accessories

Also, got one cable in the mail from the service provider for the phone by surprise about a month after I bought it.

Edit: Wow that auto-linking of amazon links is annoying as fuck. Not my doing, the forums is doing it.
 
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EODetroit said:
Here's the ones I got:
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I don't have any USB-C devices, so I only know vague generalizations like among the first 15 or so he tested, only one passed.

There appears to be a community-tracked spreadsheet of said reviews. It's like the second result on Google. You should check out his reviews on Google+ and the spreadsheet for yourself.

There's also some revision by manufacturers, issues with selling old stock, and whatever else.

There was an app (CheckR) that checked cables, but was apparently less accurate than the programmer liked, so he pulled it.
 
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I like how this thread got changed into the USB-C thread... But this is kind of what Silverstone and another company with a successful campaign on kickstarter is facing. These reversible plugs are a little too late imo. And it'll only confuse other people when they pick it up and jam it into a USB-C slot thinking it's a type-c cable.

I think where Silverstone might make more of a hit on is maybe a reversible USB type A hub if not multiport charger.
 
I bought a *three pack* of these from another manufacturer on Amazon for less than $10 on sale back in January. Listed as $11.49 now
Amazon.com: USB Cable, 3 Pack Ace Teah™ 6.6ft Long Reversible Micro USB to USB Cable Nylon Braided Quick Charge Cable and Data Sync Cable A Male to Micro B Charge for Android Samsung - Green, Blue, Purple: Cell Phones & Accessories

Quality seems above average. The 'A' end is a bit stiff to push in but that might be normal for the reversible types

EDIT: Reading fail - the ones I got are not reversible on the 'B' connector
 
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Nice cable design. Where the !@#$% were these things before type C came out?

I have seen the reversible A connectors at the computer swapmeet for a few years, but it's of limited use, really the reversible micro is a big deal though. Combining both is awesome, and if the quality of the length of the cable itself is good I can see this being worth $10, $15-20 retail.
 
Tweak42 said:
Nice cable design. Where the !@#$% were these things before type C came out?

I have seen the reversible A connectors at the computer swapmeet for a few years, but it's of limited use, really the reversible micro is a big deal though. Combining both is awesome, and if the quality of the length of the cable itself is good I can see this being worth $10, $15-20 retail.
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Yeah, now that I have a few where they come in handy, I don't see me giving these up.
 
'It's a cable who gives a shit.'

Oh damn, the can be plugged in either way on both ends?!?!? Sweet!

Reversible initially made me think it had some adapter to be either usb-a or microusb on either end.. which makes no sense.. lol

I just got a Galaxy s7 and that was the one thing I wished they had done, was use usb-c on it, but they still got the micro-usb. This will be perfect.
 
GoodBoy said:
'It's a cable who gives a shit.'

Oh damn, the can be plugged in either way on both ends?!?!? Sweet!

Reversible initially made me think it had some adapter to be either usb-a or microusb on either end.. which makes no sense.. lol

I just got a Galaxy s7 and that was the one thing I wished they had done, was use usb-c on it, but they still got the micro-usb. This will be perfect.
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Found the Amazon link as well.

Amazon.com: SilverStone Technology Micro USB Cable for Most Smartphones - Retail Packaging - Charcoal Gray/Charcoal Gray: Cell Phones & Accessories
 
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I just bought another brand reversible USB C cbale. Obviously the USB C side is reversible but the USB A end is also reversible like the video shows. I love it!
 
Justintoxicated said:
I just bought another brand reversible USB C cbale. Obviously the USB C side is reversible but the USB A end is also reversible like the video shows. I love it!
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Post a link so we can see exactly what you went with?
 
I just got my 2 cables from Amazon. :)

Plugged one in on my pc. Worked fine.

Took the other to my car. plugged it in, didn't work. Tried my micro usb cable, worked. Went back inside, tried the one at the pc, didn't work. Tried the microusb at the pc, it worked.

Figured I would check how far in the cable has to be to be fully seated, using the microusb as a reference. Turns out I wasn't pushing it all the way in, but fucking hell, I really had to give it some force to get the microusb side in. Maybe it's just because these are new, and need broken in or something. They are both working, I really like these cables. But at first I thought I had a bad one. It takes more force to get these cables to plug in compared to conventional microusb plugs.
 
This is pretty cool.

IMHO, it was a MAJOR failing of the original USB specification in the 90's, that it was not reversible. Total usability failure.

USB C fixes this, but it will be a LONG time until it supplants the traditional USB plugs out there.

I guess my only problem with this is that it is a USB cable... ...that costs $14.99

When I can get my micro-usb charging cables for 60 cents a piece plus shipping on Monoprice, this seems a bit steep.

I mean, for th eprice of one of these, I can get 25 monoprice cables, and have some spares in case one breaks. I'm more than willing to put up with the minor nuisence of having to turn the USB plug around a few times until I get it in for that price difference.

Heck, I could buy 25 of them from Monoprice and stick one in every USB port in my house and cars and just leave them there, and never have to worry about orienting the plug again :p
 
Am I in the minority in that I can feel the prongs that are on the micro b cable to determine orientation? The most trouble I have is usually with a new device that I don't know the orientation of the USB receptacle. That's usually cleared up after using said devices a few times.

Never had issues plugging in a micro USB cable, even in the dark.

I'm actually more interested in the reversible A end, since there doesn't seem to be an easy (standardized) way to identify orientation on the plug itself.

These cables are definitely cool. I want one, but also cannot justify it at this price.
 
But why? Why would they spend all that money on R&D etc. on a dead standard like that? USB C is here and fixes the issue they are trying to solve.

It also seems like they didnt do their homework on the competition in this market. You have 800 chinese variants selling decent cables for a fraction of this cost and you have companies like anker making cables just as good for 1/3 the cost.

I am just dumbfounded and dont understand how a company like that could do something that seems so stupid. Investing money into a dead standard with an unbelievably over saturated market??? Silverstone is well known to PC enthusiasts but they are literally nobody in this market. Hell when you get right down to it they have not had much of a presence in the PC market in years either. They are obviously there but the case markets been overrun and they have just sat back watching.
 
I dunno, It's certainly not a must have, but I love my braided cables bit more than my monoprice ones. That's not to say I have had problems with my monoprice cables, but in the era of fast charging, eliminating a cheap cables form the equation, while making them less frustrating to plug in, is worth it to me.
 
usefull review
a.png
 
Hehe, Still using these cords without a failure yet. Been a year.
 
Bought 3; 1 the micro plug pushed in first use. Second started shorting out after heavy use over 6 months. Other only has had light use but still looks new.

About to RMA the broken 2. We'll see how it goes. I really like the reverse ability of the micro side to plug in my headset, phone, flashlight, and whatnot when I'm driving or in the dark. Great design, I'm just not 100% sure I'd recommend for anyone who works with the cable a lot (at least if they expect them to last a really long time).
 
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