Amazon and Monoprice Offering Certified, Low Cost Lightning-to-USB Cables

[Westyfield2]

Hurrah!

I'll buy the 6ft once they have them in the UK.

[pagansoul]

I got my iphone 5 about 2 months after release and was able to get an extra 2 connect cables for $10 ($5 each) on ebay from China. One stays at work, one stays in the car and one for home. I bet it only cost a buck to make.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by japanime

You really don't believe the most of the cheap knockoffs aren't coming out of the back door of the same factory that makes the officially branded stuff? In other words, the same exact cable, minus the logo?

Have you seen first hand what these knock-offs look like? Huge connectors with terrible finish quality and solder points that look like they were done by the hand of a child. Not even remotely the same thing.

[mitsitsad]

Originally Posted by pagansoul

I got my iphone 5 about 2 months after release and was able to get an extra 2 connect cables for $10 ($5 each) on ebay from China. One stays at work, one stays in the car and one for home. I bet it only cost a buck to make.

I don't get it either - I have one in each car, one at work, and a few at home - when you buy crap generic cables online, usually on ebay, you're protected with paypal and ebay when they crap out on you (especially considering most of the early generics were either good or bad out of the package)

Now all you have to do is look on ebay for higher quality generics - the one on the left is OEM, the one on the right is generic. I can barely tell the difference, and I bet you could bring it to the apple store and they would exchange it for a real one without noticing. This cable was $3 - you simply can't beat that - and I dont notice a difference at all with the charge speed and data transfer. I bet I can make 5 generics (the cost of one amazon/mono cable) last at least twice as long as these cables.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by mitsitsad

I don't get it either - I have one in each car, one at work, and a few at home - when you buy crap generic cables online, usually on ebay, you're protected with paypal and ebay when they crap out on you (especially considering most of the early generics were either good or bad out of the package)

Now all you have to do is look on ebay for higher quality generics - the one on the left is OEM, the one on the right is generic. I can barely tell the difference, and I bet you could bring it to the apple store and they would exchange it for a real one without noticing. This cable was $3 - you simply can't beat that - and I dont notice a difference at all with the charge speed and data transfer. I bet I can make 5 generics (the cost of one amazon/mono cable) last at least twice as long as these cables.

Image

You honestly can't tell the difference between those two cables? How about a profile shot or taking some measurements with calipers of the thickness of the connector?

On Amazon, the bottom-of-the-barrel cables are "$3.00" but actually $6.00 shipped - and that's for the cheapest of the cheap. On ebay they start at $4 shipped - and again, that's absolute bottom of the barrel.

I spent $400 for my phone, and I'll spend nearly $2000 for the supporting carrier charges over the its lifespan. I need 4 extra cables. Springing for the real thing is a total of 2.5% of the cost of owning that phone - and from past experience - the real cables will last me through at least 3 phone cycles. I think I can swing that...

[aziatiklover]

Originally Posted by Inakto

You're welcome to your opinion and empty wallet.

Lol @ empty wallet! So you bought an iphone for $700 tax included and can't afford an extra cable for $19.99? I'm just gonna start putting regular gas in my ferrari.

Not a single "F" is given to logic sometimes!

[Beerstalker]

Originally Posted by didiee

Can someone tell me what's so different about the slimfit?

Looking at Monoprice's website it appears that only the USB end is really smaller. The dimensions for the lightning end are the same as the other Monoprice cables (except it is a little shorter, but that won't help it fit with cases, which I assume is most people's concern). Monoprice's website says "The connector head on the Lightning end measures 3/16" thick, 5/16" wide, and 1/2" long." for the slimfit cable (the other cables lightning connector is 3/4" long).

I don't have a cable here to check to see how Monoprice's lightning end measures up compared to Apple's.

[mitsitsad]

Originally Posted by zhenya

You honestly can't tell the difference between those two cables? How about a profile shot or taking some measurements with calipers of the thickness of the connector?

On Amazon, the bottom-of-the-barrel cables are "$3.00" but actually $6.00 shipped - and that's for the cheapest of the cheap. On ebay they start at $4 shipped - and again, that's absolute bottom of the barrel.

I spent $400 for my phone, and I'll spend nearly $2000 for the supporting carrier charges over the its lifespan. I need 4 extra cables. Springing for the real thing is a total of 2.5% of the cost of owning that phone - and from past experience - the real cables will last me through at least 3 phone cycles. I think I can swing that...

I bought these cables last week for $3.49 per cable - his prices have obviously gone up since then
http://www.ebay.com/itm/170976993543...84.m1497.l2649

I personally spent $200 on my phone. Using your monthly cell phone bill cost to justify spending $19 per cable may make you feel better, but it is flawed logic...if you didn't have an iphone 5, you'd probably have some other smartphone (that most likely uses micro USB) and would be spending the same amount on your bill per month.

Like you, I need at least 4 cables (2 for cars, 1 for office, 1 for home) - so instead of your 2.5% I'd be more at 40% of my phone cost. Thanks but no thanks. I'll take my generic iphone cables, great value brand food products, and cheap polarized sunglasses any day.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by mitsitsad

Using your monthly cell phone bill cost to justify spending $19 per cable may make you feel better, but it is flawed logic...if you didn't have an iphone 5, you'd probably have some other smartphone (that most likely uses micro USB) and would be spending the same amount on your bill per month.

It's not flawed logic; it's part of the cost of owning the phone. It's also why I don't worry about the extra $200 that getting the 64GB model that I really want costs over the 16GB version that would cause me frustration, or a free smartphone for that matter. Overall, it's a small portion of the overall cost of owning a device like this. Because the cost of the service is so high, sacrificing on the device end is of poor value.

[dmunz]

Originally Posted by Westyfield2

Hurrah!

I'll buy the 6ft once they have them in the UK.

This!

I'm not looking to save a couple of bucks, I need the reach. Apple, give me a 6ft cable and I'll buy it. If Apple doesn't I'll wait and buy the generic.

FWIW
DLM

[DDustiNN]

Man, I sure would like a 6-foot slimfit cable. I can't stand how short the Apple one is. It makes it nearly impossible to do anything with your phone while charging (for me, usually at night while I'm in bed). I don't really like the bigger connector on the regular 6-foot one so I guess I'll wait and see if they make one soon... I've been suffering with a 3-footer this long already, so no reason to hurry into a new cable that's not really that much cheaper.

[yakapo]

Originally Posted by cameronjpu

That'd be nice. I bought 10 when I thought I saw a set that was highly rated on Amazon. 6 weeks later 3 have failed. 7 to go! I bought so many with a plan to provide them to my clients with new iPhones (I do computer repair/setup, etc) but clearly I can't give these things to my clients even for free. I got a refund of $12 from the seller (total cost was $45). The generics are not the same as the originals. Unfortunately that's because Apple went to such great lengths to make them hard to copy.

30% failure rate? I'll just buy the real thing.

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Originally Posted by aziatiklover

Lol @ empty wallet! So you bought an iphone for $700 tax included and can't afford an extra cable for $19.99? I'm just gonna start putting regular gas in my ferrari.

Not a single "F" is given to logic sometimes!

Hey I put regular in my Acura that requires super unleaded... better gas mileage.

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Originally Posted by mitsitsad

I bought these cables last week for $3.49 per cable - his prices have obviously gone up since then
http://www.ebay.com/itm/170976993543...84.m1497.l2649

I personally spent $200 on my phone. Using your monthly cell phone bill cost to justify spending $19 per cable may make you feel better, but it is flawed logic...if you didn't have an iphone 5, you'd probably have some other smartphone (that most likely uses micro USB) and would be spending the same amount on your bill per month.

Like you, I need at least 4 cables (2 for cars, 1 for office, 1 for home) - so instead of your 2.5% I'd be more at 40% of my phone cost. Thanks but no thanks. I'll take my generic iphone cables, great value brand food products, and cheap polarized sunglasses any day.

+1 for cheap polarized glasses. but umm, I'm all about eating healthy.

[utwarreng]

Originally Posted by Thunderhawks

Funny how people buy a $ 300 - $ 800 idevice and are upset about 5 dollars
price differences.

Then they drink some Starbucks coffee and don't worry that they can buy any size coffee at McDonalds for 1 dollar.

Let's not act as if we buy a new cable and adapter every day.

I wouldn't have a problem paying the extra $5 for the Apple cable if that's all it was about, but Apple does not have a 6' Lightning cable available. As such, I have no choice but to go elsewhere to purchase my cable.

[JarScott]

Originally Posted by abz1981

Where are you getting the price £25 from. Apple website sells the cable at £15 and it's cheaper from stores like O2 with the priority moment discount they do.

It was an estimated guess admittedly but not far off. I understand that Apple get money from certified accessories so I guess it makes sense anyway.

[mtbgtr]

BFD wake me up when there's a thunderbolt to usb3 cable

[aziatiklover]

Originally Posted by yakapo

30% failure rate? I'll just buy the real thing.

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Hey I put regular in my Acura that requires super unleaded... better gas mileage.

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+1 for cheap polarized glasses. but umm, I'm all about eating healthy.

I used to work for acura and it seems like you would be the type of cheap people that would go in to just do warranty because you did not know acura takes premium gas"yet you knew just being cheap", and get a free car wash!

It would suck for whoever gonna buy your used acura. I feel bad for the nexr owner.