It’s easy khổng lồ see why people mistakenly believe that all USB-C cables are essentially the same, và that differences are mostly superficial and a way lớn mark up prices. After all, it’s just a cable, right?
Wrong. We can tell you from testing more than a dozen USB-C cables that they are not all the same. You will see huge performance differences in transferring data and charging devices depending on the particular cable you buy.
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Unfortunately trying to find a chất lượng USB-C cable among the multitude of options available can be daunting. So we bought 14 cables ranging from the biggest, most recognizable brand-names to the cheapest-looking cables aroundand put them through the wringer to test relative performance. In doing so we were able to lớn identify some clear winners khổng lồ make your purchasing decision easier.
We separated our picks into two groups: USB-C cables that are suitable for charging, và those that are suitable for both charging andfast data transfer, which essentially comes down khổng lồ the difference between USB-C 2.0 & 3.1. (Learn more in our guide onhow lớn buy a USB-C cable on Amazon without losing your mind, and find out about how we tested these cables below our picks.)
Best USB-C Cables for charging
The Javex USB-C lớn USB-C cable came to our attention over its claim of having met the stringent UL 9990 testing standards, which involves Underwriters Laboratory buying random samples of the cable from stores and rigorously testing them for performance and consistency.
As you can imagine, it’s probably not cheap to lớn be in the program, especially when few are even aware of the value of a UL 9990 logo; which could explain why Javex is no longer listed as part of the program but still claims UL9990 “materials” are used.
Regardless, we bởi know that in our testing, the cable was top-notch in delivering higher voltage at both 60-watt & 100-watt loads. Lượt thích most brands we’ve never heard of, there’s confusing ad copy, with claims of just 5 volts at 3 amps (15 watts) và no mention of it supporting 20 volts at 5 amps (the 100 watts you need for a laptop). The ad copy also mentions a 56k ohm pull-up resistor “for safety.” That last part confuses us because that’s only required on a USB-C to USB-A cable—not USB-C to lớn USB-C.
Despite this, we saw solid performance in both reaching 100-watt charge rates for a laptop, and very low resistance on its high-quality wires makes it our top pick for a 6-foot charging cable from a brand you haven’t heard of.
And while it lacks wires to support USB 3.1 speeds, that makes the cable very pliable và lightweight. When we purchased the cable, it was $10, which makes it average-priced. As of today, however, is has dropped to lớn $7, which makes it a far more attractive và easily recommended by us.