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Comment by Hasz | Hacker News Reader

A counterpoint -- For the price of one Anker lightning cable, I can have a dozen lightning cables shipped to me from China still in their original Foxconn bags. They will last just as long as the Apple cords, and are much, much cheaper. For a little more, or a few less cords, I can have the same cords delivered to me by a US based box shifter.

The same thing goes with chargers -- I can get high quality, OEM level stuff for pennies, directly from China, or, for a small surcharge, from the US.

I understand Anker is trying to be "better" than OEM, but realistically, they're not 10x better -- maybe 10 or 20% tops, yet they charge significantly more. I personally do not see the appeal, other than maybe convenience.

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No, you emphatically cannot get "OEM level" chargers for "pennies". This is not close to being true and has been well documented. Cheap, knockoff chargers are substandard and dangerous.

http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pr...

http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown-surpr...

http://www.righto.com/2016/03/counterfeit-macbook-charger-te...

Ken does some pretty cool teardowns. However, you can, assuming you know where to look. If you're buying gas station knockoffs, of course they're a fire hazard.

The problem is counterfeits are all labeled as one homogeneous group, when they most definitely are not. Some are very, very good, some are not.

I'm not sure where you're getting the Foxconn cords from, but for the most part this just isn't true anymore. I used to be a huge advocate in my family for buying the generic brand since my parents and relatives were wasting a lot of money on things like Monster cables. But I've personally been burned so many times I just tell them to buy Anker since you don't have to worry about it even though they are a little expensive. Its not worth the hassle

I came here to say something similar.

I've become genuinely disturbed at how substandard generic peripherals have become. What's especially disturbing to me is that the problem often seems to be drifting from spec standards, adhering to specs just enough to be functional for most products for just long enough.

I have a audio system that I went through like 4 generic cables on. I was just about to get a replacement system when I saw Anker enthusiastically recommended somewhere, and thought I'd give it a last-ditch chance. It's worked beautifully, no problems.

I've seen similar issues with other types of cables. The scope of the problem is astonishing to me--it's like the manufacturing standards at 85% of producers just suddenly went out the window over the last 5 years or so. I suspect there's a good newsstory somewhere there.

If you already know how and where to get those stuff that's great. But for most people, they just want a quality product at a reasonable price with out much thinking or research. Amazon is full of fake Apple/Samsung cables and chargers or no-name brands that might fry my phone or start a fire. So I am paying for the convenience but it is at the price I'm willing to pay because I'v been burned (not literally yet) too many times trying to be cheap..

I agree with the sibling replies. All the Chinese chargers I got were terrible, one even passed mains voltage to USB. I've also watched videos by bigclivedotcom et all, and, invariably, the cheapo chargers have abysmal separation.

I'd rather pay a bit extra and have peace of mind.

Where do you order these from?

Exactly! I wonder the same thing. The counterfeit accessories are insane and most of those fake ones pose a fire/electric shock hazard. At least Anker products are thoroughly tested and designed.

I just get the Amazon Basics one. $5-7. Good compromise.

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