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Comment by Timberwolf | Hacker News Reader

There are some categories of product I'm no longer willing to buy from Amazon: power cables, replacement chargers and batteries being the biggest offenders. They're such a minefield of fakery and shortcuts that are outright dangerous (e.g. UK plugs lacking fuses and with pins the wrong shape/size) that I'd rather have the extra work and expense of going to a local shop where I can inspect what I'm buying.

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>power cables, replacement chargers and batteries being the biggest offenders.

I've found Anker gear to be consistently solid on all three counts & frankly I trust it more than store bought.

If I could even get it - wouldn't know where to start buying a 60W USB hub in a brick & mortar.

I second Anker. Their stuff is pretty top notch.

I tend to buy a lot of Arduino and RasPi stuff (plus all the fiddly bits) off Amazon, so there are a few sellers on there that I trust to get good "maker" electronics.

Finally - if you're looking for low-cost but good quality DC gear motors - look into TSINY motors. They're a Chinese manufacturer. They have various vendors on Ebay and Amazon; some are almost (or seem like) "direct from the manufacturer", while others are "further down the chain". I can't vouch for any of them - only for the manufacturer itself (I wouldn't have any qualms with dealing direct with them for a large purchase - but I'm just a hobbyist, so that won't happen).

I wish Anker sold direct on their site (and shipped to Canada) because searching for Anker products on Amazon almost invariably turns up a sponsored, cheap knock off and an "Amazon Basics" product as the #1 and #2 results. I can't imagine they're happy about that either.

Anker availability in Canada is weird. There seems to be no pattern as to whether a particular item won't be available on amazon.ca, and whether the amazon.com listing will be eligible for shipping to Canada. I've contacted Anker a couple times about specific items, and they've just given non-answers both times.

>Anker products on Amazon

Actually try RAVPower - they're Anker's main competitor & seem to have more of a footprint in the US

>I wish Anker sold direct on their site

Haven't seen any fakes thus far?

Agreed, at least for large lithium-ion batteries. I pretty much buy Anker exclusively for those.

I've been wondering how long it will be before anker gear is counterfeited.

I don't know if they ship to the UK but I have had outstanding experiences with monoprice. For a few categories of items I go there now always instead of amazon.

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