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This is exactly it. If you want anything that actually works and is reliable, you pretty much cannot buy it on Amazon, you need to buy it directly from the com

This is exactly it. If you want anything that actually works and is reliable, you pretty much cannot buy it on Amazon, you need to buy it directly from the company that makes it. I have a Henge Dock for my older 13" MBP and it's worked perfectly for years over USB-C, and on my newer Touchbar 13" I havea a 2-port USB-C microdock from HyperDrive. I use Anker PD/IQ3 chargers and cables, and I have no issues whatsoever. There are companies making good products, but you have to be willing to pay for them and you have to buy them directly from that company usually. Even if you find that product on Amazon, due to SKU commingling you can assume most of the inventory is counterfeit. Too many people go to Amazon, type some generic keywords in, and pick "Amazon's Choice", which is some "brand" off AliExpress with no QC. It's not just electronics, this is true for things like car parts and tools as well. It's somewhat shocking how much Chinesium-grade products have infected every aspect of American life due to the ubiquity of people buying through Amazon and Amazon's complete lack of inventory QC. Friends are amazed that so much of my stuff works, and it seems the only way people find out about good stuff now is via word of mouth because you can't trust online review sites which are mostly just reformatting Amazon star rankings with affiliate links. The state of ecommerce in 2020 is appalling.

jasonlotito 6y ago
> If you want anything that actually works and is reliable, you pretty much cannot buy it on Amazon, you need to buy it directly from the company that makes it. I remember several years ago purchasing the $70 digital adapter from Apple. It's the one with 3 ports and merges into one. I forget which version it was. It was horrible. The HDMI port wouldn't work. I had purchased two. They were absolute trash. That's $140. I replaced them with two Amazon versions for half the cost. They worked. It was only after I purchased that I noticed that the reviews on Apple's own website showed it rated under 2-stars, with lots of angry reviews from people having the same exact problem. I will say Belkin's USB-C dock works amazingly well. I love it.
- dewey 6y ago
  > I replaced them with two Amazon versions for half the cost. They worked. The point is that you don't know what you get on Amazon these days. It could be that you get a working version and I get a counterfeit version even though we both buy the same article on Amazon as they are just all in the same storage box.
- hinkley 6y ago
  Anker generally keeps their old products around, but they don’t sell their gen 1 thunderbolt 3 dongle anymore. Too many problems. I had two of them (they sent me a second because I was having problems). If you plugged the dongle into the wall but not a laptop, it would send the wrong voltage to the USB ports. I mostly keep it around to flash SD cards.
- sbierwagen 6y ago
  GP: "Buying stuff from Amazon is like rolling dice. If you get a 1, you lose." P: "I rolled a 6, and it worked fine for me. I don't know why everyone else is having problems."
  - jasonlotito 6y ago
    Except the part about how buying the dongle from Apple was anything other than a 6, and you lose.

jasonlotito 6y ago

> If you want anything that actually works and is reliable, you pretty much cannot buy it on Amazon, you need to buy it directly from the company that makes it. I remember several years ago purchasing the $70 digital adapter from Apple. It's the one with 3 ports and merges into one. I forget which version it was. It was horrible. The HDMI port wouldn't work. I had purchased two. They were absolute trash. That's $140. I replaced them with two Amazon versions for half the cost. They worked. It was only after I purchased that I noticed that the reviews on Apple's own website showed it rated under 2-stars, with lots of angry reviews from people having the same exact problem. I will say Belkin's USB-C dock works amazingly well. I love it.

dewey 6y ago
> I replaced them with two Amazon versions for half the cost. They worked. The point is that you don't know what you get on Amazon these days. It could be that you get a working version and I get a counterfeit version even though we both buy the same article on Amazon as they are just all in the same storage box.
hinkley 6y ago
Anker generally keeps their old products around, but they don’t sell their gen 1 thunderbolt 3 dongle anymore. Too many problems. I had two of them (they sent me a second because I was having problems). If you plugged the dongle into the wall but not a laptop, it would send the wrong voltage to the USB ports. I mostly keep it around to flash SD cards.
sbierwagen 6y ago
GP: "Buying stuff from Amazon is like rolling dice. If you get a 1, you lose." P: "I rolled a 6, and it worked fine for me. I don't know why everyone else is having problems."
- jasonlotito 6y ago
  Except the part about how buying the dongle from Apple was anything other than a 6, and you lose.