But a cable is such a simple item to find out if it's broken 5 seconds?! Poor assumption. You're presuming this is "only the types of cables you buy". Many

But a cable is such a simple item to find out if it's broken 5 seconds?! Poor assumption. You're presuming this is "only the types of cables you buy". Many times I buy cables to do things with devices, for which I have no working cable already. Examples: * My device stops syncing with my cable. Is it the device, or the cable? I buy a replacement cable, just in case. Replacement cable doesn't work. Now I think it's probably the device. I spent time here, checking to see what's changed, maybe an update, maybe a config setting, maybe something else. Or, is the device just broken? Do I send it away for repair? * I want a cable to use with something I've had for years. Lots and lots and lots of examples here, all sorts of devices, like serial cables to debug with routers/switches, test cables, even just an ethernet cable, if you may not have had one before. Now you test, and you can't tell. Is the port on the device bad? The settings you are using to connect? The device firmware? A problem with the port on the computer you're using to connect to the device? Hours and hours wasted. Worse, you advocate buying two. Great. This means that no matter what, I'm returning that spare cable. Now it's not '5 seconds' to determine it is bad, it's 'no matter what, I'm spending 20 minutes returning something I never wanted to begin with". Frankly, I'd rather spend $10 extra on some types/classes of $20 cable, to have it pre-tested even.