They can be handy. One situation where it saved the day - my friend has a partially broken USB-C port on their phone that only charges when the cable is just ri

They can be handy. One situation where it saved the day - my friend has a partially broken USB-C port on their phone that only charges when the cable is just right. The battery had died so there was no way to see if it was charging or not. Plugged in a USB-C inline power meter and we moved the cable around until the meter showed current, then we carefully set it down so it would finish charging. :)