3 ms·

I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking,

by qurren 3mo ago

I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. Here's how the last few broke: * Phone with typical inadequate battery + external portable battery pack plugged in, shoved in together in pocket running Google Maps navigation via bluetooth, and biking. My thigh bent the USB connector. * USB-C got mangled by office chair. If I had been a USB designer in an office, this would have been the FIRST thing I would have stress tested for * USB-C plugged into phone and sat on while on car seat. Another thing any half-competent design intern would have listed on their stress test scenario list but it seems the senior designers missed * Laptop plugged in on the edge of standing desk, USB cable got jammed in gap between adjacent desks. I much preferred real, sturdy mechanical connections. They should just miniatureize the IEC power connectors and put straight up 19VDC through them.

hbn 3mo ago
Is IEC really the gold standard for connectors to you? I always thought they feel terrible to plug in. There's no snap or solid bottom-out indication to when it's "connected." And it just sits in the socket from friction that doesn't feel particularly solid. It's the kind of connection where if it gets yanked a little bit and the connection fails, it's not obvious because it's half-seated in the socket.
- timc3 3mo ago
  IEC isn’t great, hence you get a cage around them to hold them in for critical use.
  - nightpool 3mo ago
    good luck miniaturizing that! :D
  - qurren 3mo ago
    That cage is for stress relief, and should be federally mandated on all external connectors of all devices. Stress relief is a thing, people in the 2020s have somehow forgetten about it.
timc3 3mo ago
Perhaps you are just not careful with things, I’ve been an early adopter and never broken one ( I probably have at least 40 different ones, some of which get plugged/unplugged multiple times a day). My kids haven’t broken a single one either and they destroyed plenty of lightning cables.
- doubled112 3mo ago
  I’ve definitely had them wear out and stop working, but I’ve never broken one.
- Aurornis 3mo ago
  The GP comment is one of those HN comments where I can't tell if someone is making up a ridiculously high number to tell a story online, or if there really are people out there breaking 52 USB-C plugs per year going about their normal lives.
  - brookst 3mo ago
    I mean I don't know how people avoid breaking them. Prying paint cans open, rappelling from height, driving nails into roofs... don't you find them fragile for these daily operations?
rockostrich 3mo ago
> They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. > USB-C got mangled by office chair. If I had been a USB designer in an office, this would have been the FIRST thing I would have stress tested for Seems like you managed to break one even though it was in the environment that you're saying they're designed for. Maybe you're the problem and USB-C, the technology that billions of people manage to use just fine without breaking on a daily basis, is perfectly fine.
comradesmith 3mo ago
> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week I don’t believe you. I haven’t broken a plug yet and I’ve used usb c on all my devices for years now
Aurornis 3mo ago
> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. I do everything on your list. I also have young children who grab and play with things. Our household breaks 1 USB-C plug per year, if that. I don't know if you were embellishing for effect, but anyone breaking 50 connectors a year probably isn't going to have success with anything short of a fully ruggedized connector solution, which is not something you're going to get on affordable consumer devices.
- qurren 3mo ago
  Fully ruggedized is in fact what I want and what I consider truly consumer grade. > which is not something you're going to get on affordable consumer devices Not true. 1990s connectors hardly ever broke for me. They were all super rugged. I've dropped several-kilogram objects onto VGA connectors, SCSI connectors, and DC barrel jacks and nothing ever happened.
  - deleted 3mo ago
    [deleted]
  - mjevans 3mo ago
    I buy the DC barrel jacks, those I've had inordinate problems on the inside of devices as they wear out but never on the power plug itself. VGA connectors? I've bent the shield on more than one VGA or DVI cable, and it's a nightmare to get a pin straight enough if you happen to bend one... but possible sometimes.
  - vel0city 3mo ago
    I've destroyed lots of barrel jacks over the years. I wouldn't normally consider them that rugged.
  - qu4z-2 3mo ago
    I had the physical DC barrel jack port fall out the back of a monitor the other day. Granted that's not the connector per se.
mbonnet 3mo ago
> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. That's a you problem. I have never done this, and neither have any of the dozen people I just asked in my office.
itishappy 3mo ago
> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. Wild. How often do you break the phone itself?
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
wongarsu 3mo ago
There are cables with 90° plugs (cable to the side). Those are pretty robust, get the cable out of the way more reliably, and provide a much smaller lever for physical forces on the connector. They aren't the solution for everything, but they solve a lot of issues For everything else there are magnetic USB-C connectors
- qurren 3mo ago
  > There are cables with 90° plugs (cable to the side) This should be federal law and written into the constitution
- kalleboo 3mo ago
  You can also get ones that swivel
gumby 3mo ago
This is a success! USB-C was designed so that the part most likely to fail is the inexpensive plug, not the socket. One of the problems with USB mini-A was that the socket would fail, meaning the device had to be repaired or discarded. Combined with the short lifetime (about 300 insertions) it was a disaster which is why you almost never see it. You’d be more unhappy of those failures had happened in your expensive device rather than your cheap cables.
stephen_g 3mo ago
That’s impressive, I have managed to break a lot of micro connectors (not even from proper stress, just from prolonged normal use) but I have never managed to break a USB-C cable or connector!
rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3mo ago
Tangentially related anecdote: I used to break tons of stuff all the time (my whole family growing up did), and I just assumed that all things just have finite lifespans, until I started dating someone who's tremendously careful and called me out on it. Then for a long time I just assumed I was a clumsier than average person. Then eventually I finally was forced to admit that I'd just been choosing to move about the world as a bit of a careless brute who treats my things with disrespect, and by being more intentional with the way I move about the world, all my stuff suddenly lasts 10x longer. Interestingly, I'm not sure it's worth the trade-off, but it's been kind of wild to experience.
kalleboo 3mo ago
> shoved in together in pocket MagSafe/Qi2 is ideal for this. I can't think of any connector that would work well shoved in a pocket moving around. Had to re-solder too many headphone jacks back in the day, and anything that screws in would cause way too much leverage, probably ruining the small slim device.
imtringued 3mo ago
I'm not sure this is the brag you think it is... You should be happy you're breaking the plug. Also "phone with typical inadequate battery". Just get a battery replacement and make sure you only use it between 60% and 80%. If you don't do that you're degrading the battery. You might think "but now I only have 1/5 of the capacity" yeah and it will now last much longer than if you degraded the battery.

by qurren 3mo ago

hbn 3mo ago

Is IEC really the gold standard for connectors to you? I always thought they feel terrible to plug in. There's no snap or solid bottom-out indication to when it's "connected." And it just sits in the socket from friction that doesn't feel particularly solid. It's the kind of connection where if it gets yanked a little bit and the connection fails, it's not obvious because it's half-seated in the socket.

timc3 3mo ago
IEC isn’t great, hence you get a cage around them to hold them in for critical use.
- nightpool 3mo ago
  good luck miniaturizing that! :D
- qurren 3mo ago
  That cage is for stress relief, and should be federally mandated on all external connectors of all devices. Stress relief is a thing, people in the 2020s have somehow forgetten about it.

timc3 3mo ago

Perhaps you are just not careful with things, I’ve been an early adopter and never broken one ( I probably have at least 40 different ones, some of which get plugged/unplugged multiple times a day). My kids haven’t broken a single one either and they destroyed plenty of lightning cables.

doubled112 3mo ago
I’ve definitely had them wear out and stop working, but I’ve never broken one.
Aurornis 3mo ago
The GP comment is one of those HN comments where I can't tell if someone is making up a ridiculously high number to tell a story online, or if there really are people out there breaking 52 USB-C plugs per year going about their normal lives.
- brookst 3mo ago
  I mean I don't know how people avoid breaking them. Prying paint cans open, rappelling from height, driving nails into roofs... don't you find them fragile for these daily operations?

rockostrich 3mo ago

> They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. > USB-C got mangled by office chair. If I had been a USB designer in an office, this would have been the FIRST thing I would have stress tested for Seems like you managed to break one even though it was in the environment that you're saying they're designed for. Maybe you're the problem and USB-C, the technology that billions of people manage to use just fine without breaking on a daily basis, is perfectly fine.

comradesmith 3mo ago

> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week I don’t believe you. I haven’t broken a plug yet and I’ve used usb c on all my devices for years now

Aurornis 3mo ago

> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. I do everything on your list. I also have young children who grab and play with things. Our household breaks 1 USB-C plug per year, if that. I don't know if you were embellishing for effect, but anyone breaking 50 connectors a year probably isn't going to have success with anything short of a fully ruggedized connector solution, which is not something you're going to get on affordable consumer devices.

qurren 3mo ago
Fully ruggedized is in fact what I want and what I consider truly consumer grade. > which is not something you're going to get on affordable consumer devices Not true. 1990s connectors hardly ever broke for me. They were all super rugged. I've dropped several-kilogram objects onto VGA connectors, SCSI connectors, and DC barrel jacks and nothing ever happened.
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
- mjevans 3mo ago
  I buy the DC barrel jacks, those I've had inordinate problems on the inside of devices as they wear out but never on the power plug itself. VGA connectors? I've bent the shield on more than one VGA or DVI cable, and it's a nightmare to get a pin straight enough if you happen to bend one... but possible sometimes.
- vel0city 3mo ago
  I've destroyed lots of barrel jacks over the years. I wouldn't normally consider them that rugged.
- qu4z-2 3mo ago
  I had the physical DC barrel jack port fall out the back of a monitor the other day. Granted that's not the connector per se.

mbonnet 3mo ago

> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. That's a you problem. I have never done this, and neither have any of the dozen people I just asked in my office.

itishappy 3mo ago

> I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. Wild. How often do you break the phone itself?

deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]

wongarsu 3mo ago

There are cables with 90° plugs (cable to the side). Those are pretty robust, get the cable out of the way more reliably, and provide a much smaller lever for physical forces on the connector. They aren't the solution for everything, but they solve a lot of issues For everything else there are magnetic USB-C connectors

qurren 3mo ago
> There are cables with 90° plugs (cable to the side) This should be federal law and written into the constitution
kalleboo 3mo ago
You can also get ones that swivel

gumby 3mo ago

This is a success! USB-C was designed so that the part most likely to fail is the inexpensive plug, not the socket. One of the problems with USB mini-A was that the socket would fail, meaning the device had to be repaired or discarded. Combined with the short lifetime (about 300 insertions) it was a disaster which is why you almost never see it. You’d be more unhappy of those failures had happened in your expensive device rather than your cheap cables.

stephen_g 3mo ago

That’s impressive, I have managed to break a lot of micro connectors (not even from proper stress, just from prolonged normal use) but I have never managed to break a USB-C cable or connector!

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3mo ago

Tangentially related anecdote: I used to break tons of stuff all the time (my whole family growing up did), and I just assumed that all things just have finite lifespans, until I started dating someone who's tremendously careful and called me out on it. Then for a long time I just assumed I was a clumsier than average person. Then eventually I finally was forced to admit that I'd just been choosing to move about the world as a bit of a careless brute who treats my things with disrespect, and by being more intentional with the way I move about the world, all my stuff suddenly lasts 10x longer. Interestingly, I'm not sure it's worth the trade-off, but it's been kind of wild to experience.

kalleboo 3mo ago

> shoved in together in pocket MagSafe/Qi2 is ideal for this. I can't think of any connector that would work well shoved in a pocket moving around. Had to re-solder too many headphone jacks back in the day, and anything that screws in would cause way too much leverage, probably ruining the small slim device.

imtringued 3mo ago

I'm not sure this is the brag you think it is... You should be happy you're breaking the plug. Also "phone with typical inadequate battery". Just get a battery replacement and make sure you only use it between 60% and 80%. If you don't do that you're degrading the battery. You might think "but now I only have 1/5 of the capacity" yeah and it will now last much longer than if you degraded the battery.