6 ms·

Searching for the best silicone USB cable

87 points by evakhoury 28d ago

r_lee 28d ago
this is awesome, I've also been looking for these kinds of cables more than the "braided" cables which are stiff and tend to eventually take some kind of shape and not straighten back
tansanrao 28d ago
Not very sure of heat resistance, but I’ve been very happy with a bunch of LTTStore TrueSpec cables.
- OptionX 23d ago
  Pretty sure for anyone outside North America the shipping absolutely kills the value proposition nowadays. Last time I checked to replace my deskmat both it and the cables were about as much for shipping as for the items themselves. And taxes on top of that. That, for example, turns a 20 cad cable, already on the pricey side into a 40+ cad one. I do not know if there are any officials redistributors in other continents, but I don't think there are.
  - LoganDark 23d ago
    If you purchase multiple cables at once, the shipping cost per cable goes down, I'd think. Not saying that's easy considering their stock issues. Maybe it's better now.
  - ghostly_s 23d ago
    Yes, we all know the US economy is effectively severed from that of the rest of the world now.
    - HDBaseT 23d ago
      LTT is Canadian though. It's simply the shipping costs globally are expensive. Annyways; I like the LTT TrueSpec cables although I think the thickness of the connector is slightly too small. It feels loose in multiple of my devices, e.g. S22 Ultra & S23 Ultra. No other connector feels this loose.
- estsegeg 23d ago
  [dead]
threecheese 28d ago
It’s chubbycables. You’re welcome.
- happymellon 28d ago
  I ran through their website and all the ones I selected were USB 2.0, and there isn't a filter for speed as far as I could see. So no, it appears that "chubby cables" aren't the best.
  - threecheese 27d ago
    You are right, they are only really useful for charging (though 240w - beasts) or keyboards. I’ve given up on trying to find silicone cables for data transfer and just buy thunderbolt which are typically rubber (Apple ones are braided these days, but it’s a very tight braid).
pseudohadamard 27d ago
Just beware that an awful lot of "silicone" cabling coming from China is actually overplasticized PVC, particular cabling used in instrument probes. It feels like silicone until it starts getting stiff while at the same time outgassing plasticizer like crazy, or you touch it with a soldering iron or similar. I would expect most or even all of the cat-ran-across-the-keyboard Amazon brands to be overplasticized PVC, not silicone (hint: Use the Knockoff plugin for Chromefox, https://github.com/Shpigford/knockoff https://github.com/Shpigford/knockoff, which will warn you for stuff that's sold on Temu West, aka.Amazon, it's warning on almost all of the pseudo-brands listed in the article). I've also run into way too much cabling that's CCA or even CCS. Garbage on the outside, garbage on the inside.
- hilbert42 25d ago
  "…actually overplasticized PVC," Despite the point in my comment about power cable extensions coverings becoming hard through the lack of plasticizers, I confirm your point about overplasticized PVC in instrument cables. I have a lot of instrument leads that I thought were silicone only to find that after a year or so they've gone hard. So much so that new unpacked ones can no longer be easily straightened (the kinks remain unless one heats the cable up and then straightens them). Despite availability issues,the problem is trying to determine what's real silicone and what's not.
  - ssl-3 23d ago
    I used to buy vulcanized rubber (like SO cable) test leads from Oldaker Manufacturing in Dunkirk, Ohio. They had supplied them to Tripplett when the latter was still manufacturing meters in Bluffton, Ohio. The ones I've had for decades are still working well; they're reliable and flexible. I learned about the utility of rubber after becoming frustrated with PVC leads being stiff in cold weather. I stepped into Oldaker's shop on the way home one day and asked the nice older lady there about buying some silicone leads. "Are you sure you want silicone," she asked. "Most people want rubber." I was sure that she was nuts and that I knew exactly what I wanted, but I played along. She disappeared and came back a moment later with two sets of test leads: One with silicone insulation, and the other with rubber insulation. I examined them both. I picked the rubber ones; they somehow seemed both tougher and more flexible. No regrets. I've bought more examples over the years for different things. (Perhaps it'd have been smart to have also bought some silicone leads from them as well, for long-term comparison. Alas.) --- Anyway, Oldaker Manufacturing burned to the ground about 10 years ago. Whatever tooling and supplies remained after Tripplett packed up and left is simply gone. Which is a bummer for a couple of reasons: First, they seemed like very nice people who were just trying to get by after their heyday was over. It was very much a mom-and-pop facility by the time I came 'round. Second, I subsequently cannot find any reliable source of rubber-insulated test leads. It's only been a decade so far, and I do look occasionally. They do not appear to exist. (There's probably be an opportunity here for someone to make test leads using vulcanized rubber and sell them, but it's limited. If it works and becomes popular, then someone overseas will clone it. And when they clone it, then others will follow with their own take. After that, it's just a hop skip and a jump before we reach the end game: Dilution. Wherein: Overplasticized PVC test leads that are described as being rubber will be easy to find, and actually-rubber leads will be impossible to locate in the sea of noise.)
Terretta 27d ago
This article recommending scrabble letter brands seems sketchy. Anker offers lovely soft silicone sheathed USB-C cables, in black or white and many lengths. They perform for data and do not get stiff or discolor. Our office specifies these unless TB4+ is required.
- idiotsecant 25d ago
  How do you purchase them? Supply chain mixing is rough with a lot of retailers.
  - LoganDark 23d ago
    You purchase the ones labeled Anker?... They say Anker on the box and the cable... I don't think the supply chain is an issue as long as you get the intended product
    - Someone 23d ago
      If it were that simple, these pages wouldn’t exist: https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify https://cairovolt.com/en/blog/how-to-identify-original-anker https://cairovolt.com/en/blog/how-to-identify-original-anker
      - embedding-shape 23d ago
        > https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify I love how the path includes eu-en but then the list of countries where this is actually used: > Europe: Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Azerbaijan Looks like list almost half not in the EU and half in, but missing quite a lot of EU countries. Anker themselves say they "promise that all the products purchased through our Authorized Retailers or Distributors and Online Channels are genuine" but the link to who those are is gone apparently.
      - LoganDark 23d ago
synack 25d ago
Almost seems like it’d be easier to spend a couple weeks in Shenzhen getting cables made to your specifications rather than testing everything on the market.
- bsder 25d ago
  I thought this is exactly what Linus Tech Tips did.
hilbert42 25d ago
I cannot understand why silicone rubber is not more commonly available for cable insulation. It is so much better than much of the badly plasticized PVC and other plastics that are now used. What's made this situation worse is that it seems that worry over plasticizers and health etc. has lead to a reduction in the amount being used in cables. I have some power extenstion cables whose jackets have gone so hard that I can no longer coil them effectively — even though I take care the coiled cable still ends up a tangled mess. Even if silicone jacketing is more expensive it's so good I'd pay extra. Trouble is it's not normally available on products found at the local hardware shop.
- idiotsecant 25d ago
  Unless you're running cables inside an oven just buy SOOW aka EPDM cables. They are the recognized standard for flexible, rugged cable assemblies resistant to just about everything. Silicone rubber is only used in very special cases because it's not as UV resistant or mechanically resilient.
  - hilbert42 24d ago
    Sorry, not available where I am, nor do I see USB, coaxial cables etc. of that type.
  - ghostly_s 23d ago
    > SOOW aka EPDM cables AFAIK there's nothing about the SOOW spec that requires EPDM.
- qurren 23d ago
  > I cannot understand why silicone rubber is not more commonly available for cable insulation Silicone is more flexible and high-temperature resistant, but it does have a major downside of being very easy to cut and strip. That's not great either, especially for power applications where short circuits are a concern. Silicone also kinda sucks for crimping. Most crimps have one set of tabs which grab the conductor (which is fine) and then another set which grab the insulation, but in the case of silicone the insulation set tend to just slice the insulation and don't mechanically grab it.
AdamGibbins 23d ago
Doesn't suit OPs demands as power only, but moved most my USB-C power cables to Anker Nano recently. They sound like described, lovely. Super flexible, don't tangle, nice weight to them - very well built. Nicest cables I've ever owned and an upgrade from prior Anker ones.
- joshstrange 23d ago
  Didn't see your comment before I posted pretty much the same thing. I wish I could replace all my cables with the Anker Nano ones but they aren't cheap and most places I don't need a "great feeling" cable so I've settled for just a few strategic places around the house for now to put them. I've had Anker braided cables before but the Nano is in a whole other league. I have one by my bed and every time I touch it I smile a little, it sparks joy (no pun intended).
amelius 23d ago
I still feel sad that my heatgun didn't come with a silicon cable :( Luckily my soldering iron did.
amelius 23d ago
I want cables in many different colors so I can more easily see which is which.
faster 23d ago
My CPU load goes through the roof after a minute on that page. Chrome 154.0.8037.0 on Linux. WTF does a cable review need to do that works my CPU so hard? I bought some of the official Pinecil silicone cables but haven't tried burning them yet. Has anyone tried that? I think they're USB2 but rated (well, advertised) for 100W so they're great for the Pinecil.
- randomblock1 23d ago
  It's the website's "grid-bg" effect. It's glitching out and also normally barely visible at all.
foder 23d ago
I like the Ikea SITTBRUNN cable series, they feel great, are inexpensive and actually come with a technical specification. The only drawbacks I've found are: * It's 480 Mbps cables, so for charging and occasional transferrers. * They don't have a huge selection of lengths and colors.
- layer8 23d ago
  The longer ones are braided, unfortunately.
neilpanchal 23d ago
I went on the exact same quest. The answer is Belkin BoostCharge Flex. They have one version that’s flexible silicone and one that’s wrapped in braid. Check pictures and verify. The description on Amazon was this: Belkin BoostCharge Flex Silicone USB-C to USB-C Charging Cable (1M/3.3FT) for iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S25, S24, Pixel 9 & 8, Nintendo Switch 2 & More with Cable Clip - Black
jubilanti 23d ago
These aren't "brands". You can't trust that the random character "brands" on Amazon like SNOALK, TOOALQ, lipr or whatever are even the same from shipment to shipment. Model names and numbers are meaningless here. It's all just a random lottery.
- liquid_thyme 23d ago
  Even if someone builds a brand, it can get sold and (atleast this twas true last time I checked) the Amazon reviews get grandfathered in.
joshstrange 23d ago
It's not silicon but the _best_ (charging only) cables I've used by far are the Anker Nano [0] cables. they are so flexible, feel amazing, and I wish I could replace all my cables with them (but can't due to cost). It's USB 2.0 speeds so I only use them for charging but that's one of the reasons they can be so flexible/enjoyable to use (they don't have to be as thick to support USB 3+/TB speeds). I own many other Anker braided cables and none of them are like this one. [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ43567W https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ43567W
nzoschke 23d ago
Does anyone know the best USB thumb drives? I need to buy 10 32GB, but every somewhat affordable bulk option is very suspicious and throttles or fails. Sandisk is reputable but costs a premium.
- nemomarx 23d ago
  microcenter?
ramses0 23d ago
Aside: has anyone found a good "fancy color" TB4 cable? I'd like to (eventually) have a distinctive color for my needed ~3-4 TB4 cables, but they're mostly black/white/grey. I found KondorBlue in my travels but they're sold out/limited availability. I'd like to know at a glance if I'm using the right "MacBook TB4 Monitor Cable" (or "guaranteed high-ish wattage") as opposed to "random usb-c which may/may-not work".

87 points by evakhoury 28d ago

r_lee 28d ago

this is awesome, I've also been looking for these kinds of cables more than the "braided" cables which are stiff and tend to eventually take some kind of shape and not straighten back

tansanrao 28d ago

Not very sure of heat resistance, but I’ve been very happy with a bunch of LTTStore TrueSpec cables.

OptionX 23d ago
Pretty sure for anyone outside North America the shipping absolutely kills the value proposition nowadays. Last time I checked to replace my deskmat both it and the cables were about as much for shipping as for the items themselves. And taxes on top of that. That, for example, turns a 20 cad cable, already on the pricey side into a 40+ cad one. I do not know if there are any officials redistributors in other continents, but I don't think there are.
- LoganDark 23d ago
  If you purchase multiple cables at once, the shipping cost per cable goes down, I'd think. Not saying that's easy considering their stock issues. Maybe it's better now.
- ghostly_s 23d ago
  Yes, we all know the US economy is effectively severed from that of the rest of the world now.
  - HDBaseT 23d ago
    LTT is Canadian though. It's simply the shipping costs globally are expensive. Annyways; I like the LTT TrueSpec cables although I think the thickness of the connector is slightly too small. It feels loose in multiple of my devices, e.g. S22 Ultra & S23 Ultra. No other connector feels this loose.
estsegeg 23d ago
[dead]

threecheese 28d ago

It’s chubbycables. You’re welcome.

happymellon 28d ago
I ran through their website and all the ones I selected were USB 2.0, and there isn't a filter for speed as far as I could see. So no, it appears that "chubby cables" aren't the best.
- threecheese 27d ago
  You are right, they are only really useful for charging (though 240w - beasts) or keyboards. I’ve given up on trying to find silicone cables for data transfer and just buy thunderbolt which are typically rubber (Apple ones are braided these days, but it’s a very tight braid).

pseudohadamard 27d ago

Just beware that an awful lot of "silicone" cabling coming from China is actually overplasticized PVC, particular cabling used in instrument probes. It feels like silicone until it starts getting stiff while at the same time outgassing plasticizer like crazy, or you touch it with a soldering iron or similar. I would expect most or even all of the cat-ran-across-the-keyboard Amazon brands to be overplasticized PVC, not silicone (hint: Use the Knockoff plugin for Chromefox, https://github.com/Shpigford/knockoff https://github.com/Shpigford/knockoff, which will warn you for stuff that's sold on Temu West, aka.Amazon, it's warning on almost all of the pseudo-brands listed in the article). I've also run into way too much cabling that's CCA or even CCS. Garbage on the outside, garbage on the inside.

hilbert42 25d ago
"…actually overplasticized PVC," Despite the point in my comment about power cable extensions coverings becoming hard through the lack of plasticizers, I confirm your point about overplasticized PVC in instrument cables. I have a lot of instrument leads that I thought were silicone only to find that after a year or so they've gone hard. So much so that new unpacked ones can no longer be easily straightened (the kinks remain unless one heats the cable up and then straightens them). Despite availability issues,the problem is trying to determine what's real silicone and what's not.
- ssl-3 23d ago
  I used to buy vulcanized rubber (like SO cable) test leads from Oldaker Manufacturing in Dunkirk, Ohio. They had supplied them to Tripplett when the latter was still manufacturing meters in Bluffton, Ohio. The ones I've had for decades are still working well; they're reliable and flexible. I learned about the utility of rubber after becoming frustrated with PVC leads being stiff in cold weather. I stepped into Oldaker's shop on the way home one day and asked the nice older lady there about buying some silicone leads. "Are you sure you want silicone," she asked. "Most people want rubber." I was sure that she was nuts and that I knew exactly what I wanted, but I played along. She disappeared and came back a moment later with two sets of test leads: One with silicone insulation, and the other with rubber insulation. I examined them both. I picked the rubber ones; they somehow seemed both tougher and more flexible. No regrets. I've bought more examples over the years for different things. (Perhaps it'd have been smart to have also bought some silicone leads from them as well, for long-term comparison. Alas.) --- Anyway, Oldaker Manufacturing burned to the ground about 10 years ago. Whatever tooling and supplies remained after Tripplett packed up and left is simply gone. Which is a bummer for a couple of reasons: First, they seemed like very nice people who were just trying to get by after their heyday was over. It was very much a mom-and-pop facility by the time I came 'round. Second, I subsequently cannot find any reliable source of rubber-insulated test leads. It's only been a decade so far, and I do look occasionally. They do not appear to exist. (There's probably be an opportunity here for someone to make test leads using vulcanized rubber and sell them, but it's limited. If it works and becomes popular, then someone overseas will clone it. And when they clone it, then others will follow with their own take. After that, it's just a hop skip and a jump before we reach the end game: Dilution. Wherein: Overplasticized PVC test leads that are described as being rubber will be easy to find, and actually-rubber leads will be impossible to locate in the sea of noise.)

Terretta 27d ago

This article recommending scrabble letter brands seems sketchy. Anker offers lovely soft silicone sheathed USB-C cables, in black or white and many lengths. They perform for data and do not get stiff or discolor. Our office specifies these unless TB4+ is required.

idiotsecant 25d ago
How do you purchase them? Supply chain mixing is rough with a lot of retailers.
- LoganDark 23d ago
  You purchase the ones labeled Anker?... They say Anker on the box and the cable... I don't think the supply chain is an issue as long as you get the intended product
  - Someone 23d ago
    If it were that simple, these pages wouldn’t exist: https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify https://cairovolt.com/en/blog/how-to-identify-original-anker https://cairovolt.com/en/blog/how-to-identify-original-anker
    - embedding-shape 23d ago
      > https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify https://www.anker.com/eu-en/verify I love how the path includes eu-en but then the list of countries where this is actually used: > Europe: Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Azerbaijan Looks like list almost half not in the EU and half in, but missing quite a lot of EU countries. Anker themselves say they "promise that all the products purchased through our Authorized Retailers or Distributors and Online Channels are genuine" but the link to who those are is gone apparently.
    - LoganDark 23d ago

synack 25d ago

Almost seems like it’d be easier to spend a couple weeks in Shenzhen getting cables made to your specifications rather than testing everything on the market.

bsder 25d ago
I thought this is exactly what Linus Tech Tips did.

hilbert42 25d ago

I cannot understand why silicone rubber is not more commonly available for cable insulation. It is so much better than much of the badly plasticized PVC and other plastics that are now used. What's made this situation worse is that it seems that worry over plasticizers and health etc. has lead to a reduction in the amount being used in cables. I have some power extenstion cables whose jackets have gone so hard that I can no longer coil them effectively — even though I take care the coiled cable still ends up a tangled mess. Even if silicone jacketing is more expensive it's so good I'd pay extra. Trouble is it's not normally available on products found at the local hardware shop.

idiotsecant 25d ago
Unless you're running cables inside an oven just buy SOOW aka EPDM cables. They are the recognized standard for flexible, rugged cable assemblies resistant to just about everything. Silicone rubber is only used in very special cases because it's not as UV resistant or mechanically resilient.
- hilbert42 24d ago
  Sorry, not available where I am, nor do I see USB, coaxial cables etc. of that type.
- ghostly_s 23d ago
  > SOOW aka EPDM cables AFAIK there's nothing about the SOOW spec that requires EPDM.
qurren 23d ago
> I cannot understand why silicone rubber is not more commonly available for cable insulation Silicone is more flexible and high-temperature resistant, but it does have a major downside of being very easy to cut and strip. That's not great either, especially for power applications where short circuits are a concern. Silicone also kinda sucks for crimping. Most crimps have one set of tabs which grab the conductor (which is fine) and then another set which grab the insulation, but in the case of silicone the insulation set tend to just slice the insulation and don't mechanically grab it.

AdamGibbins 23d ago

Doesn't suit OPs demands as power only, but moved most my USB-C power cables to Anker Nano recently. They sound like described, lovely. Super flexible, don't tangle, nice weight to them - very well built. Nicest cables I've ever owned and an upgrade from prior Anker ones.

joshstrange 23d ago
Didn't see your comment before I posted pretty much the same thing. I wish I could replace all my cables with the Anker Nano ones but they aren't cheap and most places I don't need a "great feeling" cable so I've settled for just a few strategic places around the house for now to put them. I've had Anker braided cables before but the Nano is in a whole other league. I have one by my bed and every time I touch it I smile a little, it sparks joy (no pun intended).

amelius 23d ago

I still feel sad that my heatgun didn't come with a silicon cable :( Luckily my soldering iron did.

amelius 23d ago

I want cables in many different colors so I can more easily see which is which.

faster 23d ago

My CPU load goes through the roof after a minute on that page. Chrome 154.0.8037.0 on Linux. WTF does a cable review need to do that works my CPU so hard? I bought some of the official Pinecil silicone cables but haven't tried burning them yet. Has anyone tried that? I think they're USB2 but rated (well, advertised) for 100W so they're great for the Pinecil.

randomblock1 23d ago
It's the website's "grid-bg" effect. It's glitching out and also normally barely visible at all.

foder 23d ago

I like the Ikea SITTBRUNN cable series, they feel great, are inexpensive and actually come with a technical specification. The only drawbacks I've found are: * It's 480 Mbps cables, so for charging and occasional transferrers. * They don't have a huge selection of lengths and colors.

layer8 23d ago
The longer ones are braided, unfortunately.

neilpanchal 23d ago

I went on the exact same quest. The answer is Belkin BoostCharge Flex. They have one version that’s flexible silicone and one that’s wrapped in braid. Check pictures and verify. The description on Amazon was this: Belkin BoostCharge Flex Silicone USB-C to USB-C Charging Cable (1M/3.3FT) for iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, Galaxy S25, S24, Pixel 9 & 8, Nintendo Switch 2 & More with Cable Clip - Black

jubilanti 23d ago

These aren't "brands". You can't trust that the random character "brands" on Amazon like SNOALK, TOOALQ, lipr or whatever are even the same from shipment to shipment. Model names and numbers are meaningless here. It's all just a random lottery.

liquid_thyme 23d ago
Even if someone builds a brand, it can get sold and (atleast this twas true last time I checked) the Amazon reviews get grandfathered in.

joshstrange 23d ago

It's not silicon but the _best_ (charging only) cables I've used by far are the Anker Nano [0] cables. they are so flexible, feel amazing, and I wish I could replace all my cables with them (but can't due to cost). It's USB 2.0 speeds so I only use them for charging but that's one of the reasons they can be so flexible/enjoyable to use (they don't have to be as thick to support USB 3+/TB speeds). I own many other Anker braided cables and none of them are like this one. [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ43567W https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ43567W

nzoschke 23d ago

Does anyone know the best USB thumb drives? I need to buy 10 32GB, but every somewhat affordable bulk option is very suspicious and throttles or fails. Sandisk is reputable but costs a premium.

nemomarx 23d ago
microcenter?

ramses0 23d ago

Aside: has anyone found a good "fancy color" TB4 cable? I'd like to (eventually) have a distinctive color for my needed ~3-4 TB4 cables, but they're mostly black/white/grey. I found KondorBlue in my travels but they're sold out/limited availability. I'd like to know at a glance if I'm using the right "MacBook TB4 Monitor Cable" (or "guaranteed high-ish wattage") as opposed to "random usb-c which may/may-not work".