Well things are getting a little better, in the first half of the year, some great things happened. The main issue is that the reviews from wirecutter.com are mostly worthless because they do not use the fakespot to look at legitimate reviews and do not do long term testing, although Nathan K is invaluable as a check because most USB C devices don’t really comply with specifications, but Google Plus is basically impossible to search or find things, so you have to scroll. So caveat emptor, I’m not sure that these devices follow the USB C specification properly and many (maybe most don’t).
To be safe what you want to do is to get a cable and charger that is: a) reviewed by Benson or Nathan on Amazon, b) has a A or B fakespot.com rating and c) gives you the most power and the most data transfer (for cables possible).
One interesting thing is that the Apple USB C charger is actually quite different, it interchanges data with the MacBook Pro in proprietary ways presumably for the good 🙂
Cables got all USB C including iPhones
The USB C to Lightning specification was released, so now you can charge your iPhone X/8/8 Plus at 18 watts with the right cables. This is 3.5x faster than the 5 watts in the conventional USB A to Lightning, so you want to upgrade.
JCreate USB C 100W 10GBps JUX01. This cable is one of the few to support 100W and the full 10GBps data transfer. The main limits are the 2.3 foot length and the $24 price, but I you have just one cable in your kit, this is the one. A Rating from Fakespot.com.
Apple USB C to Lightning Cable. This is still the most reliable at 1 meter long and fast charging on an iPhone
The best USB C Chargers
The second problem is that the maximum USB C output is right now 60W (actually it is 3.5A x 20V so really 70W), for third party adapters, that doesn’t quite keep a MacBook Pro 15″ charging when it is running full bore, but for normal browsing, 60W actually works great. . OK I have three recommendations for this depending on how many ports you need.
Kamera USB C 60W and four QC 3.0 USB A ports: This is great at a desk and has nice stand for $45. A Rating at Fakespot.com has an A rating.
Cable Matters USB C and three USB A ports. This has fewer ports but is smaller and just $32 and more portable. Has a Fakespot.com B Rating, so good enough. The AC connector is standard, so you can either use an adapter or if you are long term overseas it is easy to change.
iClever USB C 30W charger. While only 30W, this is most useful as an emergency charger for emergencies, like when you are on the road. I keep one along with the Cable Matters so that if one breaks the other works. Also if you want to charge your MacBook and your iPhone at fast speed, right now you need two chargers. Fakespot.com “A” rating is awesome too.
What to hope for next?
Well the perfect charge is not invented, but let’s hope by 2018 we end up with the perfect charger with 100W charger with multiple USB C ports and that USB C cables that are 100W with 10GBps that are longer, but that’s a first world problem 🙂
