Is there any difference between a $40 USB cable and a $5 one?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Top Spin
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Top Spin

I just got a new multifunction printer/fax/copier/scanner (Brother MFC
4800). It did not come with a USB cable. So I trotted down to the
local Radio Shack. I needed an A/B cable that was about 14' long.
Their 16' foot USB2 cable was $45!

Shocked, I went over to Fry's. They had a Belkin USB2 with
"gold-plated contacts" for $35.

I came home and checked online. Many places have them for about $5-6.

Is there any difference?

Here are some I found:

$3.45 for a 15' USB2 at pccables.com:

http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/ord...9&partno=70548&search=USB&rsite=g.usb2&rcode=

$5.99 at cablemegastore

https://www.cablemegastore.com/proddetail.asp?prod=q-22478

$7.95 ar 123inkjets.com

http://www.123inkjets.com/prodetail...s&frm=prodlnk&prd=506&type=USB&prod=&id=&mid=

There are many more.

--
Using an HP Laserjet 5000N
PC: HP Omnibook 6000
OS: Win 2K SP-4 (5.00.2195)
Email: Usenet-20031220 at spamex.com
(11/03/04)
 
Top Spin said:
I just got a new multifunction printer/fax/copier/scanner (Brother MFC
4800). It did not come with a USB cable. So I trotted down to the
local Radio Shack. I needed an A/B cable that was about 14' long.
Their 16' foot USB2 cable was $45!

Shocked, I went over to Fry's. They had a Belkin USB2 with
"gold-plated contacts" for $35.

I came home and checked online. Many places have them for about $5-6.

Is there any difference?
Click to expand...

Typically, no. The brick and mortar stores have to make a profit somewhere,
and while the 'major' items such as the printers themselves tend to be
pretty competitively priced since that's what's advertised, accessories such
as cables tend to have an ENORMOUS mark-up to generate the necessary
profits.

There ARE tests for USB cables, and if the cable has the official USB
committee's logo on it (see them at the top of www.usb.org), it's supposedly
been tested and will work just fine. Unfortuntaely, it has been known to
happen that some really cheap cables just pirate the logo and the USB
committee doesn't really have the legal expertise/money to try to force them
to stop. (I'd add tat this tends to happen especially in countries like
China where intellectual property rights are not enforced particularly well,
but I suspect that >90% of all USB cables come from China, so it'd be a
meaningless statement!)

For shorter USB 1.x cables, it's actually pretty hard to make a cable that
DOESN'T work. On the other hand, if you're using the longest allowable
cables (16') on a USB 2.0 high speed (480Mbps) connection, how the cable is
constructed does matter.

Bottom line: If you're going with a reputable mail-order house, in all
likelihood the quality of the cable you get will be fine.

I have no fiduciary interest in them, but I'd suggest checking out
cyberguys.com for USB (and other) cables -- I've purchased from them
numerous times, their prices are low, delivery is fast, and yes, the cables
have always worked.

---Joel Kolstad
 
Typically, no. The brick and mortar stores have to make a profit somewhere,
and while the 'major' items such as the printers themselves tend to be
pretty competitively priced since that's what's advertised, accessories such
as cables tend to have an ENORMOUS mark-up to generate the necessary
profits.
Click to expand...

My son worked at BestBuy for a while. He said that a USB cable marked
$19.95 cost the store $1.75 to buy.
 
About $35 is the only difference I've noticed. Seriously. When using
USB and firewire, I've noticed absolutely NO difference with expensive
versus non-expensive. USB and firewire cables either "work" or "don't
work", the stuff they add to the expensive ones do not do anything,
other than "sound better". So don't let anyone tell you there is a
difference, there isn't.

The only time I've been thinking about paying the premium is when the
cable comes with multi- attachments (for a 4-6-6-4 firewire
configuration depending on what I'm using at the time).
 
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