
Anker Powerline: Kevlar fiber reinforced MicroUSB cables - DiabloD3
http://www.ianker.com/product/A8131011
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creshal
So the cable is kevlar reinforced, but the connector is still thin sheet iron
and tears apart once you bump against it?

I've never had an USB cable "break" in the cable portion. It's always the
connectors that fail.

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nickpsecurity
You beat me to it. I remember we decided against USB for security products
because connector failure was so high for routine use. Product is fine if
disposable but not long term. I'd rather see them improve what was actually
the oroblem: the darned connectors.

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DanBC
When you say connectors do you mean the shields, or the termination of the
wires to the connector?

I've only had the shield break twice, and that was from my dropping a laptop
with a stick inserted, and from me treading on another stick.

I've had loads of cables get broken where they join the connector. Maybe I'm
just too rough.

~~~
jacquesm
That's the reason why I wanted a laptop with a cellular modem _inside_ the
case (these are getting harder to find by the way, no idea why). I don't want
anything sticking out of the machine while I'm on the move and may have to use
it. 99% of the time it is on my desk and plugged in but as soon as I start
moving around with it I want it to be free from protrusions because it is only
a matter of time before I bump it into something and that will most likely
shear the connector straight of the motherboard. So I don't think you're too
rough, laptops in transit are simply fragile.

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graystevens
Had a few items from the Anker brand, and always been very impressed with
their product quality and the 'clean' nature of their packaging. Utilised
their external batteries, replacement iPhone batteries, as well as their
'hardened glass screen covers' for an accident prone partner.

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DanBC
I think the kevlar is being used as a strain relief rather than "BULLET
PROOF". That's not particularly clear from the page.

So it fixes one problem - people pull the cords out by the cable not by the
connector, and that puts strain on the joints, which eventually fail.

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nmcfarl
I've got a few of these Anker Kevlar cables. I purchased them because my USB
cables most frequently fail by the cable fraying where it enters the USB port
connector, and I was hoping these would protect that connection more.

The cables do seem to be significantly less bendable than your standard Apple,
or Amazon Basic cables which impedes high angle exits from the port they are
plugged into, and that gives me hope that these cables actually will have a
longer mean time to failure for me. We'll see.

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DiabloD3
I wish I could find a better link for this, but Anker _needs_ to build
themselves a corporate blog to put their PR stuff on.

