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That cheap $7 HDMI from Five Below lasted 11 months in my kid's Switch dock
So back in March my son's dock cable gave out and I grabbed one of those $7 HDMI cords from the Five Below on Halsey St in Newark as a quick fix. It actually held up fine for 11 months of daily use, way longer than the $25 one from the store that died in 4 months. The trick was putting a small zip tie loop near the connector so the bend happens at the cord and not right at the plug. Anyone else notice the cheap ones outlast the pricey ones when you strain relief them?
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kim.sandra7d ago
The zip tie loop trick is real, but here is the part nobody talks about: it's not the cord that's cheap, it's the strain relief molding at the plug. That little rubber boot on a $25 cable is usually just for looks, and the wires inside are soldered to a board that has no give at all. A $7 cable often has the same basic guts, so when you tie the loop and make the bend happen 2 inches back on the jacket, you're basically fixing the one weak spot both cables share. I've been doing this on every HDMI in my house since my daughter's TV cable died at the 3 month mark, and I haven't lost a single one since. The price tag has almost nothing to do with it, it's all about where the stress lands.
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