4/18/2017: First Impressions of V3 Plugies
First off, my unit came in 2 days early, which was a nice surprise. But I'm not writing a review of the shipping services, so let's get to the point.
I purchased the V3 Plugies cable in the Micro-USB flavor. I'm using it with my Moto Nexus 6. I've had it for 4 days now, and thus far it's pretty awesome.
My first impression was of the overall build quality of the cable. Both housings are aluminum, and the magnetic end has a blue LED that indicates charging. A nice touch. My one complaint is that the cable itself, despite the paracord sleeving, seems relatively thin and flimsy. Other than that, it seems to be a high quality cord. The included bungee is super helpful for wrapping up the cable to take on the go.
The Micro-USB end fits snugly into my phone's dock connector and is not easily removed, which is a good thing. The magnet is strong enough to hold my Nexus 6 (which is not a light device, mind you) up by the cable. It is fairly easy to disconnect by tilting the magnetic cable end away from the phone, but has a strong grip when pulled straight from the port. I can set my phone about 1.5 to 2 inches away from the plug and it will snap into place.
Now for the part that everyone seems to be complaining about: the actual functionality. Mine charges my phone no problem with my 1.4 A wall block and my 2.0 A portable charger. I tested whether the cable does data transfer, and I was successfully able to transfer several photos to my PC.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with this product. Although I may have just gotten lucky -- I understand that many people have received bad units. If anything goes wrong, I'll be sure to update this review.
[EDIT] 7/4/2018: Long Term Review
In March my original Plugies magnetic cable stopped working. I noticed a spot about an inch from the magnet end that had begun to heat up pretty badly, and I suspect there was a short or something similar at that spot. It was a reliable cable while it lasted, and I greatly enjoyed using it.
Shortly after this I bought a second V3 Plugies cable on Amazon, this time in the USB-C type to go with the Nexus 6P I now use. I still have the original micro-USB magnetic adapter, and it works perfectly fine with the new cable. I use it to charge up a little portable bluetooth keyboard I have. By now I've had the new Plugies for a while, and I stick with my positive opinion. If this one doesn't last, that may change.
After having used this product for more than a year now, I still really like it. I do wish that the magnet were a bit stronger, but for the most part it does a very good job. At this point I have somehow or another crushed the corner of the white plastic on the little nub that goes into the phone, so sometimes I have to make sure the cable lines up properly to charge my phone, but it does the job so I'm happy.
I don't think I would however, buy this product again. With each new iteration of connector design the technology becomes more and more robust. I originally bought this cable to prevent my old micro-USB connector from wearing out as they all do over time, but USB type C can take a lot more abuse than micro-USB. This product doesn't seem very necessary anymore. More than anything it's a novelty, and while I still enjoy it, it serves little purpose now.
I would absolutely recommend these cables. They're fantastic for what they do. But I don't know if I would buy one again, unless I were getting several so that all of my devices used a universal magnetic charging port.
First off, my unit came in 2 days early, which was a nice surprise. But I'm not writing a review of the shipping services, so let's get to the point.
I purchased the V3 Plugies cable in the Micro-USB flavor. I'm using it with my Moto Nexus 6. I've had it for 4 days now, and thus far it's pretty awesome.
My first impression was of the overall build quality of the cable. Both housings are aluminum, and the magnetic end has a blue LED that indicates charging. A nice touch. My one complaint is that the cable itself, despite the paracord sleeving, seems relatively thin and flimsy. Other than that, it seems to be a high quality cord. The included bungee is super helpful for wrapping up the cable to take on the go.
The Micro-USB end fits snugly into my phone's dock connector and is not easily removed, which is a good thing. The magnet is strong enough to hold my Nexus 6 (which is not a light device, mind you) up by the cable. It is fairly easy to disconnect by tilting the magnetic cable end away from the phone, but has a strong grip when pulled straight from the port. I can set my phone about 1.5 to 2 inches away from the plug and it will snap into place.
Now for the part that everyone seems to be complaining about: the actual functionality. Mine charges my phone no problem with my 1.4 A wall block and my 2.0 A portable charger. I tested whether the cable does data transfer, and I was successfully able to transfer several photos to my PC.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with this product. Although I may have just gotten lucky -- I understand that many people have received bad units. If anything goes wrong, I'll be sure to update this review.
[EDIT] 7/4/2018: Long Term Review
In March my original Plugies magnetic cable stopped working. I noticed a spot about an inch from the magnet end that had begun to heat up pretty badly, and I suspect there was a short or something similar at that spot. It was a reliable cable while it lasted, and I greatly enjoyed using it.
Shortly after this I bought a second V3 Plugies cable on Amazon, this time in the USB-C type to go with the Nexus 6P I now use. I still have the original micro-USB magnetic adapter, and it works perfectly fine with the new cable. I use it to charge up a little portable bluetooth keyboard I have. By now I've had the new Plugies for a while, and I stick with my positive opinion. If this one doesn't last, that may change.
After having used this product for more than a year now, I still really like it. I do wish that the magnet were a bit stronger, but for the most part it does a very good job. At this point I have somehow or another crushed the corner of the white plastic on the little nub that goes into the phone, so sometimes I have to make sure the cable lines up properly to charge my phone, but it does the job so I'm happy.
I don't think I would however, buy this product again. With each new iteration of connector design the technology becomes more and more robust. I originally bought this cable to prevent my old micro-USB connector from wearing out as they all do over time, but USB type C can take a lot more abuse than micro-USB. This product doesn't seem very necessary anymore. More than anything it's a novelty, and while I still enjoy it, it serves little purpose now.
I would absolutely recommend these cables. They're fantastic for what they do. But I don't know if I would buy one again, unless I were getting several so that all of my devices used a universal magnetic charging port.