UNBREAKcable 12V USB Kit

It is deeply gratifying to find that this site is still seen by the right people. These days, I tend to mostly cover just some selected high end audio news as there had to be a big old gap due to lockdown.

But yet there are still those who recognise a pukka old school ‘reviewer’ as against a mad self obsessed ‘influencer’. So I can tell you that a lovely lady e-mailed me from UNBREAKcable, asking if I would like to try a couple of their items? I was intrigued and went to look and discovered an ecosystem of cool looking stuff that was mostly about iPhone, whereas I am an android user. However, there are USB-C cables and best of all, a truly hench looking and (hopefully) performing 12V ‘cigar lighter’ power supply.

I have a quality magnetic car bracket for my Samsung Galaxy S20 and have used a 12V charger of that pattern in the car for ever. Like the cables you plug into your phone, I have found these things to have a limited life span. After a few cheap ones that just died, I tended to buy better branded ones yet still found they were limited lifespan, too. Likewise, I also tend to be a Wear-Em-Out-Wilf for the power USB wires indoors as well. And just from holding my phone and messing around on social media while it is charging, I wear out and break the cables. Always just behind the smaller plug, often with the inner conductors getting twisted under the braided fabric outsides. They just get bad at charging, then die! The UNBREAKcable items are aimed at NOT doing any of that.

Yep, I have ruined lots of car chargers and twizzled up and destroyed lots of USB wires.

In fact, this was timely! My phone shows the duration until charged. Always an indication of the juice flowing, the shorter, the more powerful. Lately, the car one has gone from filling me up fast, to showing one value that then goes from say 53 minutes to two hours after it is plugged in for a moment. I was worried that it was debris getting in the plug hole. But I think that wire is failing. Thus, I had a look at their shop and looked for the things I could use. They have a cool website with intro discounts and they do ship to the UK and sell from Amazon, so stuff arrived the next day.

One quick note. UNBREAKcable have a hashtag of #LifecycleValues which says to me that they are about durability rather than disposability, by mission statement.

I like that a lot.

Let’s look at these UNBREAKcable products…

Website: https://www.unbreakcable.com/

WHAT I GOT

BETA series USB-C to USB 3.0 cables; 2m black 2 pack; Model No. UBBT117 £14.99

USB-C & USB A Car Charger; Model No. UBCH335 £14.99

BETA series USB-C to USB 3.0; 2m black 2 pack; Model No. UBBT117

WHAT THEY SAY

FULL-SPEED SYNC & CHARGE: UNBREAKcable USB C to USB 3.0 cable ensure the charging speed is 3A maximum current and supports data synchronisation speeds up to 5Gbps

SUPERIOR DURABILITY: UNBREAKcable USB C cable is made of ultra-strong aramid fibre core, premium aluminium housing and double-braided nylon jacket, which can withstand over 10,000 bend and plug-in tests. It has unrivalled durability and flexibility.

WIDE COMPATIBILITY: UNBREAKcable USB C cable is compatible with all Type-C devices. Including Samsung Galaxy S20/S20+/S10/S10+/S10e/S9/S9+/S8/S8+, Note 9/8, Sony Xperia XZ, Google Pixel, Huawei P30/P20/P10/P9, Mate 20/10/9, Honor 8/ 8 Pro, HTC 10/ U11, Lumia 950/950XL, LG V30/V20/G6/G5, Nexus 6P/5X, Asus, OnePlus 6/5T/3T/3/2, ZTE Blade Z Max, Apple MacBook Pro, Nintendo Switch, etc.

SAFE AND RELIABLE: Tinned-copper and aluminium foil braided shielding make the UNBREAKcable USB C cable have better conductivity than other ordinary USB C cables, and the built-in 56KΩ pull-up resistor ensures a safe charging.

REVERSIBLE CONNECTOR: USB Type C cable reversible design connector allows you to plug and unplug in any orientation to save time.

VERDICT (WHAT I SAY!)

The packaging is sumptuous matte black and as you open it a black card with golden print appears, reminding you to register for your 36 month free replacement warranty online. This is bullish stuff and states to me that they are dead confident of their product.

The cable is the thickest I have ever seen.

In order to ‘test’ the cable, I plugged it into a VERY powerful mains multi-point charger and tried it with my Galaxy S20. The phone was showing 80%. First, I tried a stock cable. A good thick one but vinyl outsides only. It said 32m to charge. Then, I plugged in the UNBREAKcable one into the same output port of the super mains charger, just in case there were any differences between ports. I also tried a ‘Yontex’ cable that was bought for its ruggedness.

In fact all three were able to deliver the current at the same rate, which reflects that at these low amperages, a decent conductor will be inside each one. This has to be about durability. As for that, I reckon it’s all true. These  are rugged as can be.

The only thing they could have done better was to provide a cable management loop. The old Yontexes came with a leather tiny strap with a push stud to keep it coiled when stored, while these do not. But they are 2m cables so intended for use in desktop or power supply installation.

Best of all, UNBREAKcable offer a no-quibble instant replacement policy on their whopping three year warranty! This is done a modern way by registering your purchase on their website or, get this, you can even do that on Facebook messenger. I never herd of that before.

Deeply impressed. It looks like my cable worries are over!

HIGHS: Awesome construction with seamless laser welded plug surrounds and gorgeously packed.
LOWS: It would be good to have a small Velcro or leathern ‘management’ strap for mobile use.

Performance: 10 Seriously engineered to make it more rugged than the rest and a 3 year warranty!
Design: 10 Fabulous packaging and truly hench looking braided cable with thick innards.
Features: 10 Laser welded C-end, smart branding on plugs, aluminium and Mylar shield mesh.
Overall: 10 Handsome product from a well made range. Top value for money in a two-pack.

USB-C & USB A Car Charger; Model No. UBCH335

WHAT THEY SAY

Fast Charging – 38 watts Output: A 20-watt USB-C PD port charges your iPhone 8 or later from 0-50% in 30 minutes. An additional 18-watt QC3.0 port charges a second device simultaneously, including Samsung, LG, Google, HTC and more at optimal speeds to keep all your devices fully charged while on the go.

Wide Compatibility: You have no need to get concerned about compatibility issues, as our charger supports PD and QC charging protocols, allowing you to charge your phone, a friend’s phone, tablets, laptops, wearables, game consoles. It also fits just perfectly for all vehicle types including cars, vans and trucks (12-24V).

Two chargers in One: Charge two devices simultaneously with the dual port on this space-saving car charger. You and a friend can experience fast charging while on the road, or you can power up your wearables while keeping your phone at 100%.

Safe Guarantee: With the scratch-resistant aluminium shell, this mini charger ensures better heat dissipation and safer use. Inner chips fully protect against over-current, overcharging and overheating, over-voltage as well as short-circuit.

Compact Size: The thumb-sized body (1.8” x 1”) makes your USB car charger even more portable, making carriage a lot more convenient. This allows you to charge seamlessly on the move!

VERDICT (WHAT I SAY!)

Hilariously, this item caused me deep upset! Or rather, in my own daftness, I upset myself! My Volvo has three 12V sockets and four fuseboxes in different locations. The 12V socket in the rear, I have never used but is on a different fuse to the two in the middle of the car. One of those middle sockets shows to the rear seat passengers and has my Road Angel GPS speed trap locator plugged into it, with a hot-wired stand mounted on the other end of its cable, upon the dash.

This morning, the Road Angel did not fire up when I started the car and placed it on the mount. This means that I had blown the fuse for the 12V socket! Then, I recalled that I had removed the cheap plastic charger from that socket to take it indoors to weigh it and compare to this new one. Like an idiot, I thought it would be neatest to pop the plug in the big old cavity where the charger had been. Foolish. There had been a tiny FIZZT sound and a wee flash of sparky light.. sigh.. this was me shorting the socket inside with the protruding metal body of the male USB A plug. And that blew a 7.5A fuse in the footwell box!

In my four years owning the car, I have popped this fuse before, because of a dodgy 12V Christmas tree. And I can tell you that as the car is ‘wrong-hand-drive’ as far as the Swedes that made it are concerned, they flipped and reversed the two fuseboxes buried deep in the passenger footwell, as this is one the ‘wrong’ side as far as the factory was concerned. It makes working out which is which, a real pain in the butt.

I admit that I went to Halfords and paid a nice young man to burrow around in my footwell, rather than upending and struggling, myself. Bloke had to pull a few to find it, but yes, I was right and it was blown. A 7.5A fuse gone phutt. Plenty to support the demands of this charger, will still blow if dead shorted.

Things I have worried about in the past, have been the 12V charger getting warm with all the current flowing through but I gather that somehow for the money, this charger has circuits to protect against fault conditions including too much heat. Starting with short circuit protection, over-voltage, over-current, over-heat and even over-power protection circuits.

I had my fuse fixed, came home and wrote this. Now, I have a perfect excuse to go get lunch at the bottom of the M1. I live at J5 Watford and a Chinese cash and carry is at the bottom, with a café aimed at their clientele who are all restaurateurs. The quality is awesome and it is a goodly run. My phone is on 43% power, which is way lower than I normally allow it to get. Now, I will go fit the charger to the car, with an UNBREAKcable wire and see how well it works.

OK, Red bean tapioca bubble with coconut cream and crispy belly pork with rice and pak choi garnish and soy based sauce. Delicious and absurdly, my phone went from 43% to 76% in the time it took me to drive too fast down the road for a few minutes. I ate, messed about on social media and came home, by which time the phone had dropped two percent over lunch but was now at 92% when I got home.

I gently felt the charger top as I drove, with the back of my finger. Instead of a worryingly warm hot spot, the case just felt gently warmer than the rest of the trim around it. Yes the phone got a little warm as the charge rate came up on screen as ‘FAST CHARGING’. Not quite as quick as my ‘Super Fast Charging’ status from the wall charger that came with the phone but that might even be about those PD and QC charging ‘protocols’. PD is ‘Power Delivery’ and is an open source standard developed by the USB Implementers Forum, that is faster than regular USB but anyone can use it. The Quick Charge or QC protocol is licensed by Qualcomm (the chip company) and is also damn fast. Both are about the levels of watts deliverable and the QC one is cunning enough to keep an eye on exactly what voltage is needed to charge, without excess volts being fed that just turn into heat, nor any over baking of the phone.

That got a bit tech suddenly… 

The unit fitted into the hole with more snug precision than any I have used and has a lower profile than any I have used before, too. The knurled edged top makes it easy to pull back out, though. It looked good too and because it is so low profile, I can now use the Louvre cover on my Volvo console, which I could not do without fully removing the charger before!

One final thing, I need to try the charger on a USB-C to USB-C wire, as one socket is clearly marked QC (the USB-A one I used – perfect for my Samsung S20, I gather) and the other C-sized one is marked PD. But that really is a bit of a moot point.

HIGHS: A powerful, beautifully packaged item of top end build quality, backed up by a 3 year warranty.
LOWS: None whatsoever. It is very good value for money and an absolute tour de force at what it does.

Performance: 10 Stonking. It is as fast as it looks fancy, as effective as it is said to be. Brilliant!
Design:  10 Absolutely adore the metallic construction. Even the stuff printed on it looks cool.
Features: 10 Big wattage, with short circuit & over-voltage/current/power & thermal protection.
Overall: 10 Quality-engineered new charge tech that’s clever, rapid and worth every penny.