# USB cables



## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

I need a couple of USB cables for my computer, an A/B type for my printer (the I have is too short), and an A/A extension cable to get the receiver for my wireless optical mouse closer to the mouse.

I went down to Office Max, and nearly choked on the prices of these things - $20 for 3-ft. cables, $30 for 6-footers! Then I checked eBay and found vendors selling this stuff for 3-4 bucks a cable.

What’s the deal with the huge price differential? Are the cheap ones any good? Are the pricey ones worth the money for some reason that isn’t readily apparent to us non-computer types?

Regards,
Wayne


----------



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Pretty much the same deal as a $129 Monter Cable DVI cable vs. a $39 Phillips DVI cable, or the Botique speaker wire vs. Home Depot bulk wire. Pick your camp :huh: 
To me, wire is wire, I've used cheap Belkin cat5 and USB and generic cat5 and USB, I could detect no difference in performance.


----------



## Danny (May 3, 2006)

I think that the cheaper cables will be fine, in any case you are only using the cables for low bandwidth applications,so even if they were slightly slower it wouldn't matter. The USB connections in Australia are only about $1 each so therefore the cheap cable costs approx $1-1.50 a metre. Should work fine


----------



## Otto (May 18, 2006)

I had a look on eBay, as I thought the cheaper ones might be USB 1.0. Even the ones that were $0.99 were USB 2.0. As long as they're 2.0, you should be OK. And hey, if one is **** and you have to buy a replacement, you still saved $20!


----------



## Steve Williamson (May 11, 2006)

I would recommend a quality USB lead for high bandwidth devices such as video cameras etc, but for printers and mice, any cable should be ok.


----------



## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Thanks, guys! Off to eBay we go!

Regards,
Wayne


----------



## basementjack (Sep 18, 2006)

www.pimfg.com is a good source for cheap cables...


----------

