Friday, March 29, 2024

Monoprice’s new USB type-C cables are fun, colorful and safe (review)

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Monoprice recently announced its new Palette series of USB type-C cables. With an increasing number of devices featuring type-C ports, we thought it important to take a look at them to find out if they’re safe for your device and how they stack up against the competition.

The new line of cables comes in many sizes and flavors. You can pick from black, blue, green, gray, pink, purple, red, and white. They’re bright and colorful which I like to buy because brightly colored cables are easier to identify. The Palette series definitely stands out.

Monoprice Palette USB typeC family

In addition to a number of colors, you also have several options in lengths and connectors. Monoprice sent over a six-inch, three-foot, and two six-foot long cables, but you can also get them in 18-inch and three-foot lengths. The cables come in type-C to type-C, type-C to type-B , type-C to mini type-B and type-C to type-A (male and female) combinations.

The construction of the cables is fantastic. All of the cables in the Palette series are covered in a braided nylon jacket that keeps them safe from nicks and cuts, as well as keeping them tangle free. The connectors are held by a hard plastic head that should last even when being beat-up in your bag. If they don’t, Monoprice offers a limited lifetime warranty.

Monoprice Palette USB typeC braided cord

Charging times are good. The cables can support up to 2.4A of power which puts this in rapid charging territory. Data transmission caps out at 480Mbps. These cables are all USB 2.0 cables so they can’t take advantage of USB 3.0 or 3.1 features, but Monoprice has informed us that they’re working on a design to incorporate USB 3.0 into its next lineup of cables.

Monoprice Palette USB typeC connector

Monoprice has ensured that the new Palette series falls under compliance with USB-IF standards. While these cables aren’t currently listed as compliant, they soon should be. Famed Googler Benson Leung, who has taken to reviewing USB type-C cables on Amazon and pointing out non-compliant cables, gave Monoprice’s previous USB type-C series, the Select Series, his stamp of approval. The new Palette series is currently for sale on Amazon, which very publicly stated that they would no longer sell out of spec cables.

When it comes to price, Monoprice is right in the ball game, with everyone else, and most of the time beats its competitors. A search of Amazon finds these results:

Six-inch USB type-C to USB type-A

Amazon: $6.49 vs. Monoprice: $3.99

Three-foot USB type-C to USB type-A

Amazon: $9.99 vs Monoprice: $4.99

Six-foot USB type-C to USB type-C

Amazon: $7.99 vs Monoprice: $6.99

If you’re interested in picking up any of Monoprice’s Palette series of cables, be sure to check out its website or its listings on Amazon.

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