Belkin MFi Certified Lightning to USB Cable 6.6ft (2m) - Fast Charging & Sync for iPhone 14/13/12/11/X/8 & More - Durable Black iPhone Charger for Home, Office & Travel

I recently ordered and received the 6-inch version of this cable to connect my iPhone 5s to my car's stereo system. I had previously been using the I let my oldest son, Destructro, who is enamored w/all things Apple, talk me into buying him an Apple iphone 5.I didn't realize that Apple had switched to an extremely fragile charging cable "featuring" the Lightning connector. He broke it the first day & the nice lady at the T-Mobile store told me I could drive an hour & 15 minutes to the nearest Apple store & they would exchange it under warranty. I did manage to get her to swap the cable with one in a phone that a customer had returned, unused. I missed the clue that I should have immediately returned the phone at that point. Being a big eBay fan, I bought a 5 pack of cables & chargers from Hong Kong. Destructro killed the 2nd T-Mobile cable, the 5 pack, and told me that his buddy had an indestructible cable, a Belkin F8J023bt04-BLK, and I bought him one. It lasted almost a month, much better than the Apple cable & he's currently on his third Belkin cable.All of these cables apparently have extremely tiny wires in the cable & they eventually break where they enter the Lightning connector from normal flexing. Great design Apple.Anyway, I had a pile of leftover micro USB cables from a blackberry cell phone & I noticed Apple made a Lightning to micro USB adapter. I said to myself, "Self it doesn't have any extremely tiny wires to flex & break!" This thing works & Destructro has yet to break one. It is tiny tho & he has managed to lose one...This Belkin cable gets 5 stars for performing far better than the original Apple cable.I bought one these Belkin cables from a local retail store as I had to get one quick. The cable worked so well (specially the black sleeving is less brittle than the apple original making it more durable) so I decided I wanted more of them so I ordered a few of Amazon. My review will focus on the cables I received from Amazon, specifically from the seller Donops! The original cable works flawlessly and I would give it 5 stars however the cables I received that is a totally different story.I looked at the boxes side by side and there were some subtle differences in the packaging like missing sections of text in languages other than English and the quality of the printing of some of the sections. At this point I was pretty sure I received fakes so I got my original belkin cable to compare them side by side.At a first glance the cables are identical, the connectors have the right imprints and wording, everything did look right and when I plugged it in the cable not only worked but it also did not display the "This Cable is Not Supported" error that you get when you use non certified cable. However the more I handled the cable the more I started to notice the differences.Similar to the Apple made cables, the Belkin connectors are made of high quality metal that is smooth and the USB connector is pressed very tightly making the seam of the metal barely visible. Also like the Apple original, the inside of the USB connector of the Belkin cable is one plastic component with the pins, the fake cable has multiple components and you can see the way the cables are threaded and secured to the base. The most obvious difference is the length of the cable, the fake cable is at least an inch and a half shorter than the 4 inches specified in the packaging. The fake is also slightly thinner than the original cable, I imagine that this is due to the lack of the metal braided shielding in the cable itself which prevents the cable from coming loose from the connectors and shorting in a short period of time with normal use. I also noticed that the jacket securing the cable from the USB plug to the cable is longer on the fake cable and if you press on the jacket close to the connector there is a gap between the inner cables and the jacket making this the fail point for these cables.Needless to say these are going back as I want original cables that will last for a while and not fakes that I will have to buy constantly.I was sick of buying cables that split or stopped charging, saying they were not compatible after a few uses so I decided to pay a little bit more for a cable from a well known brand and that was of course Apple certified.I purchased the cable at the end of January, it's been plugged in at my bedside and charges my phone up whilst I sleep, the most movement it gets is me using my phone in bed for short periods.Anyway just a few months in I am dissapointed that I am sending this back! The cable has split and it is niw dangerous to use! I really thought this product would be durable and reliable but I was wrong.These cables have to meet tough usage criteria with me. - I've had many different lightning cables, destroyed many also. I travel a lot and use them in cars, office, train, plane, at home they get used by the kids - who tend to yank them, trip-over them etc. I also use them on an array of devices iPhone, iPad Mini, iPad air - so for me a good cable has to work in an everything - Apple power adaptor; in a car socket; in a PC socket and be able to charge all types of Apple device in these different settings. (I've bought cables that charge iPhones but not iPads, work OK in the car, but not in an Apple power adaptor.These Belkin cables are the toughest construction I've come across, they work in all our devices, they work in all types of charger we own. I've had a number of cheaper 2M and 3M cables that don't meet the challenge, or don't last the harshness of the family lifestyle. I've never managed to damage a Belkin lead. They are much more robust than the original Apple items, or any of the many alternatives I've tried.For me the price is good given that the cheaper (and more expensive) items I've tried simply don't last.The saga of finding a lightning cable that last longer than a few months continues. After burning through several official Apple lightning cables I bough this hoping to save money and maybe get a bit more use out of this one. Well I saved money! That's about it. I got 8 weeks of use out this cable.On arrival the cable was well packaged and seemed to be a genuine Belkin item. The item itself seems well made and more substantial than the Apple version. Worked perfectly for around 2 months and then just stopped. No telltale turtleneck like on the Apple one to warn you of its immanent death.Needless to say I wouldn't recommend this item or buy another.And so my quest continues........If you're anything like me these leads are always hiding somewhere when you need them. Belkin has done me a great favour by introducing this colourful range comprising 5 bright colours (as well as black and white) as the brightly coloured lead is more difficult to mislay. This is the second one I've bought and I'm very happy with their quality and performance - the lead has a really chunky, heavy duty feel to it. I note that some reviewers have mentioned quality issues but both of my leads are constantly rolled up, stuffed into bags, etc, and continue to perform very well. Generally, I find Belkin equipment very satisfactory.Use this with battery pack and its ideal as you don't have lots of spare cable to tangle. Discolours after a while, but no more than the Apple cables do when carried about in bags full of stuff, picking up dirt. No good for wall chargers as its too short, but for what I use it for its perfect! I put the battery pack on desk or hold it when on move, and put phone on top of the pack and the lead is just long enough not to bend at damaging angles connecting the two. Using the laptop, its good for syncing iphone again without loads of spare cable getting in the way.