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infinitymdm
119
Apr 18, 2017
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.
Elevas
50
Jun 26, 2017
infinitymdmI feel like I have to add, I also own a Nexus 6 and had the V1 Plugies. Pretty much everything you typed here applies to my experience as well.(Btw, I think that tilt where the magnet disconnects is part of the charm, because of this it won't break like all the cables which do break from this type of pressure) In addition, it seems like Quick Charge was working fine for me as well.
It seems part of the bad reviews are about a similar product not from Massdrop.
I've since lost the bit that goes into the phone port and it became useless. I'm going to order these V3 Plugies, I'm certain it'll be fine but I wish I could've ordered an additional plug or two for more devices instead of buying the whole ensemble.
Too bad the drop doesn't offer to add plugs for people who have multiple devices.