1. Authenticity concerns – many commenters warn that “silicone” cables sold online are often fake PVC.
- “Just beware that an awful lot of ‘silicone’ cabling coming from China is actually overplasticized PVC… I would expect most or even all of the cat‑ran‑across‑the‑keyboard Amazon brands to be overplasticized PVC, not silicone.” — pseudohadamard
- “Despite availability issues, the problem is trying to determine what’s real silicone and what’s not.” — hilbert42
- “You used to be able to buy silicone extension cords. Now it’s all the new low‑temp plasticized PVC.” — kevin_thibedeau
2. Performance trade‑offs – genuine silicone cables are praised for flexibility but are often limited to USB 2.0/charging speeds.
- “I ran through their website and all the ones I selected were USB 2.0… So no, it appears that ‘chubby cables’ aren’t the best.” — happymellon
- “You are right, they are only really useful for charging (though 240 W – beasts) or keyboards.” — threecheese
- “They are so flexible, feel amazing… It’s USB 2.0 speeds so I only use them for charging.” — joshstrange (referring to Anker Nano cables)
3. Cost and shipping barriers – especially for buyers outside North America, shipping and taxes can double the price.
- “Pretty sure for anyone outside North America the shipping absolutely kills the value proposition… a 20 CAD cable … turns into a 40+ CAD one.” — OptionX
- “If you purchase multiple cables at once, the shipping cost per cable goes down.” — LoganDark
- “Last time I checked to replace my deskmat both it and the cables were about as much for shipping as for the items themselves. And taxes on top of that.” — OptionX