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I tested the viral 'tangle-free' USB-C cable, and it's my new travel essential
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Magtame cables are available for purchase from major retailers, with the 3.3-foot, 240W USB-C-to-USB-C cable selling for $20.
- The magnetic coiling makes it easy to pack and store the cable.
- They’re thicker than regular cables and, as such, can be cumbersome to manage in smaller spaces.
My laptop bag is a mess of tangled cables. I try to coil them neatly, but with everything from Raspberry Pi computers to toolkits being tossed in and pulled out, chaos inevitably takes over.
The main culprit of my messy laptop bag is cables. I usually have a few USB-C cables and a MagSafe charging cable for my MacBook Pro, and too often, these have tangled into a big, messy ball that takes several minutes to untangle.
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And before you ask, yes, I do know how to roll cables up properly!
I stumbled upon “magnetic” cables recently that claim to use magnets to coil themselves automatically. It sounded too good to be true, but I decided to take a chance and bought a Magtame USB-C cable. And I’m glad I did.
Magtame offers a variety of cables, including 240W fast-charge USB-C-to-USB-C cables, more affordable 60W USB-C-to-USB-C options, USB-A-to-Lightning cables, and 2-in-1 USB cables with built-in adapters.
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For testing, I chose a 3.3-foot, 240W USB-C-to-USB-C cable, and it’s an impressive piece of hardware. The cable is thick yet flexible, with tough yet smooth nylon braiding. The connectors are high-quality, sturdy, and securely attached to the cable’s body.”
High quality nylon braid is tough, wear-resistant, yet soft.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
The cable also features an E-Marker chip, which devices use to identify its maximum speed and current capacity, so it’s up to the task of carrying high loads. On the data front, the cable has a rated data transfer rate of 480Mbps, which is decent.
But what separates this cable from the rest are the magnets built into it at regular intervals. These magnets seek out each other and automatically — I want to say magically — curl the cable up. You can easily make small coils.
Or even larger loops for easier holding. The magnets are strong enough to hold the loops in place while being loose enough for you to unwind them easily.
Naturally, I had a question related to heat: Would a curled–up cable carrying 100W+ of power get hot? I tested this a number of times under different loads, and while the cable would get warmer than the surroundings, it never became hot.
A coiled Magtame cable doesn’t get hot even under heavy load.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
ZDNET’s buying advice
It seems simple, but these curly, magnetically coiled cables are a game changer for anyone with a lot of cables. My laptop bag is much more organized now that I have swapped out a handful of my old, most-used cables for Magtame cables.
I bought these with very low expectations — after all, it’s just a coiling cable! But now, I can’t imagine not having them.
