A few weeks ago we told you about the Toddy Cable Kickstarter and what they were trying to do to give you a special cable of your very own. I mentioned that Toddy Gear was kind enough to send me an early sample of the cable, so with a few days left on their Kickstarter campaign I wanted to tell you a bit about the cable. In this Toddy Cable review, I’ll give anybody on the fence an idea about what they’ll be getting when they back the Toddy Cable Kickstarter.
Design
I can talk about the overall design of the cable, but the great thing about Toddy Cables is that you can get nearly anything you want printed onto the cable itself, so design is a very personal thing. In the instance of the sample cable I received, the design seems inspired by the rainbow, though in a more matte palette. The Micro-USB end starts in a somewhat matte red color, working its way down the cable to violet at the USB-A end. The design is broken up by occasional white lines, though the lines seem to be somewhat arbitrary and don’t seem to follow any particular pattern. In my instance, the customization is on the USB-A plug, where my name is printed. The Micro-USB end has the Toddy Gear logo. One thing I can assure you is that your cable will be easily identifiable, and since it’s customized to your liking will have a very personal feel.
The construction of the cable, as I mentioned in the Kickstarter announcement, is solid. They’ve used a solid outer PVC jacket to give the cable some strength and stiffness. The ends of the cable also have a bit more material around them, giving you some more insurance against breaking or fraying. The cables are available in either Micro-USB or Lightning formats, and the Lightning cables are MFi certified. Lack of a USB-C option is a bit of a bummer, but the vast majority of devices currently in circulation still use either Micro-USB or Lightning connections, so I can understand going with those two cables.
Ease of Use
It’s a cable, so there isn’t a lot to say here. Simply plug the USB-A end into an available USB port, and plug the Micro-USB or Lightning end into your device. You’ll be charging and syncing in no time.
Performance
The Toddy Cable performs exactly as it should. When plugged into a USB power hub, it charged my devices as expected. It charged my old Nexus 5 in a reasonable amount of time, and didn’t have any problems with anything else that I charged with it. When plugged into my PC, my Nexus 5 was immediately recognized and I was given the standard Windows options for interacting with it.
Price/Value
There are still a few Early Bird options available on the Kickstarter, netting you your very own customized cable for $12. The non-early bird price is only a couple bucks more at $14. There are higher priced tiers including more cables, battery banks, and other options, but a single cable will cost at most $14. This is a bit more expensive than your standard run-of-the-mill cable, but the Toddy Cable does have some definite differences and advantages over that same run-of-the-mill cable. You’re getting a cable that is definitely yours, and the customization options alone make this a pretty good value.
Wrap Up
You still have a couple of days to hit the Toddy Cable Kickstarter page. They definitely need a bit of help, as they’re currently just over halfway to their goal as of this writing. If you’ve got an iPhone or an Android device that’s still using Micro-USB, your pledge will get you a quality cable that is customized to your liking.
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