Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Yep, this is a great example of an echo-chamber that's developed in the HN community. Some of it is deserved, but not all.


It's highly dependent on what you're looking for. If you search for "Belkin USB charger", you'll usually end up getting some good results at the top of the listings.

But if you search for "USB charger", you need to prepare yourself for pages upon pages of identical-looking chargers from "Amoner", "RAVpower", "iSmart", "Ailkin", "Anker", "Power7", "Nekmit", etc.

And most of them have hundreds or thousands of 4/5-star reviews, most of them compensated in some form or another, so good luck trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.

For about half the things I search for on Amazon, it's a similar situation.


Some of those are legitimately good brands (Anker and RAVpower being two I'm personally familiar with). Anker has even grown in North America to the point of having distribution within physical stores such as Sam's Club[1].

That said, your point still stands. These are not household names in the North American market, and it's not immediately obvious what is a legitimate and reliable option vs. a throw-away brand selling imported fire hazards.

[1] https://www.samsclub.com/p/anker-6-port-qc-blk-spring2017/pr...


> But if you search for "USB charger", you need to prepare yourself for pages upon pages of identical-looking chargers from "Amoner", "RAVpower"

RAVpower is actually a pretty good maker, with some pretty unique offerings (RP-PB19 is a USB UPS which takes in USB!). They even have an informative blog staffed with support personnel who reply to comments.


From my experience, Anker make good products. I specifically look for them when I'm buying charging hardware, and they've never failed me. I think it's possible you're dismissing perfectly fine products unfairly.


Maybe monoprice is an option for some items: https://www.monoprice.com


RAVPower has a totally awesome GaN based USB-C charger in 60 watts for like $30, and 100w for not much more, which is about 1/3 the size of the Apple one.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: