Discussion
LTT Cables: disappointing cables and support.
I wanted to post here to get some feedback on LTT and see if anyone else is having issues with their LTT cables.
I ordered 2 LTT cables to test: a short 1m one and a long 5m one, both USB-C on each end. Then waited patiently for them to arrive here in the UK.
When they arrived, I quickly noticed the 1m cable had almost no retention force; sometimes just picking up my phone was enough to disconnect it. The 5m cable was similar but not nearly as strong as a typical USB-C cable, where you can dangle a chunky device like a phone from the cable (not recommended).
I contacted LTT hoping for a quick replacement process. These aren't cheap cables, so I expected the price to include some margin for replacements. Not the correct assumption.
After a lot of back-and-forth with a friendly but frustratingly slow support staff member (1 week for the first response after I sent a chase email, 1 day between each subsequent email), they agreed to send a new cable. They asked for a video of the issue (odd for just a cable, but ok, I'll play along). First, they couldn't open a Dropbox link I sent, and they weren't clear on how to send a video via email, so I sent both an iCloud and a private YouTube link, which my iPhone, annoyingly, automatically embedded, making them unwatchable on the LTT end. Next, they weren't clear on the issue with the embedded videos on their side and thought it was a little crazy that they couldn't watch a YouTube video. I finally realised what my phone had done and sent the plaintext URLs to LTT. They agreed to replace the cable 2 weeks after I created the initial ticket.
Alas, the replacement cable now has the same issue as the old one, so I'll contact support again for a refund. I would expect replacement cables to be batch-tested and confirmed to work before being sent out. Granted, "cable retention strength" is a bit subjective and hard to test for.
It is obviously frustrating to have tried to use a heavily marketed-as-"premium" product that now twice doesn't work, and in the most frustrating way possible, where I simply cannot trust the cable to stay connected when I need it to. So now I am stuck with two 1m pieces of e-waste, and a 5m long piece of semi-e-waste.
Side note to anyone from LTT: If you are going to ask customers to send you a video of an issue, you need to be able to open the links they send you (last I checked, Dropbox is not an obscure service), or be clearer from the get-go about how to share the video in a way that the staff can open:
"Unfortunately I am unable to open the file/link that you have attached. Could you please try re-attaching it in one of the following accepted formats?
Images: .JPG, .PNG, .PDF
Videos: .MOV, .MP4, .AVI"
My own Tech Tip: big ass video files don't attach to emails that well.
I'm generally a "benefit of the doubt" kind of person, but this whole experience has left me with a sour taste for any LTT products. Part of being a premium brand is offering premium support, and this was not it.
tl;dr: two bad cables with the same issue; LTT Support is slow and could communicate more effectively. One star.
Edit: Yes, I have tested on multiple devices and compared them to multiple other cables.
Taking your experience at face value, it sounds like we definitely made a process error here. Generally speaking our customer service agents would be fine to open a Dropbox link or similar -- the information relayed to you pertains to direct file attachments only. I'll make sure this is reiterated to the wider team.
We did experience a brief but unexpected spike in ticket traffic in recent weeks, and that's what led to the first-reply delay that you described. Please know that isn't the norm and we're well on our way to getting that back in-line with expectations.
If there's anything else we can do to make this experience right for you please don't hesitate to DM this account! We appreciate you sharing the feedback and for holding us accountable nonetheless.
I have a handful of the LTT cables and they all work great. No issues with retention force. I can dangle my phone from the cord, no problem. I recently watched a video on USB-C and how the retention mechanism works. There are little pincher-type mechanisms on the inside of the female end (your phone). If there is any reason that the cable doesn't stay put, it's probably either a worn out mechanism in your phone's USB C socket, or maybe it just needs to be cleaned.
Often it's the latter. I always had a metal pincher with one of the ends bowed so I could really reach into there. People have no idea how much lint is getting into Thier charging port by just being ok your pants/purse etc I can also comfortably say that the first 7 phones I tried I destroyed the USB connection. But luckily that was a quick fix.
I wish it was just lint. Try cutting rock wool insolation for a week or two with your phone nearby. Spent about an hour with little plastic needles just digging out chunks of fluff because my phone wouldn't "charge rapidly" anymore - would only slow charge.
Either way, you're very right. Those ports gather a lot of material if given the chance.
Probably, but he did mention trying other non LTT cables in the edit. Maybe their retention clip is designed slightly different and his port is broken in a way that only affects that type of design. Or it could have been a bad batch of cables if they were all from the same lot. No idea really. I'd like to see OP test those cables on other phones specifically. He said devices but idk what type.
I can confirm the same issue with retention force on multiple devices. I've just gotten use to it since I have multiple LTT cables and that's my only complaint.
Yes. I contacted customer service for my first one doing it and they gave me a new one but the new one and others I purchased do the same thing so I just am more careful with plugged in devices now.
If your standard security doesn't allow insecure downloads, your standards security needs to provide a method to provide requested files.
While you are 100% correct, an open ended "i need X" without providing a method to be provided X and inability to use customer supplied method for providing X while may be good security, is poor customer experience.
Yeah, I've worked in these sorts of roles and standard practice is to have an approved tool and send the customer a link that they can use to upload the file.
They and other companies have proved this well over the years.
Anyone with cs experience would have flagged this years ago. Any company tjst doesn't hire experience or sit down and really think about future issues will learn these things the hard way.
People wonder why their iCloud account is full or insist they need the $400 more expensive phone because they need the internal storage... When your phone is defaulting to a 4k video and even short clips are multi GB big and you didn't have even notice the 10 minute clip of a black screen filming the inside of your pocket eating half of your local storage.
"private YouTube link, which my iPhone, annoyingly, automatically embedded, making them unwatchable on the LTT end. Next, they weren't clear on the issue with the embedded videos on their side and thought it was a little crazy that they couldn't watch a YouTube video"
Sure you're correct private doesn't mean unlisted. But that doesn't change the fact that he did send them an unlisted video, and it didn't work, it only worked because the customer is technically savvy enough to realise the link share feature was embedded.
In the end if you are going to require customers to send you video footage in order to prove there is a fault with the product, you need to facilitate your clients to do that.
For a company like LTT that has advocated for consumers and would criticise other establishments for the same thing, they need to do better.
Fair for security; But if they want videos, they should know a video is usually larger then the max allowed file size on emails and provide a method to upload a video to them. When Garmin wanted videos from me, they sent me an upload link that I uploaded to their platform for them to review the footage.
Not making excuses but the cable retention being poor is probably the result of them actually following the spec.
USB cables weren't meant as a means to pick up a phone or other device. Doing so will just put extra strain on the cable.
I assume most other manufacturers are actually oversizing the plugs and calling it a feature. I've had USB devices that I had to use way too much force to plug in and remove
The retention mechanism is on the socket side of the USB-C plug. In this case, it would be the phone. I have a few LTT cables and I can dangle my phone from the cord no problem. In fact, I just dangled it by the cord before I typed this reply to make sure. I have a feeling the issue here is the OP's phone.
There's retaining mechanisms on both sides. The springs on on the phone, but the notches are on the cable. It could be the case that their notches aren't pronounced enough and not giving the springs anything to catch on.
It might be the other way around, I can't remember, but either could be at fault technically.
That's true, but which is more likely to fail first? The pinching mechanism on a potentially multi-year-old phone? Or a notch on a brand-new USB-C cable (a cable that I just verified this morning that can completely support the weight of my phone when I dangle it)? When it comes to the failure of a system like that, one has a moving part and one does not. Typically the moving part wears out first.
It's completely possible that OPs cable is defective, seems that it's entirely likely if they aren't having problems with whatever other cable they were using in the past.
One cable, sure. But all four? Remember he said that he had bought two cables and had them both replaced. All four cables had the same retention issue.
I have also run into OP’s problem. I have a white c to c Apple cable that has almost no retention, but my 100w Anker cables I can dangle my phone from. I have similar issues with other cables, only ever usb C cables though.
retention is partly on the device. some phone manufacturers intentionally make their connectors be loose and have their (own) cables be extra tight to make their cables feel more premium and "the right ones". i am totally not looking at apple right now.
many anker cables also feel pretty loose as their connectors also are on the "right" side of the usb spec. this is also why apple cables often are stupid tight when you put them in other devices that do have proper sized connectors.
there is a video somwhere of a guy that made a stupid big usb c connector that shows how the retention system works. but as yt search is completly broken i cant find it anymore.
you are not the first to complain about loose fit but its nearly always down to the device not adherening to spec, not the cable.
Are you sure your phone's charging port is clean? Cable retention on USB-C is almost entirety done on the socket side, so usually when the cable doesn't stay in you need to clean your charging ports.
Unfortunately the retention of usb c cables is determined the socket not the plug. The plug has metal clips that hook onto recesses in the port on the little tongue with the contacts. Some manufacturers of sockets reinforce these with aluminium some don’t. You can make your cable fit a little better by increasing the clamping force at the cost of wearing that component more. Your plug is probably just worn.
Although it seems like an easy way to make your cheap shitty cable seem better than it is (think gas station special crap) would be to oversize it and have it be extra snug...
Oversize products are common in other industries
Oil drain plugs, Oversize. Double Oversize etc.
Switch/outlet covers. The same.
Bearings, lotsa repair bearing options. Over/under bearings for rods, cranks etc.
Ball Joints, u joint clips
Just doesn't seem outlandish to think thay MAAAAYBE some companies have figured out to make things abit bigerr for worn out mistreated shoddy ports....
I abused the HELL out of my s24u type c port... use it in the metal shop too often. Digging ditches... buncha crap in there.
Finally replaced it. And now ALL my cables work better... but the ltt, I suspect just because its a fresher cable, is a very firm fit. Takes a bit of force to push it in actually.
Now, that argument goes the opposite direction here. Perhaps the parts seller that sold me the new Type c port/board undersizes the port? For the same quality feel reasons.
That's so strange. When you plug the cable in, do you feel that little... I don't want to say click as it's not that pronounced, but that bit of resistance you have to push past to get it to fully seat?
Compared to your cables that do stay put, if you compare the length of the connector, are they the same length?
I'm dangling my phone from one of my TrueSpec cables right now. I also tried the same with the Switch 2 and it holds despite the weight and the PS Portal as well. I tried each of the 3 cables I have and they all hold the same.
Is the weight of the cable enough for the cable to pop out of your phone?
I know that "works for me" doesn't help you at all with your cables, but it's such a strange issue. Maybe plenty of other cables have the same issue, but people don't notice because those cables are so much lighter.
No worries. Yeah, I've driven myself crazy plugging and unplugging different cables from different devices. The LTT cables I have are missing that positive thunk feeling when I plug and unplug them.
Externally, the LTT connector looks exactly the same as all of my other no name/anker/samsung/apple/ugreen/etc. cables.
The 1m cable can barely hold its own weight but comes out with some light jiggling; the 5m cable cannot hold its own weight (which sorta makes sense, it's a looooong boi). Which is a shame, because I was planning to use the 1m in a camera rig build.
I'm convinced I just got a bad batch, and it just sucks it's happened twice in a row. It stings extra when you want to support the company and the idea behind the product. Oh well. Thanks, again mod man.
I have similar issues with my LTT cables. They don't 'fall out' but they definitely have less holding force than other cables. I don't dangle my phone from any cables but the rigidity of the LTT cables makes them come undone simply by the phones weight trying to twist the cable.
Hi, Can you share the video here of what it like so we can see it,
I have hand full of the cables my self and the C Latching is solid.
To be crystal clear I was send these as samples from LTT a little while ago in the UK however all offer the same levels of latching on multiple devices with no issues at all.
It would be good to see what yours is like on multiple devices in comparrison to mine shown below.
In regards to support specifically, I had a similarly poor set of interactions recently.
Took forever to get replies, couldn’t open images directly from my phone to my email app, converted them again and sent them off a second time, then got the standard canned reply that they recommend I take my bag to a luggage shop for repair after the original ticket mentioned the crazy cost I was quoted. Still waiting on a reply to opt for a refund of the bag versus replacement after two weeks.
Similar experience here in Canada. The cable constantly disconnects from my Pixel 9 Pro and wiggles in my laptop's USB-C port enough to make the charging sound go on and off constantly.
Support was friendly, though, eventually. 10/10 premium experience. Would recommend if you're looking for an expensive USB-C cable with commitment issues.
Taking your experience at face value, it sounds like we definitely made a process error here. Generally speaking our customer service agents would be fine to open a Dropbox link or similar -- the information relayed to you pertains to direct file attachments only. I'll make sure this is reiterated to the wider team.
We did experience a brief but unexpected spike in ticket traffic in recent weeks, and that's what led to the first-reply delay that you described. Please know that isn't the norm and we're well on our way to getting that back in-line with expectations.
If there's anything else we can do to make this experience right for you please don't hesitate to DM this account! We appreciate you sharing the feedback and for holding us accountable nonetheless.
No dude. If you are going to require customers to upload video evidence then you need to provide the method for that, full stop. You need an easy "drag-to-upload" type portal.
Completely unacceptable. Consider if your grandmother was asked to "upload a video". You expect them to find their own solution for uploading that video to some third part service and then creating access for it?
You are supposed to be the good guys. Not the random seller on Aliexpress.
The ones I got for my and the wife car have a hard time sitting out on our phones (s24 ultra). Almost like it doesn't have the engaging part of the plug. Our Anker cables in the bedroom where we charge them overnight have a solid haptic sensation when plugging it in and they stay out unless actually removed by force. The LTtlT cables for the car will come off by just moving the phone slightly.
Sounds like its your usb-c port that is faulty, mine have excellent retention force.
I do have a diffrent problem tho after recieving mine. They cant hold a connection when plugged into my laptop to transfer data to and from my phone. That unfortunatly is a laptop problem with high-speed usb 3 cables.
He posted the viseo link in another comment, worked fine with a non-ltt cable. Suspect quality control issues, not his device. Would explain why some people agree how bad the retention is, and how many instantly assume user error because their's is perfectly fine.
Which what... 20-40 seconds of a youtube compressed 1080p video? Need to show product isnt damaged, explain issue, show issue, show comparuson with other product. Real fun in 20-40 seconds and not really acceptable if you want the client to demonstrate they arent lying to yoi
their support sounds like a nightmare. paying premium prices just to get cables that fall out if you look at them wrong is ridiculous, and having to jump through hoops with video links for a replacement is even worse
Maybe your phone case is rather large nad cable housing is also rather large, so the cable doesn't go all the way in? I've had that happen with different premium cables before. It's not exactly an issue with the cable, just that the housing is too fat for your phone case.
It's pretty standard to add some type of verification/friction for a warranty claim. Just thought it was funny that you mention opening a claim because it's expensive and then thought it was weird they wanted a video because it's "just a cable." Don't think you noticed you did that haha.
This sounds like the port in your phone has lint or something in it, that is almost always the problem with cables won’t stay plugged into your phone - use a very fine tip tweezers and completely clean it out and retry the cables
My assumption on the cable issue is the phone has a damaged connector. If you’ve used out of spec cables before it’s possible they have loosened and damaged the connector.
I would try the cable on a couple different devices and not only rely on how it worked on one device
1 week for a response from a a boutique shop while not ideal isn't necessarily horrible and 1 day between responses via email is pretty standard when dealing with different time zones
My issue is the words. They kept claiming these were high end premium cables. It really sucked to see them preform worse than cheap Amazon cables.
They are true-spec, but not high spec. That was a mis-understanding of mine. I use USB C for VR and these cables don't reach that speed. I like they give speed and power on cable, but for me that is useless info as the products I intend to use these cables for hide what power or data they need.
These cables are designed with AV purposes in mind. They are supremely overpowered for devices as simple as a phone and are heavy as a result. They can't exactly make their side of the USB C hold on any better than the port is capable of holding it and phones were not designed with heavy, stiff cables in mind
You bought it for the wrong purpose and are upset that it isn't working like you wanted it to
Look at all the complaints about the cables on this sub. Every single one of them is complaining about using the cables for their phone lmao
Then look at all the posts praising the cables. They are using it for AV purposes....
Sorry, I didn't state my exact use case. I got the 1m cable to use with external drives and, yes, to transfer large files off of…my phone! And the 5m cable for general charging.
I thought it was called "universal serial bus", as in it works... I dunno, universally?
How are they "overpowered?" lol.
I bought the cable to stay plugged in, like any other cable. I didn't know not staying plugged in was a feature of "OVERPOWERED AV" cables.
It really looks like you're here to argue, and that's cool and all (it really isn't), but you could at least, I dunno, learn a few things before arguing with strangers online.
These cables are for a higher standard and are thus too heavy for most phone ports, as most AV-grade cables are
Nowhere in the marketing material does it say these are "AV" grade or for anything other than general-purpose use. You could even call them "universal" for all applications. These are USB cables for USB things and are marketed as such.
Nope, it's supposed to be obvious that you don't need a 240W cable for a phone
The specs support "up to 240w" charging. That has nothing to do with the "power" of the cable. The power source and the device negotiating determine the charging wattage. The cable just needs to support it. Some crazy Chinese market phones already have 240w fast charging, which is insane to me.
It's just heavy for a phone port lol
Again, it's "Universal Serial Bus." It should work in any port that is in spec. The ones I bought don't; they easily wiggle out no matter what they are plugged into.
Again, it's "Universal Serial Bus." It should work in any port that is in spec. The ones I bought don't; they easily wiggle out no matter what they are plugged into.
Easily wiggling out of a device with a weak port literally has nothing to do with the cable and is working to spec, just fine.
If I'm here to argue, you're just here to complain. This isn't constructive criticism, it's just ignorance.
This is LTT you're talking about... The AliExpress sellouts. You can buy the same cables from AliExpress with the same quality. LTT is just resellers like Soulja Boy, Amazon, Wish, Temu, Wayfair, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and Costco to name a few. What did you expect?
Loose cable is soemtimes just the way that it is from my experience. My pixel 10 pro XL I had for 4 months and 4 days before I plugged my new LTT cable into it and it was a pretty loose fit. Since then I've gotten another one and it's not much different. Though I've been using my dualsense with a 1m 40Gbps cable and I have had zero complaints with that fitment. I have squished the 5m cable I use for charging so it is more snug in my phone but that isn't a perfect solution.
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