[BIG]

Just curious about these new A-B USB printer cables that are not supplied when you buy a new printer. I notice that they are sold in stores for usually around $15-20 (probably something like a 1500% markup considering they are probably made for $1 each)

Anyway, I noticed that they are on sale at the dollar store as well. Should I be worried that the dollar store ones are going to cause a fire and burn my house down or are they a safe alternative to forking out a ridiculous amount of cash for a cable?

[Jmac]

The dollar store ones are kind of flimsy (cheap solder joints, stiff copper, etc.), but work fine as long as you don't need to snake them around a bunch of corners.

The ones you buy from a retail store will be better quality, but have a lot of markup on them.

If you buy cables from NCIX, for example, you'll probably spend half the money ($5-$10) and get an equivalent quality cable.

[Great68]

500mA at 5VDC (Current & Voltage of a USB port) is not going to cause a fire EVER.

You could use the shittiest cables in the world and it's not going to be unsafe.

Yes dollar store cables would work fine.

[BIG]

Great! Thanks for the info guys, appreciate it.

[underscore]

new?? anyways yeah, just buy the cheap ones, since it's a printer I'm assuming once the cable is in place it won't be moving so you don't really have to worry about the lower quality connections breaking down.

[gars]

if you're really that worried, buy a few at $1. if it dies, you have a backup or two...