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Avoid dongle hell with this 5-in-1 charging cable

Avoid dongle hell with this 5-in-1 charging cable

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Five cables in one

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As I will likely continue repeating until the heat death of the universe, life would be great if everything used USB-C. Sadly, everything doesn’t use USB-C, which is why I have to carry around a separate pouch of dongles and cables to make sure I can charge all of my gadgets. But the High Five — a crowdfunded mini-cable that claims to be the “world‘s first 5-in-1 charging cable” — might be able to help with that.

The High Five is being made from Vonmählen, a new smartphone accessory company. The cable is actually two cables in one: a USB-C jack with a hybrid Lightning / Micro USB jack, and a regular USB-A jack that has both USB-C and Micro USB inputs on the other.

Need a USB-C to Lightning or USB-C to Micro USB cable? Just use the first half on its own. USB-A to Lightning or Micro USB? Take the first cable and plug the USB-C jack into the USB-C port on the second piece, and you’ve Frankensteined the cable you need. Likewise, if you want USB-C to USB-A, just flip that setup around by plugging in the Micro USB / Lightning jack into the matching port on the other piece.

When you’re done, everything stores together neatly. Just plug the USB-C and Micro USB ends into the half to create a neat loop that can hang on your keys.

The setup is very hacky, which explains why its’ only rated for a relatively low 2.4A1 charging speed — things like USB-C PD support or fast charging are definitely out here — but the High Five seems more like the sort of emergency cable you’d keep with you for a quick charge on the go, not as your primary charger. With that mindset, it seems like a pretty clever idea.

But there are concerns. The hybrid Lightning / Micro USB plug here almost certainly lacks Apple’s MFi blessing, which may mean that it may not work as well (or it may get blocked by future Apple updates). Adding USB-C into the mix with its own complex set of spec standards isn’t exactly a recipe for confidence.

Plus, High Five is a crowdfunded product. Vonmählen is still in the prototype stage and has yet to start production, which means delays could happen — especially considering that this is a relatively new company that hasn’t shipped many products.

Vonmählen is looking to crowdfund the High Five on Indiegogo and Kickstarter where you’ll be able to pick one up for an early bird discount of 14 euros (roughly $15.91), with shipping promised later this year in May.