ReTrak Retractable USB Superspeed 3.0 Cable (ETCableRU3AB)

At $20 for a cable, I expected a high quality component. While it feels fairly solid, it has exhibited performance and reliability issues (Note: I'm only using it connected to USB 3.0 ports). On one machine the connection would drop out after less than a minute, and two others produced very slow transfer speeds. Writing a 2GB video file to the drive using the stock USB 3.0 cable worked flawlessly on all three computers and produced around 50MB/s sustained write speeds, whereas the ReTrak cable dropped the exact same transfer to about 30MB/s (on the two computers it stayed connected to; I used the same video file, same USB 3.0 port, etc. to remove variables). I should mention that I've been using numerous other USB 3.0 devices without issue, so it's not a matter of a faulty driver or bad physical connector on any of the three PC's I tested on. At any rate, if this were a cheap, generic cable, I'd write it off as "getting what I paid for." With this, I clearly did not.Update: The disconnects were due to a BIOS issue so the cable wasn't at fault. I tested transfer speeds on that machine once I sorted it out and it had the same 20MB/s drop in transfer speeds as the other two.

First let me say I love Retrak products, I own 5 and I regularly travel with a number of different types. I was pleased there finally was a USB 3.However, it does not work correctly. It was a 50/50 chance whether my hard drives would mount using it and when they did mount, it was at USB 2 speeds, not USB 3. This was confirmed by viewing the system profiler on my Mac running 10.8.4.I called Retrak and they confirmed that this is the first batch they got and there apparently is a problem. They were gracious about refunding my money even though I bought it through Amazon.Eventually I am sure it will work, but I may not buy it again because it was way bigger and bulkier than I expected and carrying a short USB cable takes up less space and weight. However, the Retrak is really long, so if I wanted to travel with a longer cord it would be great.

I noticed some of one of my devices (wireless mouse) had noticeable delay when connected through this cable (leading to a USB 3.0 Hub, which performed very well with another cable). It may be because of the length of the cable, but I am not yet sure. The bottom line is there is a noticeable lag when I use this, otherwise, very convenient cable.

I was excited to get this, the retractable mechanism is great for keeping my workstation mobile.Transcoding some H264 footage into ProRes caused the drive to unexpectedly eject again and again, luckily no media was corrupted. I then tested it on another drive and it didn't mount at all.It's a great design but unfortunately the connection isn't reliable enough for the data transfers necessary for video editing.

The reason I got this cable was that I needed a travel USB 3.0 cable to extend my USB 3.0 hard drive a few feet. I found out that this cable doesn't transfer enough power to my hard drive! The drive attempts to spin up but it can't read. If you need it for anything besides powered spinning hard drives it works great... just beware.

The Cable have a nice quality and is very well construct, is very robust. Compatible with all the USB Drives that i tested without any problem. Just take 1 star cause is not compatible with mi Nokia Lumia 920 Smartphone, only work for charge but not for data no matter which cable i use for the phone. Anyway is one of the best robust and well made Retractable cable that i tested.

I attached a slim external hard drive to the top of my MacBook Air in order to store my movies and pictures and needed a cable that wouldn't flop around but be able to reach both when my laptop was closed and open. This turned out to be the perfect fix and I couldn't be happier. The connectors are very solid and I have not had any issues with it whatsoever. It's not too bulky, and once I get a new laptop I'll definitely be repurposing it.

Sturdy cable, works great to make hard to reach USB ports on back of wall-mounted tv accessible without creating a cable nest! Transmits videos from USB 3.0 thumb drive sharp and crisp.

It seems to work with 2/3 of my External Hard Drives, the two that are powered directly from USB. But ironically it won't work with my main USB drive, which has it's own external power supply. Windows can't mount it, complains about the drive malfunctioning, but it works using a normal USB cable - a little disappointing.