Thors Magnetic Charging Cable review

Thors’ NZ$15 magnetic charging cable can save your precious devices from an early grave.

A magnetic charging cable has two main advantages over an everyday cable.

First, it protects your hardware from being flung across the room if you trip or otherwise yank the cord.

Second, magnets snap connections together fast. Connections are instant, you can do it in the dark. There is no shuffling around making sure things fit. It makes life a lot easy if, say, you have ports hidden on the back of a device in places that you don’t normally see.

Likewise, you can unplug a cable straight away without stressing the connection. This means the cable and, in some cases the ports, last longer.

Have a safe trip

Everyday cables rely on a snug fit between a plug and socket. Give the cable a good tug and you’ll pull the device. Tripping over the cable can break your device, smash the screen and cause other chaos.

I tested two Thors magnetic cables. The USB-C one has two parts. One part is a USB plug. It sticks in the device leaving a small magnetic surface that sticks out about 3mm.

This marries up with a similar magnetic surface that’s mounted on a pivot to give it flexibility. There’s a small blue LED to show when it is connected to a power supply at the other end. In the case of this cable the other end is a USB-3 plug that connects to the power supply brick.

The magnets holding the connection pull apart without needing much force. When the two get close, the connection snaps into place. If you trip on the cable, the inertia of the device means it will not move much, instead the magnets come apart.

Remember Apple MagSafe?

Anyone who owned an older Apple laptop will remember the companies MagSafe connectors. These were standard fare on MacBooks until around five years ago.

It was a bad day when Apple stopped using MagSafe. The technology saved many Apple users from accidentally wrecking MacBooks.

There is something similar on Microsoft Surface devices. Other computer brands can have variations on the theme. Or they did until the industry decided to standardise on USB-C.

Thors has a variety of options. There are one metre and two metre cables, charge cables and data-charge cables. You can buy extra plugs. You’ll find them in computer stores or can buy direct from the Thors website.