[teh_klev]

> And for safety-critical purchases

Yep, I avoid anything that's going to need a wall-wart power supply, I really don't need to wake up in the middle of the night to find out it's burned the house down. Some of the PSU's Big Clive[0] has dismantled and studied are downright scary.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom/videos

[dwyerm]

There's an interesting middle ground forming, though: First-Quality Third-Party.

I would not want to buy a first-party charger because I think they're way too expensive. However, I'm also not going to just buy the least expensive one, because as Clive has shown, they're unreliable at best and downright dangerous at worst.

But I've bought dozens of items from Monoprice and Anker. They have made a brand for themselves as being high quality and low cost.

Of course, the whole house of cards comes tumbling right down once the counterfeiters stop bothering to make 'App1e' chargers and start making 'Ankeer' and 'Moonprice' models.

[dzhiurgis]

> Of course, the whole house of cards comes tumbling right down once the counterfeiters stop bothering to make 'App1e' chargers and start making 'Ankeer' and 'Moonprice' models.

Reminded model servos Tower Pro, who were sort of knock off Blue Birds (copy of their distinct blue colour). Cue few years later someone started making Toward Pro...

[wtallis]

I've consolidated most of the 12V gadgets in my office to run off my PC's power supply, through a PCIe power to barrel connector cable that was made for bitcoin mining rigs. I've replaced several wall warts with a $10 cable that can be visually inspected for safety, and I'm probably saving a few watts in the process.