Review: NOYCE 13' (4m) Lightning cable

tl;dr: If you need a long Lightning cable, this is one of the few reliable options. If you need the fastest charging possible for an iPad, stick to Apple's much shorter cable.

A year or so ago, the owner of NOYCE Labs sent me a sample iPhone-compatible microphone to test, and I really liked it—I still use it for impromptu recordings with my iPhone, in fact!

NOYCE 4m 13ft Lightning Cable with Box

So when I got an email requesting I review NOYCE's latest product, the longest (at least that I know of) Lightning USB cable available on Amazon, I gladly accepted. NOYCE sent me their 13-foot-long (4 meters for the non-Imperial reader) Lightning cable, and I've used it for a couple months now, so I figured it was a good time for a review.

Build Quality

This cable's ends are very close in dimension and fit-and-finish to the generic Amazon Basics Lightning cable, though very slightly thicker.

NOYCE 4m 13ft Lightning Cable end closeup

The box doesn't have the official MFi designation from Apple, but it's of similar quality to other 3rd party MFi cables. I'm presuming NOYCE hasn't gotten the cable MFi certified simply because of the costs of said certification, and because this is the first mass-market product NOYCE is selling through Amazon.

That said, I have no qualms about using this cable instead of the setup I used to use for charging at night. I used to have a 3m USB extension cable, then Apple's official Lightning cable connected to the end. But it was always a bit unwieldy, and sometimes the connection in the middle of such a long cable would get loose.

Now I use the NOYCE cable, and have not had any issues charging the iPad for the past two months. Both ends of the cable fit snugly, and the cable itself doesn't get kinks or get dirty any worse than my other USB cables.

Charging and Syncing

Because I've had issues with some longer Lightning cables in the past, I wanted to make sure the NOYCE cable would work well recharging my iPad or iPhone. At maximum, you can pull around 2 Amps (2000 mA) to recharge an iOS device quickly, so I wanted to see if the length of the cable would affect the charging rate.

I plugged my PowerJive USB power meter inline with the cable and compared it to my short Apple Lightning cable, and it looks like it holds up just as well during large charging sessions on the iPhone.

NOYCE Lightning cable measured by PowerJive meter
The NOYCE adapter put through a maximum of 1.59A when charging the iPad.

Apple Lightning cable measured by PowerJive meter
The Apple adapter put through a maximum of 1.96A when charging the iPad.

With the iPad, things aren't quite as rosy, as the NOYCE cable allowed a maximum of ~1.6 Amps, while the Apple cable allowed a maximum of ~2.0 Amps, meaning the charge times would be reduced by 20-30% when using Apple's own cable (or, presumably, other MFi-certified cables).

I also plugged it into my Mac, and iTunes immediately recognized the iPhone. I could also import pictures and videos through Image Capture or Photos without issue.

Summary and Where to Buy

Discounting the fact that this cable charges devices very slightly slower when used to the highest capacity, it's one of the longest Lightning cables available, and for the price, it's a great deal. If you need the absolute fastest-charging cable, you'll have to go for a shorter one. But if you need the absolute longest reach with a solid, reliable cable, check out this one!

You can buy the NOYCE 13 foot Lightning Cable from Amazon for ~$20.