I bought my iPhone 5 at the end of September 2013. None of my old iPhone 30-Pin connectors work with it since they aren't lightning so I had to buy new cables, plus the one that comes with the iPhone is really short anyway. Instead of paying about $20 EACH I bought 3 for a couple bucks online from a Hong Kong retailer I use. They charged really slowly/never to 100% and in general I wasn't happy with them.
I can live with that b/c they were so cheap, but after a couple weeks I think I noticed a decline in battery life after using these cables? Apparently only the Apple-made ones have the correct circuitry in them to protect the battery from damage and stuff -- is this true/possible? I don't know if it's just in my head but it doesn't seem to last as long.
Some people say hey a cable is a fricking cable, if it charges and doesn't catch fire no problem. Others I've heard say don't use knock off lightning cables until the manufacturers have their act together since its a lot newer than the 30-Pin.
My second question is if a cheap USB extender is alright to use with the OEM cable…