Check Dodge Reviews — he has reviewed a lot of micro-USB (and other) cables, and has compiled a spreadsheet table of the ones he tested:
I’ve also tried an Anker PowerLine+ 1m micro-usb, TronSmart 1.8m micro-USB cable, and BlitzWolf BW-CB7 1m micro-usb cable, which are excellent (Anker PowerLine is the best in terms of least voltage drop).
I also bought and tried out JianHan reversible micro-USB cable (1m, 2m) and these were excellent (at par or better than the TronSmart/BlitzWolf) and just slightly less than the Anker in current-load/voltage drop test. I was very satisfied with my first order, that I ordered again. Unfortunately the second batch had erratic quality — its 2m micro-USB cable had a significant voltage drop (the first batch 2m micro-USB was excellent), so my guess is that they indeed cut costs
— eg. the 1st order JianHan “JH-002” 2m cable weighed 48.7grams and had minimal voltage drop considering its length. The 2nd batch JH-002 2m cable weighed only 33.3g — significant cost cutting.
- the 1st order JianHan “JH-002” 1m cable weighed 27.7grams and the voltage drop is just slightly below the Anker PowerLine+ (slightly better than the BlitzWolf and TronSmart I mentioned above). But the 2nd order JH-002 1m now weighs only 19.8g and while voltage drop is still “OK” among the “ordinary” 1m cables, it’s definitely not excellent — more on the average or below-average.
So, I ordered the JianHan reversible micro-USB cable from the AliExpress JianHan official store. It looks like they may do an excellent first batch, but subsequently reduce the quality (significantly!) on later batches.