Boycott Monster Cable!

I'm gonna get techie (again) for a minute...

Monster Cable has had a pretty good racket running for a long time now. They have somehow been able to convince customers that they make a much better product than everyone else, and that they're lucky to pay for that privilege. Truth be told, they do build slightly better quality cable that can hold up to more abuse than most, but they don't pass signals any better, and aren't worth anything near the premium they charge.

If it were just that issue I don't think I'd have too big a problem with them; people have the right to spend money how they choose, though I personally very rarely buy any of their stuff. But I am officially boycotting them now for two other reasons.

The first is that they outright lie to consumers to get them to buy products. I recently saw an article where a display had been setup by Monster to demonstrate the difference between their cables and a competitor's video cables. But an astute observer investigated further and found that the two televisions used in the demonstration were connected using totally different types of signals... the Monster demonstration was hooked up to the best quality high definition input, the competitor was hooked up to the worst quality standard definition input. Of course they're going to look different! One is HD, the other is SD! But this is typical of the marketing techniques that they use, and have somehow convinced some retailers (including Best Buy) to buy into. Don't you fall for it!

The other is their litigious nature. They are attempting to sue everybody that includes the word Monster in their company or product names, even if they don't produce anything electronic. Trademarks are only valid when using a similar name would impose confusion on a customer, so I hardly think that miniature golf creates any confusion with electronics cabling. In most cases, Monster picks on small companies that can't afford to defend themselves and they often go out of business as a result. That's just wrong. (Recently, however, they attempted to pick on Blue Jeans Cable, whose owner is a lawyer. For a funny but knowledegable response to Monster's claim, see http://www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/index.htm.)

So I've reached my breaking point. I'm officially boycotting all Monster Cable products, and encourage everyone I know to do the same. There are many alternative sources of great cables out there, and I encourage anyone purchasing audio/video products to use one of them instead:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com (great quality, good price)
http://www.monoprice.com (acceptable quality, great price)
http://www.cablewholesale.com (good quality for their 'premium' products, good price)