Why can charging our devices get so complicated?

Question

For some people, depending on their charging needs, usually based on the number of devices they need to charge can get very confusing. Here are some scenarios. After which if there is any one that can provide some insight in how to charge devices using non-apple chargers and cables, PLEASE shed some light on us less than technical folk.
It all started with the 3' only Apple cord. Sorry, it's simply too short. Yes I can use an extension cord, but not always. in the house. OK. but what about if you travel? Fly a lot, etc. I don't want to be carrying an extension cord or worse a power strip to plug in 2 or more devices. Then came the Made in China 6' and 10' cords. Still nothing from Apple. As anyone who's tried these, they often last a week or bring up the dreaded error (paraphrasing) "this not supported and may not function properly"
Some time later better reliable cords appeared on market from folks like Belkin and Griffin, that didn't' seem to conjure these errors. Some disagree though.
But what about double chargers? Still nothing from Apple. To fill this vacuum a host of double USB cigarette and wall wart chargers arrived which complicated the problem because now it was sometimes the combination of which 3rd party charger and cord combo that was the issue. Example: the OEM cord works fine in the 2 or 4 USB wall charger, but add a 3rd party cord and it would bring up the error warning. Take the same 3rd party cord and plug it into your OEM Apple charger and all was well. Clearly the combo was the problem.
I found that if you squeeze the end of the USB so it dipped a fraction to make the connection into the charger tighter, this would stop charging issues. Trial and error Voodoo at best.
This isn't meant to be a finger point at Apple, although it is very surprising that longer cords and multi-chargers for car and wall were never developed and Apple knows there are tons of garbage that not only don't charge reliably, consistently (some days they work, others for no reason don't), at all, or may even damage your device. BTW, Apple did finally make a 6' cord. Pricey, but available. Thankfully. Still no 10' or multi-port USB chargers though. And who doesn't need a 2-port charger in the car for you and your passenger(s) on long trips?
Why is charging such a mystery and why aren't their at least Apple blessed products we can depend on?
Regardless, Apple hasn't so if you need longer cables and multi-chargers you are left to fend for yourself and use trial and error purchases, returns until you find something that works. Why on earth after spending as much as we do for very sophisticated and beloved iDevices are we running around from vendor to vendor trying to find a reliable safe charging system. When I recently discovered that it could be the cord, charger or combination, that's when I realized just how unnecessarily difficult this was.
Enter products like Mophie charging cases for iPhone which use a regular USB and mini USB male jack and their 3rd party longer cables and the problem carries over to these products too. I have a Mophie because I'm in the field all day and need extra battery time. It's a God send.
Recently I had to put an inverter into my cigarette lighter, then an Anker 4 USB port 100v charger to get enough power to get a totally drained co-worker's iPhone working. The battery was too low for my Scosche dual USB cigarette charger to bring it to life. 150 watt / Anker to the rescue. That was my most out of the box solution yet.
I installed a number of RCA chargers that go over your 110v dual wall sockets and provide you with 4 110v outlets and 2 USB, 2.1s and yesterday found my IXCC 10' USB/8-pin, which has been totally reliable in my Belkin similar wall set up now got the alert warning and my Mophie USB/USB doesn't provide power at all! If I plug the USB/USB into either my OEM iPad, iPhone or Anker USB 4 port, all's well. Being the weekend and frustrated prompted this post plus I know in my office alone so many are befuddled and if a good sample, many Apple users have to be too.
Why the garbage products are allowed on the market, or why the Amazons of the world who take them back regularly keep offering the substandard ones is a mystery to me. I've returned at least 6-8 items between cords and chargers.
Lastly there is the possible truth or folk lore that Apple has a proprietary chip in their cords which is the cause of the alert errors on non-Apple cords. But then why do some work? And some work plugged into some non-Apple multi-chargers and some are fine with some chargers and not with others. Ugh.
Does any one know why some cords simply don't work or work well? Is the wire inside too thin? Is QA so poor that the wires inside don't always get connected to the USB and 8-pin or micro USB jack lugs inside?
And what about the chargers? Not to mention some being 2.1 and some 1.5 boasting that using 2.1 on our iPhones that come with 1.5 chargers will charge up faster. But at what cost I wonder.
Lastly, for the Techies out there, I saw in Home Depot the other day you can now buy installable 110v outlets with 2 (or more) USB jacks to replace your standard 2 outlet 110v wall sockets. Clearly USB has landed. Even power strips have USBs now.
But how do we choose? How to we stop wasting money buying ones that don't work, and are our Apple devices safe using anything other than Apple charging parts. If so, why doesn't Apple make a dual USB cigarette charger and 2, 4 or more wall charger since so many of us have 2 devices or more, or have families all with Apple products and great need for simple reliable safe charging. Especially since we can't live without our iPhones and iPads anymore.
I wonder if there is a summary sheet online that lists what works and what to stay away from. Still confused why Apple hasn't put an end to this madness.

Answer 1

Steven Shmerler wrote:
It all started with the 3' only Apple cord. Sorry, it's simply too short. Yes I can use an extension cord, but not always. in the house. OK. but what about if you travel? Fly a lot, etc. I don't want to be carrying an extension cord or worse a power strip to plug in 2 or more devices.
What prevents you from using an extension cord? And yes, I always take one with me when traveling as hotels (and guest rooms) rarely have enough outlets. I also generally carry this:
http://www.amazon.com/3-Outlet-Charger-Protector-Charging-Outlets/dp/B0015DYMVO/ ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1412528286&sr=8-6&keywords=belkin+power+strip
I've never found charing any of my iOS devices complicated. I plug them in. They charge. I rarely use anything but genuine Apple cables and chargers (except for the Belkin car charger). I generally use iPad chargers as they can charge both iPhone and iPads. When I'm using a mophie case, I generally use the mophie desktop charger (fantastic!) or, whatever random microUSB cable and chargers are lying around. I can't say I've ever had any problems. It also doesn't feel very "mysterious" to me. I'd say my advice boils down to one thing "Don't buy cheap chargers."