Is the blob on the end of my usb cable important?

[gallet]

I'm refering to that little cylinder that comes with some usb cable but not others. The garmin usb cables all seem to have this device, however I accidentally grabbed one from my digital recorder instead, which uses the same mini usb jack but it does not have the cylinder on it.

 

It appears that it made no difference to the Colorado and I was wondering exactly what the purpose of the device is, especially with regards to a gps.

[+twolpert]

It's an RF choke. Meant to decrease interference generated by data transfer on the cable. Less important with USB 1.1 devices (like the Colorado), which use a much lower transfer rate than USB 2.0 devices. Lack will not cause problems with the data transfer, but rather with nearby devices like wireless routers, the WiFi card in your computer, etc.

[+Team Spike]

It's called a ferrite bead. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead

 

Andy

[gallet]

excellent, it's somewhat comforting to know that the experts call them 'lumps' and 'goobers', I don't feel so bad about referring to it as a 'blob' now.