You don’t think it is the cable? (Not sure what you mean by “the usb”). I doubt that Fred’s part is unreliable. I’ve developed drivers for both parts for a proprietary OS. They have different protocols over USB but both have been around a long time and considered quite robust.I bet it's not the usb, it's the usb to serial chip. My cressi cradle has proliant chip IIRC, this one sounds like it has an ftdi one. (Cressi cradle has ir to usb too.)