OEMs and Apple-vetted accessories companies (such as Belkin) should always be used since they have a guaranteed quality check before they're packaged and shipped. Sure they may run a little more than your generic 2 bucks a pop wire or A/C adapters, but that's a small price to pay compared to replacing your phone by paying the MSRP. And in terms of length of your cable, yes having a 6ft cable is great, but the reason why 99% of USB cables that you'll ever see in abundance are within the 2-3ft (or about 0.5 to 1m) range is because of the ability for the cable to short extremely easily. It's convenient, but is a huge hit-or-miss, even if it's an Apple-branded 2m cable. It's best to just get one standard size USB cable at about $20 rather than going through 5-6 annually at $10-20 a pop, or in the case of your standard sized non-OEM/certified cables, going through 10-20 of them annually at $2-3 a pop.
There was a tech post not too long ago somewhere that had the tear-down of the now "standard" 5W wall charger in comparison to Chinese-generic/non-Apple ones, and it shows that the $19 for that little white plastic brick that seems far from worth its value is definitely worth the extra bit compared to your Chinese knock-offs in terms of safety for the consumer as well as longevity for your device.
