My travel adapter melted in a Bangkok hostel, is the cheap route even worth it?

Last month I was in Bangkok and my $8 universal adapter started smoking when I plugged in my phone charger. The hostel staff yanked it out and gave me a lecture about buying those cheap ones. I replaced it with a $25 one from a proper electronics store and it's been fine since. So here's my debate: are cheap adapters ever worth the risk, or should everyone just pay up front? I know some folks say the cheap ones are fine if you only plug in low power stuff, but my phone nearly fried. Has anyone else had one fail on them in a hostel or airport?

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price.tara21d ago

Cringed hard reading this cause the exact same thing went down with me in a hostel in Vietnam. I had this little $6 adapter and it started smelling like burnt plastic the second I plugged in my laptop. The guy at the front desk was so done with me, he just handed me a proper one from behind the counter and said "this one won't kill you." I get the whole budget travel thing, but adapters are one of those items where you really do get what you pay for. Even with low power stuff like a phone, the cheap ones just don't have the safety parts inside, so it's not worth the gamble. Now I just buy the mid range ones and treat them like a one time investment, cause a fried phone or worse, a fire, is way more expensive than 20 bucks.