The ​syslog(3) facility does not support log messages with more than one line. Some syslog implementations replace embedded newlines with spaces, others output separate lines but with incomplete headers.

Smartd should issue one syslog() call for each message line.

The latest ​drivedb.h (fetched by update-smart-drivedb) has a syntax error:

  { "SMART Xcel-10 2.5 SATA SSD", //  based on http://www.smartm.com/files/salesLiterature/storage/xcel10.pdf
    "SMART A25FD-(32|64|128)GI32N",
    "",
    "", // attributes info from http://www.adtron.com/pdf/SMART_Attributes_Xcel-10_810800014_RevB.pdf
    "-v 1,raw48,Not_Supported"
    "-v 2,raw48,Not_Supported"
    "-v 191,raw48,Not_Supported"
    "-v 197,raw48,ECC_Error_Count"
    "-v 251,raw48,Minimum_Spares_Remaining_Pct" // percentage of the total number of spare blocks available
    "-v 252,raw48,Added_Bad_Flash_Block_Count" // number of bad flash blocks
    "-v 254,raw48,Total_Erase_Blocks_Count" // number of times the drive has erased any erase block
  },

should be

  { "SMART Xcel-10 2.5 SATA SSD", //  based on http://www.smartm.com/files/salesLiterature/storage/xcel10.pdf
    "SMART A25FD-(32|64|128)GI32N",
    "",
    "", // attributes info from http://www.adtron.com/pdf/SMART_Attributes_Xcel-10_810800014_RevB.pdf
    "-v 1,raw48,Not_Supported "
    "-v 2,raw48,Not_Supported "
    "-v 191,raw48,Not_Supported "
    "-v 197,raw48,ECC_Error_Count "
    "-v 251,raw48,Minimum_Spares_Remaining_Pct " // percentage of the total number of spare blocks available
    "-v 252,raw48,Added_Bad_Flash_Block_Count " // number of bad flash blocks
    "-v 254,raw48,Total_Erase_Blocks_Count" // number of times the drive has erased any erase block
  },

(note the spaces).

0x4971:0x8017 (0x8104) Works with -d sat and with -d sat,12 It's a Rosewill Armer RX307-PU3-35B. It supports USB3 and UASP, and it appears so far to be stable. $25 at Newegg.

So, it seems that I finally bought a supported device that also supports USB3 and UASP, and that has already outlasted the others I've tried:

MediaSonic? ProBox? K32-SU3 Purex Technology