TRENDnet Cable Tester 10/100 COAX and TP ( TC-NT2 ) by TRENDnet
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List Price: Our Price: $39.43 You Save: $16.56 (30%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of TRENDnet Cable Tester 10/100 COAX and TP ( TC-NT2 )
Digital camera Review: A must have if you are doing your own terminations
Summary: 5 Stars
This item helped me set up my network throughout my house. I had electricians run wires to about 10 places in my house, but to save money on their hourly rate, I did the terminations on my own. It took a few practice tries, but I can now quickly terminate my CAT 5 wire and this helps validate that all is well.Digital camera Review: Affordable network cable tester.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was empoyed in the private sector for over 35 years supporting IT services including network distribution. I had available network cable testers 3, 4, or 5 times the cost factor of this unit. I now have a private IT services business in semi-retirement and cannot afford the same type of units that the big companies made available. However, this unit provides all the basic and necessary features to verify the proper termination and continuity of network cables at a much more affordable price.Digital camera Review: Anticipated implementation problem and was not let down
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are walking into a cabling cluster-mess you will need this. Found cabling issues that others worked around. Customer thought I was a trouble-shooting genius. I did not tell them that its all in the tools and knowing how and when to use them. Be prepared and git yourself one.Digital camera Review: Beware of adapters pictured here which are not included
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great cable tester for the money if you will mostly be testing UTP/STP cable. If you are looking to test coax with F-type connectors, you will need to purchase a BNC-to-F-type adapter separately; the adapter pictured in one of the customer-submitted images here is not included. The 9-volt battery is also not included.
Even with the right adapter, testing F-type-terminated coax is rather cumbersome with this tester. Since it only has an RJ45 port, you will have an RJ45-to-BNC adapter (included) plugged into the tester, a BNC-to-F-type adapter (not included) plugged into the RJ45-to-BNC adapter, and finally the cable you want to test at the end of the chain.
I returned this tester to Amazon and purchased a Paladin Tools LAN ProNavigator instead, which has both RJ45 and BNC ports and includes a BNC-to-F-type adapter, a BNC-to-RCA adapter, a patch cord, and a battery. This allowed me to test all the wiring in my new house quickly, with only one adapter hanging off the side of the tester, and without having to go buy batteries or missing parts.
Digital camera Review: Builds Confidence
Summary: 4 Stars
You could just connect it to a computer and see if it works, but this helps build some confidence. This was my first attempt to crimp CAT5/6 ethernet cables and wire my home. I bought a spool of CAT5 and ends from Home Depot, bought the Trendware crimp tool & this tester tool online. I just wanted some confidence that the connections were okay.
I assume the tool did something complex, but it doesn't. It just tells you that all the connections are solid. I had absolutely no problem with this tool. It worked perfectly. It just doesn't really test out the line other than make sure connections from one end reach the other end. It does *not* catch twisted pair issues.
By the way, don't forget to look up color diagrams and make sure you use the correct twisted pairs together. It isn't enough to just have the right stright-through connections from one end to another. You must match the correct pairs. Although color doesn't matter, you have to pair the expected two at the other end. That's how it does error correction, by assuming the same interference is seen on each twisted pair and cancels out the same signal on both. If you don't pair them correctly, it cannot error correct. I needed a 50 foot run under the house, and it didn't work until I paired the correct twisted pair. Do some internet research on this and print some colored guides. This tool doesn't test for that.
In the end, I still recommend this to build confidence. If you did mess up a connection, it isn't worth my time to mess with it another 1/2 hour or to find out later that it doesn't work at all. So for that confidence and saving you time, I recommend it.