I tried the $20 Klein crimper against the $80 Fluke and it wasn't even close

Had to do 30 cat6 ends at a new build in Boise yesterday. My old Klein snap-in tool finally died so I grabbed the budget replacement from the supply house. First 5 ends, three failed the continuity test. Swapped to a borrowed Fluke from another crew member and only had 1 fail out of the rest. The cheap one just doesn't seat the pins deep enough every time. Anyone else run into this or did I just get a bad tool?

2 comments

2 Comments

david73920d ago

Same problem with a $30 Ideal I tried last year. The spring tension on the cheap ones just gives out after like 50 crimps, it's the metal quality that's the difference.

the_karen20d ago

50 crimps? Man, that's rough. I bought a Klein about two years ago @david739 and it's still going strong - I've probably done a few hundred connections with it. The difference in spring steel is night and day once you handle both side by side. Good tools are worth the extra money when you're doing more than a handful of repairs.