Network Cable tester - Any recommendations?

[Optical]

Hi all,

I do cable pulls from time to time for my clients. I have only used a low-end pin reader in the past and thinking of upgrading to some thing decent. Something w/ LCD read out and able to do a distance count would be nice. I know there are some nice out there but beyond my budge. Thinking of < $200.

Suggestions?

 

[spidey07]

fluke makes some very nice cable testers.

The big boys will certify the cable to cat5/cat6, etc and cost thousands of dollars (worth every penny)

I bought the smaller network testers for the PC team and they work great. Performs basic continuity/pin out tests and generall network stuff.

check them out. I know of nothing that does what these little boys do at this price point.

http://www.cdw.com/shop/produc...efault.aspx?EDC=596222

 

[Optical]

spidey, thks. didn't know about this one. Seems not bad for the price/features.

 

[narzy]

if you only do it once in a blue moon having a good one is nice but sometimes not practical. the cheapo ones generally work well enough for small job needs and you can find them for between $5 and $25. One major drawback to the cheap cable testers is that don't genreally give you a specific wire map, and don't indicate which end has the problem if there is one. This all said, I go with spidey's suggestion of fluke, LANpro is ok too but its hard to beat a fluke device. The only thing I don't see this having (its not in the features list) is TDR or Time Domain Reflexomitry (I know I butchered that word.) Or the ability to accuratly measure the length of the run to make sure your staying within the 100m limit of certified cableing.

 

[spidey07]

that fluke model has basic TDR functionality in it.

Heck, even the server NICs have cable testers in them these days. WOW!

http://www.flukenetworks.com/u...anner+Pro/Overview.htm

 

[Optical]

What do you think of the Ideal LinkMaster Pro tester? It also does distance measurement. How does this compare to the Fluke in features?

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/tmt/idliprote.html

 

[spidey07]

I've never messed with it but it seems pretty cool. See if you can find test times. Fluke is known for really fast testing (as in a couple seconds). It helps out if testing a bunch at once.

 

[ScottMac]

The FLuke NetPro kit also does tone generation (use with an inductive probe to trace or ID cables), and an ID kit ... you plug a things into each of several info outlets, the tester will tell you which one you've connected to (saves some running).

I've got the Fluke kit, I think it went for ~US$350.00. I love it.

It'll do continuity (connected end-to-end), polarity (no flipped pair), and TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry - cable length to ~ + / - 18").

Great Kit. I absolutely recommend it.

Good Luck


Scott

 

[Optical]

Still looking for the right tester. Came across the Test-um NT700, which does TDR, cable checks, AND pings! The unit runs around $220 or so. Comparing this to the Fluke Microscanner, I think this is not bad at all. Any comments? Pretty cool unit for the price. Normally you would have to buy a separate unit for the ping function.

 

[JackMDS]

Link to: http://www.test-um.com/testum/charts/lanscaper.asp

:sun: