Help with low end cable/tone tester
 

I was spoiled with cable testers/network managers in previous lives.... I have bought 3 different "cheap" testers only needing cable testing and tone generation. They all die.... its pretty simple tests yet these things keep breaking, the last one I have fails all 4 & 5 cables.

Can anyone suggest a "cheap" tester that lasts for medium use. Not doing any datacenters or 50+ network drop locations.

where did you buy your last cheap cable testers from? I would wager anything bought thru retail chanels is notgoing to last. Try a distributor like Gray Bar, ADI-Butek, Honeywell, or Ecol Electric. ANYTHING thru these guys will get the job done proper.

Even most electronic stores will have better stuff than retail stores.

last one was a Paladin, though i have tried various others. I don't walk into retail stores very often and have wholesale accounts with various places. just looking for a solid unit model number. I used to use fluke meters that were worth more then my car at the time, but since this is not my bread and butter i just want something to work on line tests, hell if it will validate tcp/udp and different speeds i will be tickled. figure at "cheap" i will be lucky to get one that lasts let alone does any other basic tests.

ahhh... my Paladin has lasted for years and is still going

Paladin Tools PA1573 LAN & Telecom Cable Test Kit | TESSCO

It sucks for bigger jobs tho... (the toner is not strong enough to find long long cable runs in a pile).

If its network cables Ethernet you want to test then try out an Ideal Tools one from Home Depot works well and will do cat6

IDEAL | Multimedia Cabling Tester - VDV | Home Depot Canada

These here do cable to


I have a monoprice one that works well to similar to above

Palidan #1543 also good