Professional Crimping Tool

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

Been using this tool for years now and its still going strong. Most of my Friends that got into Computer work bought simmilar priced Crimpers and they only lasted a Year under the stress of Professional use.

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

Replacement blades can be special ordered at your local Radioshack store. RSU part# 12421418 as of 05/04/2011. Remember part cost + S&H due to special order.

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

I used this to crimp my first cat5e cables, and it worked great every time. Easy to use, and makes a good, solid crimp. The tool itself feels well constructed. My cables worked first time and I will definitely be using this again.

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

Tech specs NEED to list the RJ jack numbers with maximum conductor count for compatibility and cable shape.
IE: RJ-11 2c or 4c, RJ-13 4c or 6c, RJ-45 8c? Strips FLAT cable ONLY, Crimps Cat5.

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

Very tight feel--the blue Belkins always feel like they're going to fall apart. I'm never had a mis-crimp (like one of the copper blades not going all the way in) like I've had with others. My only gripe is, where can I get replacement cutter blades? Mine have a lot of miles on 'em.

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

It works well, but the instructions on the back of the package are inadequate. I bought it to work with Cat-5 Ethernet cable (twisted pair), the instructions on the card are only for flat modular cable.

The built-in cutter and stripper is really only for flat cable, don't use it on round Cat-5 cable, it will cut into the inner wires.

For correct wiring, the instructions only say to make sure the color of the wires at one end are opposite the other end(right wire at one end to left wire at other end). This is wrong for Ethernet cables. Ethernet can be straight or crossover, but this instruction is wrong for both. Ethernet uses pairs of wires that should match the twisted pairs in Cat-5 cable (these are not in pairs across the RJ-45 connector pins), the cable will have noise problems if correct pairs aren't used. If you ignore the wiring instructions on the card for this tool and look up correct Ethernet connector wiring (easy to find online), the cables you make will work fine, but if you follow the instructions on the card they probably won't work at all.

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

very reliable, holds up well with extensive use, have not had any problems, after 2 years of use the blade on the cutter is worn some but still works good

Comments about RadioShack Professional Crimping Tool:

I use this primarily for 8P8C CAT-5 connectors (a.k.a. "RJ-45" connectors) and it stands up to repeated use. I've never had any problems with this tool that weren't due to operator error! Worth the money in my opinion. I'm not sure how they could improve this product, unless they found a way for it to untwist and line up the CAT-5 twisted wire pairs for you...