Customer Reviews

Extech CT100 Network Cable Tester

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one very handy cable tester. It not only tests "computer network cables" and "TV cables" but it is also good for testing other types of cables but you wouldn't know it from the one sided instruction sheet included. So here are a few other things you can do that are not mentioned in the instructions.

1) It can tell you if a network (Cat 5) cable is a standard cable or a crossover cable. On a standard cable, the LEDs will flash green in the correct sequence (top to bottom). If the cable is a crossover cable, the green LEDs will flash out of sequence.

2) It can also test phone cables (Six pin modular phone plugs will fit fine in the eight pin modular sockets). If it 2 wire cable (red/green only), OK for single line phones, LEDs 4&5 will flash red. If it 4 wire cable (black/red/green/yellow), needed for two line phones, LEDs 3&6 and 4&5 will alternately flash red.

3) Get two Phoenix Gold F-Type (Male) to RCA (Female) Adapter or RCA Female to F-Type Coax Male Adapter and you can also test audio and video cables. Radio Shack also has them (part number 278-255 or 278-276).

If you need to trace a cable first in order to find both ends, I highly recommend PRO3000 Tone & Probe Kit. It is the one that I use.

The reason that I am giving the Extech cable tester 4 stars instead of 5 is that the EXTECH name label on both units look like they want to fall off. Overal, the units just don't have the "refined appearance" of test equipment from industry leaders like Fluke. That in itself doesn't affect how the units work but it does make me wonder about the quality of the electronics inside.

I've had my share of hard-wired cat 5e network issues and always had to resort to the old "swap the cable" tactic to find out if a cable is bad. Recently I had another issue and my current network is on a 8-port router with a 5 port switch. The internet was slowing terribly and swapping out 50 foot long cables was not practical. I bought this tool and will never go backwards again! All my cables tested fine. My router had taken a dump...

Our local Lowe's had a tester that looks exactly like this Extech and they had it priced at $59. Needless to say this Extech was a lot cheaper and even had free shipping!

This is not my first Extech purchase so my previous experience definitley help me make the choice of what label to buy. I was not wrong. You can't go wrong with the price and features of this tester! Buy one, you'll be glad you did.