Customer Reviews

Paladin Tools 1574 LAN Cable Check for Testing UTP and Phone Patch Cables and Installed Cable

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I looked at similar items in the big box stores for more than twice the price. I've never used a CAT5 tester before, so I'm not sure if those have more features for the money, but I can say that I'm perfectly happy with my Paladin 1574. It already saved me a lot of trouble by alerting me that I was wiring my CAT5 jacks to the wrong standard. I was mistakenly using the T568B standard, when my structured wiring panel requires the T568A standard. Without the tester, I wouldn't have discovered this until I was all done. Then someday down the road I'd try to put a gigabit network on the wires, and it would fail.

It may not be obvious how this thing works, even if you read the instruction sheet, but it's dead simple. You connect one end of your cable to the "out" jack on the main unit and the other end to the remote unit. The main unit sends a pulse to each pin, while you watch the lights on the remote. If the cable is good, the lights corresponding to pins 1 thru 8 will come on and go off in sequence. If the sequence is different at the remote, then something is wrong.

Two high quality jumpers with RJ45 connectors are provided, and everything fits into the nylon carrying case. There's even a slot in the back of the case for the instruction sheet. You'll want to keep this with you because the instructions explain how to interpret the lights for various miswiring scenarios.

Note that this device tests only the continuity of the wiring, not its ability to support any given bandwidth. If you stretch, fold, or mutilate your cables, or if you do a sloppy job with the terminations, the wires might test fine according to this device, but you might not get the date transfer rates you expect. There is no device in this price range that will perform a bandwidth test.

Paladin Tools 1574 LAN Cable Check for Testing UTP and Phone Patch Cables and Installed Cable Great product...came in very handy for a wiring job I did for a school.

Paladin 1574 LAN test kit does just what it says. Kit components are lightweight, but feel durable.

Paladin tools tend to be a little more on the pricey side, but are worth the money if you plan on using them more than once. My experience in the value of the premium with Paladin also comes in the form of customer service. Bought a cable tester that wound up having a bad LED on the sending unit. Emailed Paladin about how to resolve. Same day I had a reply asking me to what address they should send the replacement. 3 days later I recieved the replacement. No run around, no hassle.

Not the first Paladin tool I have purchased and use regularly, and it won't be the last.

I love this item! It is a wonderful time saver. It is amazingly simple and might seem kind of expensive, but it saves the frustration of trying to figure out if it's a bad cable or not. I only used it a few times, but I remember before without it I was never really sure if it was a cable problem or not. With this checker I could also tug and sorta bend the cable too to see if it was a connection problem. It might seem like a luxury item especially for me since I really don't work with network cables that often, but the frustration it saves me from knowing whether it's a bad cable or not makes me feel like it's almost a necessity. :) And of course I love gadgets.

No complaints about this. It's a very simple tool that works exactly as advertised. I like the carry pouch that comes with it. It has come in very handy as I have been building a network at my church.

I liked it so much I bought a second one. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is the first one had an LED burn out after about a year and that was too soon. The new one (cheaper to buy the whole unit than replace the troubled part) is working fine and everyone who uses it loves it. Since I don't know how the unit with the bad LED got treated by people who borrowed it from me I don't penalize the manufacture much.

MM

Well worth the money. While it doesn't do an actual bandwidth test, checking the continuity with this device will tell you if your cable is good or bad 99.9% of the time. You can check short cables or longer installed runs with the included remote display unit.

Like a previous poster said, Paladin's customer service is top notch. I ran into a problem with the receiver (stopped working) and called to inquire about getting a replacement, and they sent me a whole unit - no charge for the replacement and free shipping. It's unfortunately rare for a company to stand behind their products these days, but Paladin is the exception.

First and foremost you should know that this device only checks to make sure you have punched down the cables correctly. All it can do is tell you if the pairs are severed. So long as they are intact. It does not give you any indication of the quality of the cables you are testing; for that you will need much more expensive equipment. However, for what it does, it does it well and at a pretty low price. It was very useful for me when I was making my own cables to wire up my condo.

I used this to diagnose a cable issue months ago, it did spot a cable issue, I fixed it. I used it to check a cable yesterday, that cable was okay, this issue turned out to be software related. Having this tool confirmed the wire aspect of network issues.