Customer Reviews

PEX Pocket Crimper - Combination 3/4, 1/2, 3/8

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

 

 

I'm a do-it-yourself kind of guy, and I love this tool. I'm redoing the plumbing in my house, replacing it with PEX, and I couldn't justify over $100 for a tool. I would need at least two different ones. The local rental place was also charging $50 a day. This tool took care of everything I needed for $40! It works like a charm for my small project. I can imagine a large project might be a bit laborious, but anything else would be great. This is solid steel and will last longer than I will. It's perfectly engineered to fit just right and slip into tight spaces. I highly recommend this!

I bought this tool based on Jason Miller's review. I borrowed a 'genuine' PEX crimper in 2005 when I replaced a water heater. Now in 2007 I'm remodeling two bathrooms & a kitchen. I did not have the option of borrowing the 'genuine' tool this time - did not want to spend $100+ for a genuine crimper and figured if I rented the tool three times as I worked through these projects that would be expensive too. I've used the Yankee crimper to do one bathroom so far. I found the tool to be well designed & rugged. The only major difference I found is the 'genuine' crimper is faster. If I was building a house I'd opt for the 'genuine' crimper. For remodeling projects like mine the Yankee crimper is great. It does everything the more expensive crimper does. I used the tool the way the directions said to & every crimp was a good one. A++

I thoroughly enjoy telling the guys at Home Depot and Lowes "no thanks" when they tell me I need the $90/ea crimp tools to use PEX fittings. Not only is it an incredible value, it has the additional advantage of allowing crimping at any angle in tight spaces. I have replaced fittings tucked up in the floor joists that would not have been possible with the big crimpers.

Also, you'll get a good forearm workout with the vise grips.

Thank you for creating this product.

I've read the negative reviews for this tool and I can't comprehend what these folks are doing wrong to give them such a poor experience. I read the review where someone suggested using 12" Channellocks instead of of Vice Grips. My experience using large vice grips to crimp 3/4 pex presented no problems whatsoever. I've crimped over 2 dozen connections since purchasing this device a year ago installing an outside wood boiler (and repairing a friend's installation who used plastic compression fittings that failed within 9 months) and my forearm strength is average (I'm a desk worker) and I had no bruised palms or soreness. The use of vice grips allows you to use as much leverage as you can, so a super strong person may be able to clamp down with one vice grip squeeze, but I usually took 5-6 smaller cycles of clamping the vice grips, releasing them, tightening the vice grips a half-turn of adjustment, reclamping them and repeating until the pocket-crimper was closed...much faster than sweating a copper joint or cutting/gluing pvc. 60% of my crimps were in tight spaces, so the full-sized would not have worked for me. All of the crimps passed the Go/No-go gauge test THE FIRST TIME! I don't find this device to be cumbersome at all given that it needs to be designed as it is to get into tight spaces. None of these connections have leaked. The low-price of this tool combined with the relative easy of running pex has me excited about an upcoming project to replumb my entire house using PEX. I hope I never have to sweat copper or glue PVC again because PEX with copper crimp rings is the quick, reliable way to go.

I got this for some work I was doing around the house. I had been renting the regular PEX crimps each time I needed to make my connections and decided it was time to own a pair. Also, I had recently ran into an issue where I had trapped a pair of long handled crimps around a pipe -- the handles were between two joists and couldn't open far enough to get the crimps free of the pipe.

The PEX Pocket Crimper was cheaper than purchasing a regular pair AND works great in small places. The package recommends 10" vice grips. I tried two different style of vice grips and found it very hard to use vice grips on this device. 12" channel locks work much better.

I had no problem at all crimping 3/4" connections. However, 1/2" connections presented issues. You have to squeeze much harder for 1/2" than for the 3/4". It is also much easier to "undercrimp". The go/no-go gauge is your friend here.

Overall, I definitely enjoy this product. The cost savings between this device and a "regular" crimper definitely makes up for a little extra squeezing on 1/2" connections. Additionally, it has the benefit of getting into cramped corners.

This tool is quick to use, works great, and is great value. My previous crimp tool for my bathroom project a year ago was the block style which was MUCH more cumbersome, took longer and was not as robust.
This tool does require some hand/arm strength (using the lockwrench), but it was not a problem for me. Highly recommended. I purchased mine at Home Depot.

We bought the pex pocket crimper to replace the nipples on our water heater and it did the job flawlessly. It was easy to use and worked great. After completing the job we measured the other crimps around the system and ours were better than the original plumbers done at construction. Again... great tool. Saved us hundreds on plumber fees and buying the full size pex.

I have been using this crimper for a few days and it has been working great. I could not justify buying one for $100+ so thought I would give this a try. Do not hesitate to try this product.

Company A-1, Shipping was fast and the case and go nogo guage a plus thank you.

I only needed to do a few 3/4" crimps so I thought this would be a good tool. Not so. I could not get this tool to close with large channel-locks or vise grips. Maybe a ratcheting tool would work. I bought the special purpose 3/4" tool at a home improvement store for twice as much but it is soooo much easier to use.