Cat VI Tester

[copper123]

Kind of a open end question:
I am thinking about buying a new tester that will test Cat 6 cable. The jobs I am looking at all require testing/certification with documents. Owner says you can do your own testing. The testers I have been looking at are all about 7500.00. Any suggestions? It looks like Fluke and a few others have a module you can by that will also test fiber. Any suggestions on buying a all in one solution, UTP and fiber tester? Been looking at Fluke, Comscope/HP and.
Lot of money to purchase something and then find out it was not exaclty what was needed. Right now however, the job I am looking at is just UTP Cat 6.

Thanks

 

[mdshunk]

Re: Cat VI Tester

Most of my distribution work has to be qualified and not certified, so I seldom need to certify the cable. On those occasions, I generally rent the tool for one simple reason. Most of the work that I've come across in which the cable needs certified also lists the specific manufacturer and model of the equipment that needs to be used to certify the cable. If I'd have purchased one, it might not suit the next guy that wants his cable certified with the ACME brand one, and all I own in the XYZ brand one. I used a sub for the certification once, and he prepared a nice jack by jack notebook with all the printouts and nice 4 color covers and stuff. It was pretty impressive, but a little costly vs. renting the equipment.

I might add that if you think you can put it off, CAT6A is just around the corner. Make sure whatever you buy can certify cat 6A when it shows up (within the next 90 days, I'm told). I think that cat6 will soon be forgotten about and replaced with cat6a, in much the same way cat5e edged out cat5.

[ May 24, 2005, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: mdshunk ]

 

[mkoloj]

Re: Cat VI Tester

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=97139&item=7517445199&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

It is the same thing as the Fluke Version just before Fluke bought Microtest. That one comes with the OmniFiber adapter. The software for the various tests is updated regularly to keep up with new standards. The only thing I am not sure about is if the test leads would have to be upgraded to meet this supposed Cat 6a animal that MDShunk is referring to. Otherwise the tester I linked to is regular priced just has the Fiber adapter added in as a bonus.
BTW the tester is listed on Milestek for $5995 and the Fiber adapter for $2995,these prices I am sure can be beat. But for $4999 for both the tester and fiber module I think it is a good deal for this particular tester if you are going to be using it to it's full potential of saving and later presenting a customer with the certification results.

 

[highkvoltage]

Re: Cat VI Tester

I agree with the renting option. The reasons are some engineers prefer that they determine the test equipment you use (you could wind up buy several of these instruments) and the annual cost of upgrading the software and calibration.