Network Cable Tester, Ethernet Wire Tracer with NCV & Lamp for CAT5 CAT6, PoE Tester Detect Voltage Measure Fault Distance by TDR NF-8209

It might not have the color scheme and the "feel" quality of other higher end products... but it sure performs very well. I put it to use to trace a line as well as test a marginal cable as soon as the unit arrived. It delivered on all fronts. It sure combines many capabilities in one reasonably priced tool I am glad I purchased it and have it at my disposal

Great Cheep Tester! Worked well for a trip to a remote hospital to help out with their intranet. Helped me test out and locate broken cables and terminating and testing cables! great tool!!

For the price, this is a useful tool. I got it to do a home/DIY job – wiring an ethernet backhaul for a Wi-Fi mesh router system, using existing CAT 5e cables configured for voice connections. It worked well for my use. I don’t do many reviews, but it seems a few people give low reviews for incorrect and/or unrealistic expectations. So, I felt compelled to respond. Also, this is not a paid review. Here’s what I experienced … Scan Testing – I used the ‘analog’ mode to trace my phone cable input out to the demarc (signal input from the phone company). The manual spec says this works up to 600 meters. My test was about 30-40 meters, and it worked … I did find that I had to untwist the white/green + green wire pair at the far end, to pick up the tone. (This helps couple the signal on the wires to the probe tip). I also used it to locate cable runs from multiple rooms back to the telecom/media box – about 9 to 22 meters (10 meters = 32 ft). A few reviewers said this function doesn’t work … that wasn’t my experience. I will say the sensitivity is not as good as a better tool I previously borrowed … under the same conditions, I could locate the demarc wire pair with the better tool, without untwisting it. That tool cost was about $100. Also, at least one reviewer said the unit had an auto-off feature which prevented him/her from setting up the tone generation at one end, and probing for the tone at the far end … it turned off by the time they got to the other end. BUT … there is a setting to adjust the auto-off time, or to disable it altogether! So “just read the manual”! Probe ‘NCV’ Test (sense high voltage presence on AC wiring) – that works. Length Testing – I checked one 3.0 meter (10 ft) ethernet cable, and two connected in series. The spec says 2.5 to 200 meters +/-1.6 meters. One measured 3.9 meters (in spec), two measured 7.9 meters (just out of spec). Second example - I had ‘punched down’ an RJ45 jack in the telecom/media box, and used this check the cable length (i.e., were my IDC connections good at my end?). The far cable end was unterminated, and I measured 20 meters on 3 pairs, and 0 meters for one pair – in other words, one connection at my end was bad. So, I removed and re-punched down that pair, and measured 20 meters on everything. Very handy! Continuity Testing – Once I had terminated all the connections in the telecom/media box, I went on to terminate the cables at the electrical box/wall plate ends. I first re-tested using the scan test to make sure I was working on the correct cable (some boxes had two cables coming in to one box). I then terminated that cable, and ran the continuity test – perfect (no opens, no crossed pairs). I then used a patch cable to connect two rooms, and ran the continuity test – all good. I did not use the POE test. I did check the Port Flash & Switch Details test – that worked. In summary, the analog sensitivity could be a little better, but was serviceable. And the length measurement was a little off, but still useful. If you want a professional tool, go ahead and spend the big bucks. But for a home/DIY job, it works pretty well.

This is a must to have in your tool bag when it comes to identifying network cabling issues. Plug in your cable to the appropriate port on the tester for what you need to address. Many functions and is simple to use... This $50 tool traced out unknown CAT6 cables runs better than other named brand tools brought in by professionals. With a quick scan, you can determine the cable run length or at what point the cable failed. I loved that we could plug in and flash the network switch to quickly determine which port the cable/device was patched into without even needing to use the network toner/probe. Don't have your electrical tool bag with you, no worries; this probe works as a non-contact voltage tester, allowing you to determine if power is being supplied to a device quickly.

Surprisingly does everything it claims very well. I do not use the voltage detector very often but seems to work. I originally purchased this to have as a backup with the rest of my tools but have gone to it more times than I can think of. POE tester, flasher, continuity and scanner all work well enough to have helped in several situations where I did not have all my tools. I had it for about 2 years now and it is still going strong. Compared to other testers that do the same for 3 times as much or more, it is quite impressive. The only gripes I have is that it has so many ports to do the job and it is missing coax capability, but at this price point I can get past that. Would definitely recommend and purchase again if needed.

I recently started getting into terminating my own CAT6 cables rather than buying premade ones from monoprice/etc. I had one that I thought I messed up a few times on the RJ45 but then figured there was a problem with the cable itself. Got this tester and am really impressed with the quality for the price. It's no Fluke or other name brand equipment, but it's easy to use and very straightforward. So this run of cable I had, I tested it on continuity and wire 4 was showing open. I used the TDR test to test for breaks and at one end it said 21 feet and the other end 26 feet there was a break in wires 3/4. Measuring it out by hand, at 21 feet I came to a tear in the outer jacket, starting at the other end, at 26 feet I came back to the same tear. Perfect. I cut that length out, put RJ45s on the new ends and two fine lengths of cable resulted. I'm able to put my klein pull through RJ45 tool and some small bags of RJ45s in the case and have a nice self contained termination and testing kit. Unless you get one that's broken or DOA, there's no reason to not get this if you are casually troubleshooting or running CAT5/6 for a home or small project. Testing the continuity of terminations without using real network equipment to see if it syncs at 1gbps is really nice as well.

The products are of good quality and function well, as highlighted. Every part of it arrived in good order and was delivered as expected, and at the appreciated price. I recommend it for its quality and value for money.

My office is upgrading to VoIP phones from POTS lines. While we have existing Cat6 infrastructure, we had add PoE and debug a few problem lines or connections. This network cable tester let us, for less than $50, solve all the issues without bringing in an outside cable tech. I don't know how well it will hold up over longer use, but it easily accomplished all we needed for this project. Issues debugged: Identified originally miswired cable (crossover) Traced three lines with faults or disconnections Checked PoE at 50 or more points in building Traced missing PoE to two 5 port unmanaged switches in locations we were unaware of... Hard to beat that at the price!