Compared running RG6 with a $20 crimper vs a $80 compression tool last week

I had to finish 12 drops in a new apartment building near downtown and my cheapo crimper kept giving me loose fittings. The compression tool made perfect ends in half the time, no signal loss at all. Has anyone else noticed a big jump in quality switching to compression fittings for residential work?

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emery_hall5mo ago

...so that was the exact same problem I had when I was doing a big install a few years back. I had this old crimper I got from a garage sale and every third connector would just spin loose or give me a bad signal. My neighbor who does commercial work told me to just buy a compression tool and I was pretty skeptical because of the price difference. But after my first couple of compression ends I could see right away the connector was actually gripping the cable like it was supposed to. The funny thing is now I keep that cheap crimper in my truck specifically for the rare times I need a quick temporary fix on something I don't care about. The compression tool lives in my tool bag for everything else though.

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the_brooke5mo ago

My buddy actually had the exact same garage sale crimper dilemma last year, spent a whole Saturday fighting with loose connections on a security camera setup. He finally borrowed my compression tool and texted me later that night saying he felt like an idiot for not buying one sooner because it took him half the time to finish the job. Now he keeps his old crimper in his glovebox for emergencies too, kind of funny how we all end up with the same junk drawer solution in our trucks.

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