Side by Side Comparison of: IWISS vs SparkFun vs Hilitchi

These pin crimpers are truly a gift. They have saved me an immeasurable amount of time and frustration with every wiring project I do.Normally I pride myself on my electrical knowledge and custom wiring jobs, but any time I've had to actually repin a harness myself, I've hated life because all I've had to use are needle nose pliers to manually crimp pins onto wires, resulting in loose wires, pins coming off inside sockets, and incredible amounts of rage.I was skeptical at first about these crimpers because most wiring guys I know recommend ones that cost double or three times as much as these and have different swappable heads and everything that's much more complicated than these. I decided to try them out and I am so glad I did.Using 18ga wire with pretty common pins, I was able to crimp pins in maybe a few seconds. The pin just easily slides right into the crimper and it's stepped so you can crimp the insulation and wire at the same time. Squeeze the handles and presto, you've got yourself a neatly crimped wire with a secure pin on the end.I cannot find a single flaw with these. They perform excellently, they feel great in the hands, the ratcheting mechanism is nice to actually control how tight of a crimp you want, it's extremely easy to use, and it's as inexpensive as can be. I will recommend these to absolutely anyone and everyone looking for something to do this job. The pictures they post are entirely accurate. I'll probably end up buying another set just to keep at work.My only regret is not buying these before I just finished up making a harness that required 60 pins crimped on. I did them all with needle nose pliers and my hands haven't forgotten it. Needless to say, I'll be using this tool for a long time!

These are awesome crimpers. If you are looking for a pair of crimpers for your Molex or Molex style contacts, these are the ones you want!Really!!! I own the Tyco/AMP Molex crimper, very expensive, and a very nice Panduit crimp tool with the Molex dies and the IWISS is the best of them all. It actually curls the contact crimp barrel back down and into the conductor and insulation like it is suppose to do! I use these for my Harley connectors and the crimps are perfect. These are for 18-28 gauge wire.

Works great! However, if you are not familiar with the workings of these units, there is some training involved (web searching is your friend). Try the various methods proposed by individuals providing "training" (re: keep the metal lug attached to the strip, partially crimp lug before inserting wire, etc.) before you decide on the best method to crimp the pin lugs AND insert into the plastic housings (yes, I've wasted a "few" pin lugs, but I chalk that up to self learning).

There's that old adage, "use the right tool for the job"; it definitely applies when working with wiring/electronics! I needed to replace connector pins on some solid-state circuit boards in a 1977 pinball machine, and thought I could go at it with carefully with needle-nose pliers. While I managed to get one or two pins crimped on the wire, it was something of a pain (ok, that's an understatement), it took quite a while, and I had little confidence in the sloppy finished product. When the realization hit me that I had at least 30 more of these to do, I decided to bite the bullet and find the right tool -- and this was it.Some of these connector pins are small and not easy to handle, especially with larger fingers. In addition, unless you have three hands, it's a tricky process -- since you'd need to hold the pin, the wire, and the tool all at once. Not so, with this tool! It ratchets through its function, which means you can insert the pin in the jaws, and squeeze the handle to the first ratchet step -- so the jaws grab & hold the connector pin in place. This allows you to then feed/position the wire in with one hand, and squeeze the handles with the other to complete the crimp. And yes, it can be done -- or at least started -- with one hand. Once the crimp has begun (which holds the wire in place), you can then use two hands to complete the squeeze on the tool. When the crimp is complete, the tool automatically releases.Also worthy of note: The tool has three different sizes built into the jaws, to accommodate different size wires/pins. Each jaw has a little 'step' to help you align the wire & sheath properly for an ideal crimp.I finished all my connector pins in very little time, and all the crimps looked beautiful. All the updated connectors functioned flawlessly. I HIGHLY recommend this tool. Save yourself the headache, time, and frustration with crimping connector pins by getting the right tool for the job: IWISS Dupont Professional Pin Compression Ratcheting Modular Insulated Terminal Crimper Pin Crimping Tool 2.54mm 3.96mm 28-18AWG 0.1-1.0mm2 with Wire-electrode Cutting Die

I purchased this for open-barrel contacts, specifically Futaba servo contacts and Molex C-Grid SL contacts. Those Molex contacts are good for headers on Arduino-like boards.This crimper replaces my stamped-steel hobby crimpers. My old hobby crimpers are not easy to use since misregistration is easy and destructive and the insulation-crimp and wire-crimp are two separate operations. These are more like standard, factory crimpers, crimping in one operation. They also have a full-cycle ratchet and provision for adjustment. Being targeted to no particular connector means that there is no positioner and may not be a perfect fit. Are they as good as $345 SL crimpers?: no way, but they are fine for hobby, service, R&D and are more versatile.The term "Dupont" was unfamiliar to me in connectors so I looked it up. Dupont created "Dupont Connector Systems" around a stamped, open barrel connector system. Later, this became Berg Electronics, Berg broke from Dupont. Later it became part of FCI and then Amphenol acquired FCI. With that, even the Berg brand was lost.

Makes a nice, very tight and professional looking crimp on .093 series Molex pins. I've used it with both 18 & 16 AWG stranded wire with good results. Ratchet action is a huge improvement over cheap non ratchet tools, I wish that I had purchased this sooner. Surprisingly well made for the price.

This is a must buy if you are buying the 2.54mm pins. It is built with a mechanical advantage to easily crimp using minimal hand pressure. When starting to crimp the crimper rachets not allowing you to back out of your crimp until complete. Don't know why they need this but keep your fingers clear. This rachet makes it a tool to keep out of the reach of Children

This crimper worked great for me when I connected 26-28 gauge wire to Dupont Male/Female connectors (as they are called). The only thing, I found frustrating, and could easily be fixed, is a demonstration video, or better instructions on how to setup the connector in the crimper, and insert the wire properly. There is a real trick to this, and it took me several tries to get this right. The connector, and wire have to inserted with very tight tolerances to get a good crimp. When the crimp is good, it's perfect, but it takes some practice to get it right. When your working with such small connectors and wires, this is difficult on the eyes, and hand/eye coordination. Make sure you have a well lit area, possibly a magnifying glass, and patience. Good luck

Really solid tool but its slightly too wide for the smallest Dupont pins, and my fingers kept loosing skin from having to hold the pins too close to the sharp edges.Well it works perfectly now!I attacked it with my Dremel and a fine tapered grinding wheel. Its not so wide anymore and all the edges are slightly radiused/broken so no more pinching. All this work cost one rating point.

I build FPV Racing Quadcopters and prefer to have all wiring be custom fitted for a clean, efficient look. This crimper allows me to build my own harnessing and have all of the electrical integrity required for the rugged life of these quads.They did require a simple tension adjustment out of the box, but now the crimps are near perfect. At the price paid, it is a good tool.

This tool works well, but I deducted one star because of the inexplicable failure of the manufacturer to provide any directions on its use. No, it's not intuitive, at least to me or apparently to the many other reviewers who have destroyed many connectors in the process of figuring out how to make it work. By the way, I am an electrical engineer by profession and an experienced builder. I have used the tool (so far) only with 18 and 22 gauge cable and Molex connectors type 2062103 and 2061103.I hope the following instructions will prove of value.1) If you are right handed, then grasp the tool in your left hand with the lettering visible and facing toward you, but upside down. See first photo.2) Position the connector in one of the three bottom slots, depending on the wire gauge. #22 gauge works well in the center bottom slot. #18 gauge works well in the innermost of the bottom slots.3) The connector should be positioned so that the "wings" are facing down. See second photo.4) The connector should be positioned with its back end flush with the tool and the front end of the connector facing away. See third photo.5) Close the tool slightly until the ratchet just engages and grasps the connector. For heavier wire gauge (e.g. #18), you may choose to insert the wire into the connector before placing the connector into the tool. See fourth photo.6) Use a separate wire stripper to strip about 3/16" to 1/4" of wire, and insert it into the connector. If you have a soft touch, you may just feel the unstripped plastic of the wire hit a stop when you insert it into the connector. In any case, don't insert the wire too far into the connector.7) Squeeze the ratchet all the way down. It will open after this step and your connector should have successfully crimped on to the wire. The larger, outer wings should be crimped in a fold over the insulated portion of the wire, while the inner, smaller wings should be crimped over the bare wire.If you have any doubts of the electrical quality of your crimp, you can add a tiny dab of solder to the wire-metal crimp. Not too much or the connector will not fit in the connector housing.

Gotta be careful when you crimp the connectors, you must place them perfectly inside or you will end up twisting the connector/pin or crimping the wrong part of it. I noticed I need to push them in a bit farther in, not just leave the connector touching outer edge of the tool. If you notice, each crimping area has 2 sections, you must place the connector there so it crimps it perfectly. Took me 6-7 damaged connectors to figure this out by myself.

Great tool once you figure out how to properly crip the wire, guess the manufacturer think we all know how to use the crimper right out of the box, hence the 3 stars for the waste of pins to figure it out

Works okay, not great. Have to be VERY careful when aligning the pins to be crimped.

This is an OK crimper. It gets the job done if you only need to crimp few cables. If you want a reliable crimper this is not for you. Make sure you get 2x pins than you need since you will be wasting at least half ot them with this crimper.

Works OK. You must be very careful of pin placement or when you crimp, the retaining pin will be flattened. Other than that a pretty good product. Works well after I figured out position issue.

These are not made by Dupont, although they will work for the Dupont pins. They do not work so well with the pin set that I bought, but I do not know if the issue is with the crimp tool or the pins. After 30 or 40 bad pins, where the pin was crushed and could not be inserted into the pin housing, I was able to finally make a few that could be used.

Quality tool, but it is very difficult to align the wire and the connector in the die before crimping. This tool was designed for use by a three-handed person. Not easy to produce multiple connectors quickly. I've ruined many Dupont connector pins by crushing the latch tab or the pin body. This quality tool needs to have specific die sets for different connectors that align and grip the pin before crimping, so you can insert the wire, then complete the crimp cycle. While this one tool can crimp a wide variety of pins, it's general nature makes it difficult to recommend it for anything but hobby use.

Need instructions

Way smaller then I thought they'd be. Barely does 18gage

I am not sure how that guy gets it to work on the video but I gave up. I just use a pair of needle nose to crimp the wires onto the pin and just add some solder for good measures.

The jaws are slightly over spec. all of the .100 pins I have crimped require rework with needlenose pliers. The same is true for a friend that bought the same tool.

Even though it gets the job done with big crimp terminals, you need three hands. This tool is not easy to work with, check a video before buying it. The problem is that if you hold the terminal and the cable with one hand, you cannot put it into position inside the tool without releasing both or putting your fingers inside, and of course, you don't want your fingers there while crimping.Also, if you are crimping small terminals it is impossible. The pro of buying this tool was that it crimps both set of tabs at the same time, but with those small JST connectors (SPH-002T-P0.5S) you cannot do it because you will also close the tip of the connector that needs to have a perfect shape to later slide into the plastic housing.I'm returning it and ordering: Engineer PA-09. Check the comparison here: [...]

What a waste of time and money. Buy a brand name. This is junk

this thing is junk, broke after the very first crimp i used. do not buy, waste of money

Did not work for the larger gauge wire connectors I am using. Seems like a nice precision tool though

Save your money. This crimper damages more connectors than it succeeds in making. Like other reviewers, I have gone through MANY pins just to get one that works. Even on the lightest pressure setting it crushes the 2.54 dupont pin.

Item was not as described, was not even the Iwiss brand and was a cheap foreign knock off. The crimping jaws are no where near the quality in the picture and are a cheap casting. The main reason why I bought the tool was because I believe the quality of the crimping jaws would be of that in the picture. Please avoid this item. The only good thing is the seller did not hesitate to offer full refund after my complaint.