Side by Side Comparison of: Klein Tools vs TRENDnet

This is a high-quality RJ45 crimper. First, the cable jacket stripping function works great - blade is perfect and doesn't nick the conductors. The actual crimping function is perfect. Well made tool and I expect to get a lot of use out of it.

Professional tool, much better than the cheapo version. Includes the wiring diagram on side of it making it easy to use.

Klein quality. Works well. Sacrifices a little ergonomics for compactness,but still works well. A&B diagrams handy. I needed the compactness and am happy with the performance.

Works surprisingly well considering the size. Well made and plenty of leverage to crimp.

Very nice and fast shipping. Very well packaged. Good seller. Good Product. Thanks.

I have made about 15 patch cables since purchasing this tool. It is just what I needed.

I have always dreaded making (ethernet) cables. I've never owned my own crimp tool. I have borrowed other peoples and just dealt with whatever I had to use at the time. I decided it was time for me to research and buy my own tool to make my own cables whenever I like. I'm glad I took the time to research and find this one. I made some cables over the weekend with this tool and these helped me make cables the fastest I've ever made cables and each one of them was perfect. I highly recommend this tool.

These crimpers are probably the best crimpers I've used at the price Point that I love. I think it crimps RJ– 45 and RJ– 11 with ease however my only pet peeve about this particular product is it does not come with several blades to replace the stripper on the unit. I found that I needed a separate tool to strip the wires and used this to crimped them once the blade dulled out. I purchased about three or four more for my other technicians out on the field and highly recommend this product to anyone. I believe in purchasing good products and not the cheapest thing out there and this definitely fits the bill as a good quality product at an excellent price point than anybody can use.

 This tool is everything I could have wanted. I needed to cap off a line I had going into my bedroom that I accidentally cut. I figured this would be easier than buying a new cable and try pull it through a wall. The crimper itself is very well-made. I was surprised at how nice it felt in the hand based off other reviews who called it cheap looking. It was easy to use, stripped the cable perfectly and then took seconds to terminate the line. There was no clicking sound for me, it just worked. The hardest part for me was getting the 8 individual wires into the cap in the right order, which has nothing to do with the tool itself. I found the photos posted by Steven B. to be very helpful as a guide for the correct order the wires should be in.

In terms of actually using the tool, the printed instructions are useless, but I found this video to be extremely helpful.

Works very well. I watched a couple of videos on assembly and it looked like it was best to press the tool together several times when terminating the wires to the connectors. Well, I would say that is bad advice. I tried that method several times, and kept having bad wires. I then tried just pressing the handles of the tool together one time, and had no further problems or issues with use of this tool and all terminated connections worked perfectly.

I have found a lot of bad information on how to terminate your CAT / LAN cables. The best information I located is within the included photos.

You can't go wrong at this price. I work professionally with higher grade tools that cost more but I wanted something for my home and this does everything I want 100%.

You really can't go wrong for the price. Even the cable strip feature managed to not slice the internal wires (which even more expensive strippers have done). That said, this may depend on the cable you use. I used Monoprice 23AWG CAT6 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008I8AHL8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Keep in mind it will still slice through if you're not careful but some simply don't work so to me this was a plus.

The construction is cheap and I have no idea when it'll eventually break but for $13 I really don't care. They're working great right now.

It works but my biggest complaint is that the mechanism that locks it in the down position gets jammed up frequently. You have to twist the tiny knob that says release on it. But, the thing is the knob is so small and has enough tension on it that you need a pair of needle nose pliers to twist it. The tool is well built otherwise and will do the job, but its not perfect.

Used this for cutting/stripping 23 AWG CAT6 cable. The cable fit and cut just fine. I've cut and stripped about 10 cables now. The problem now is that it is starting to stick occasionally when cutting and stripping. I feel like something is stuck in the mechanisms somewhere, but I can't find it to clear it.

Great tool for any networking bag. Just wish they could make a lighter version of it. About as heavy as my laptop.

came as described and all in order

Nice compact crimping tool. Tends to crush the retention tab a little, but many crimpers do, and it isn't nearly as bad as the Ideal 33-396 tool. Cable pair color codes on the side of the tool are handy if you are teaching new technicians. Yellow handle makes it easy to find in a bag and small size saves space. Has a separate position for 6-pin plugs which is appreciated for telephone cabling.

Good, easy-to-use tool. Only issue is that it nicks the inside wires of my CAT6 Solid 23AWG UTP wire. I've gone around that problem by cutting perpendicular to the x-shaped middle splitter. That seems to keep the wires safe.

Works magnificently for the price. Solid construction and fairly easy to squeeze. My only complaint is that the early release mechanism (that little knob on the bar between the handles) is a real pain to twist hard enough to release. Maybe a button mechanism would have been better? I don't know; I didn't design it.

Other than that, there were no issues with using it. Now let's see if it lasts more than a few months.

I don't like the ratcheting mechanism, it makes it difficult to put the tool away without taking up so much space. It also makes it difficult to cut a cable in half. If I were to cut a cable in half I would need to reach for my diagonal cutters before proceeding with this tool. The tool works great at stripping the insulation off round Cat5E cable and flat telephone cable. I never had any problems with the cutting blades besides occasionally nicking some of the insulation on the twisted strands in Cat5E. Crimping RJ11 connectors work perfectly but crimping RJ45 connectors is another problem. It does crimp it fine but it damages the locking tab. After crimping the RJ45 connector, I have to pull the tab out a bit or else you won't hear the audible click when inserting the cable into a port. The blades on both sides of the crimper are also very sharp, if I didn't have nails, this would be a pretty dangerous tool to use.

It works fine to crimp cable.

Not really sure how it is supposed to work for stripping cable; that didn't go smoothly and the instructions weren't great. From reading the other reviews I probably should have looked for a separate stripping tool if I wanted to do that easily.

It ratchets closed but then when all the way closed it releases. From another review I believe this is a feature to make sure it's squeezed tightly enough before you let go when crimping (as opposed to being for storage, as the label suggests).

It feels like it's probably the cheap copy of some better tool but it's more than sufficient for occasional use.

Overall I think this is a pretty good tool; the two big factors I like are: build quality and low force (relative to my old tool) required to complete crimp.

The ratcheting mechanism kind of gets in the way a little bit. You can only cut a cable by feeding it through the behind of the ratchet. Since I try to carry as few tools as possible this is kind of a flaw to me, now I'll have to carry linesmen's scissors too. Where as with my old crimp tool, the handles were open so I could wrap the handles around the middle of a long cable and cut it (not necessarily as part of a crimping job).

Also, there are two sets of blades, one for stripping the flat 4 or 6 position cable you usually see in telecom. This set is the two blades on the front of the tool (has the mod plugs labelled and the TRENDnet logo silk screen.
The single blade on the other side is used for cutting. Make sure the part of the cable you want to cut is lined up here with the excess to be cut off fed through the telecom strip blades. That way you only scuff and nick up the part you are going to throw away and not the part you will be using on your patch cable.

I've only used it twice so far, but it's worked both times. It's pretty easy to use, the blades are sharp, the design is good. It didn't cut through the wires inside the cable when using the stripper, just scored along the rubber coating. It cut through easily and cleanly when cutting the cables. The only thing I didn't like and that made it difficult to use was the ratcheting/locking part. After squeezing it to crimp the ends, you have to use your other hand to twist the little release knob to get it to open up again. This was a little difficult to do, especially if you've squeezed it too tightly, as you have to squeeze a little more to release it. Overall, though, I liked it and I'm glad I bought it. It works for my purposes, which is occasional home use.

Positioning edge cut-outs on the long blade were too small and did not fit around the posts on the crimper. Had to use a grinder to open up the hole in order to make it fit. The two shorter blades fit fine.

Nothing like my other crimpers($200+) but it's decent enough for the $28 I paid for it. Cheaper than Home Depot and works well as a backup crimper. I got this so My brother and I could both do cables for a security camera system at the same time. Just so many cables need to be terminated... Without going to extreme heights in price, you can't really get much better so I can't complain.

I use Klein 'Electrician's Scissors', ' Tester Kit' as part of my network crimping arsenal. This Ratchet is perhaps not worth the Klein quality for the reasons...1. Not made in USA.2. The ratcheting mechanism works well. Note: There is not much instructions on how to use the tool. Here is what I found a. Ratchet down and press to release the handle, else it would stay in locked position (this is kind of opposite to the typical double handled crimping tool) b. Push the RJ-45 into the slot fully. It fits quite snug, else you'll notice no crimping happening :).3. The sleeve stripping is not the most effective for a cat5e. But may work better on a cat6 cable i suppose. Once, I line up the wires by the required color, I use an 'Electrician's Scissors' to cut the excess off so that the wires do line up properly.Not sure if this is any better than the traditional 'Klein Tools VDV226-011-SEN'. But it's quite compact in comparison and may require a bit of getting used to.

This works to crimp RJ45 and RJ11 connectors. It cuts cable very well. It does not strip cat 5e cable--I tried many times to use the stripping function and found that it always cut some of the wires. This may possibly work for stranded cables, but did not work well for solid core cable.

With practice I can prepare the wires and crimp the connectors efficiently now. The "crimper" has work every time for me.The part of the tool meant for stripping the outer insulation from cat 5, 5e, or 6 almost always cuts a tiny bit to deeply and nicks a wire beneath even when one tries to strip it very softly. I have been using another method to strip the wire so I am not disappointed sometime during the process when I find a nick in one of the wires and have to start over.

My impressions after using this kit:* The crimper works well but it is no more no less than a generic Taiwanese import available from many other suppliers (e.g. Paladin, Fluke Networks, Knipex, Trendnet, etc) and even unbranded at as low as $ 12.* The Tester also works OK, but feels cheaper than the $ 5 testers available here at Amazon. And instead of using regular AA or AAA batteries, it requires FOUR small lithium batteries.* The Tester is also a tone emitter, but you can't use this feature unless you spend another $ 44 on the Klein Tone Tracing Probe...* The scissors are very sharp. Probably the best item in this set.* The pouch is far from practical. A zippered pouch would've been a lot more useful (like the Paladin pouch). The "pocket that will hold up to 25 RJ45 plugs" is just a joke... if you use that pocket for your plugs be sure you're going to lose ALL of them, because the pocket doesn't fully close, it only has a piece of Velcro at the center, leaving a part of the pocket opened when it's supposed to be closed... and no, there's no flap.* There's also a permanent marker (an essential part of the set?), and unlike the one in the picture, it does not carry the Klein Tools brand.

I am not a professional, but my job requires me to do the work of a system admin. These are a great deal, they do the job, but If you have a lot of cabling, they get tiring. The action is not smooth and they are a little uncomfortable.

Again, for casual or DIY they are awesome, just dont wire a whole office suite with them.

It will do the job. For the price, it's very good quality. Only issue is that it is designed to cut and strip at the same time. This does not work very well. It often cuts one of the smaller wires or strips the shielding from a few of the smaller wires. I'm sure it's hard to perfect the alignment of the blades so that this doesn't happen (we're talking about factions of an inch), but this must be what separates this product from the more expensive pieces.

That being said, You can work around this flaw once you use the tool a few times.

So far, I have terminated about 30 Cat-6 connectors with this tool. It works, but I wouldn't recommend it for a professional.

The blade on the stripper portion broke after 10-12 uses. I was able to unscrew it and use the part that didn't break to finish the job.

One thing I don't like is that as you crimp the connector, the tool presses near the base of the retention tab on the RJ-45 connector, so the tab gets folded flat. After each crimp, I had to carefully bend the tab back. The was a balance of not breaking it, but having it stick out enough to hold the connector in a port.

This crimp tool is OK. Blades are sharp and work well for cutting and stripping. The two issue I have is that it bends the clips on male ends I have so that they do not stay in place. This may be an issue with the ends, and not the tool, but I have to be very careful when crimping to not bend them. I also have difficulty getting the tool to lock closed. The locking mechanism in the middle is a little difficult to figure out. Overall, it is a pretty solid tool for the price, but these minor annoyances (which may not be completely the tools fault) knock it down to only OK for me.

This tool worked perfectly to cut and crimp the ends of my Ethernet cables but the stripping part to cut off the outer shield of the cable was oddly placed. It was really tricky to place it and hold it steady with the cutting blade so close and my hands on the handle blocking part of my view. I couldn't see what I was doing very well because the stripping blade was placed so close to the handle. I think I would prefer separate stripping and crimping tools if I were to need to terminate many more cables.

Bought these because Klein products have always been well built and durable. These however, are poorly designed, and feel a bit cheap when you hold them. The glaring issue with these is the ratchet system between the handles. There is no opening so you can slip the wire in. You MUST thread it though the jaws. Problem with that is if you are cutting a cable off of a spool then one end is still attached to the spool and unless you want to thread your entire run though these crimpers you have 2 options. Option 1: loop your cable a little longer and thread the loop through the jaws which makes for a terrible messy end you cant work with and have to trim further, or Option 2: buy another tool just to be able to cut wire which I did HDE Universal Data Telephone Computer UTP Cable CAT5 CAT6 Stripper Cutter ToolI wish these had lived up to their namesake, they just aren't very good.

I purchased due to highly positive reviews AFTER I had already finished cabling all new cat6 runs throughout my house using a borrowed crimping tool. Fast forward two months, I'm now installing a patch panel and making the patch cables. After attempting 16 RJ45s, all failed pins 7 and 8 on the tester. The tool is super handy as other reviews mentioned, but with no ability to adjust the crimper and I'm out of the return/replace through Amazon, I'm left to filing a WRA with Klein.

I found that this model broke the RJ45 connectors we use. The RJ45 tabs that click in place were all crushed. It was not an issue on the Paladin 1556. I ended up throwing away this Klein VDV226-011-SEN.

Build quality appeared to be good but the dies actually shift when you crimp. I thought I was just doing something wrong until I let a couple of coworkers try them out. Everyone had the same issues with bad crimps. They tend to push the pins to one side causing them to miss the conductor completely. Frustrating when you are making dozens of connectors a day and have to baby the die to sit just right.

Over crimps and leaves my rj45's loose. Not happy with these. The 2 stars are because they strip and cut cables nicely. Not reliable ends in the end.

Found it very awkward to use sent it back

I used these to crimp probably 50 rj45 plugs then it stopped pressing the 6th contact. So now I have to crimp using my cheaper crimpers and I use these just to cut off the ends.

Using the EZ-Crimp terminals are a pain with this crimper, I make it work most of the time but occasionally I make a solid connection.

I received a broken one it seems. The thing won't stay closed. Tried to get replacement but I was a few days outside the return period. So be sure to open yours and make sure all is well--AS SOON AS YOU GET IT!!!!!!!

l got this when I bought a bunch of bulk cable. Amazon put it into one of their deals where I got a discount buying this with the cable. I figured that I would need to put some ends on some of the cables. I was very disappointed to find that the stripping part of this tool is for flat cables only, of course the cable it was bundled with was round cable. It is well built, and I will likely use it in the future so I'll keep it.

This tool was bundled by Amazon with the direct bury cat5e cable. This tool will probably work fine with a flat cable, but doesn't work good at all with the round direct bury cable. The crimping part didn't crimp down far enough to hold all the wires of the round cable in the RJ45 connector. Here again, it might crimp down and hold a flat cable just fine, but not the round cable. I think this might be a bundling error. I would not recommend this tool if you're using cat5e direct bury cable.

Gets stuck quite a bit

The only reason I bought this crimper set is because it is "made in the USA". I even asked the question on this site before I bought it. What a pleasent suprise; sure I will suport and American made product. I am a home owner; I do not crimp cables for a living. I just needed something to put a new terminal on the phone line. I could have got something for 1/3 the price for my simple needs. If I was going to spend this kind of money on a Klein Tools crimper, I would have bought the compact -107 model. It is a more compact tool, and it has the little stickers on the side to tell which wire to put in each hole. I also ordered the VDV992-818 Klein Coax Installation and Testing Kit as well as the Klein 2100-8 Stainless Steel Snip (electrician scissors). The truth is this - 817 kit is the -011 crimper which is made in Taiwn. By the way, I called Klein Tools (answered the phone very quickly), and they said the compact crimper -107 model is also made in Taiwan. The coax installation kit is made in China and Taiwan. The only tool I got made in the USA is the Klein scissors. Since this I went to Home Depot and noticed they sell Klein Tool. Turning over the packages, I also seen made in Mexico. Bottom line, Klein Tools might have their headquarters in Illinois or the USA, but their tools are not made here. They do make some things in the USA though. If you watch their vedo on all of these tools, one would assume that all Klein Tools are made in America, but that is a deceiving video. Furthermore, when I received this -817 kit, I finally found the Made in Taiwan in fine print under a very distorted piece of plastic (I think recycle symbol). Holding this pruduct up to the light, moving it up and down and side to side you could read made in Tawan. Moreover, you could clearly see the Taiwan in 2 other languages. I can not believe this is an accident. The description for this product is is pure fraud. Since I had to take time off from work inorder to catch UPS open, it cost more to return this item than what it cost (not to mention I still had to buy a crimper), but I could not keep this product that was only purchased because of their deceptive and fraudulent claims. A company can outsource or buy product from other companies and slap their name on it all they want. However, they do not have the right to lie or deceive people about their products. They have the choice to do what they want; we have the choice to buy or not. They just need to be honest about their products. Now you could claim that amazon writes the product description. However, that does not change the fact that they hid the product was made in Taiwan in an otherwise clear readable plastic container. Despite their deciving vedo, I am keeping the coax crimper. They did not say it was an American made product like this product did, although you would assume from this video that all their tools are.

Received the product today from China. Tool is a knockoff Klein tool and doesn't have the Klein logo anywhere on the product. The description lists it as a VDV226-011-SEN however this product has a product # of HT-N5684R. I am trying to return them now for a full refund without even opening. Klein tools work but I can't take a chance on these. Seems like a total scam....

These crimpers came from China and do not say Klein Tools anywhere on them. You can tell they are not genuine as well. Only buy them from a seller here in the USA or your home improvement store so you know you are getting the real deal.I tried these out and they do not work crimping RJ-47 heads. Will try to return and hope shipping back to China isn't expensive.

Ratcheting mechanism is playing up meaning it always jams and release has to be used every time, other times ratchet doesn't work at all. Prior to this I would have given it a good rating. It probably only did 100 - 150 crimps before it started playing up. Disappointing as expect good quality from klein

Seems cheap and a knockoff or fake because its flimsy. Would rather have greenlee or atp. Klein quality sucks now

I purchased this in March 2016 when I started a new job as a professional AV tech so I've been using it over a year. We regularly install Cat6 and Cat5e keystones residentially and commercially. If you're in the professional side of things, get a Klein or Ideal. If you need this for a few punch downs around your house, it will suffice. Just keep in mind the spring is inconsistent and not near as efficient as the Ideal and Klein models as I have tested from other co-workers.

Waste of money and most important time to find out how bad are they.

I have this crimper for the last 5 years and used it off and on - I would say I have crimped about 20-30 CAT5 ends which were perfect. Therafter, the crimper seem to inadequately make a proper connection with the wires. I thought it was the ends but I have used the same ends with another crimper and they were perfect. I cannot figure out what is wrong with the crimper as it is mechanically and physically sound. It has become a real time waster as after I spent all the time align the wires and finally crimp the ends they are useless. Sorry I wasted my money on this.

the blades did not work for stripping and cutting round CAT 5 cable (tried 2 of this tools)..

I used this crimp tool as well as another one that is five time more expensive than this one. There were many crimping issues when I used this tool. If you are a professional, you probably have learnt your lesson a long time back. For those adventurous folks wiring up their own homes, please do yourself a favor and buy a more professional grade tool. The time and effort saved will definitely be worth it.

This tool has all the things a professional tool should have. However, stripping the cable is a lot more difficult with this one. There is a good chance you'll nick the inside wires if your cat 5e cable is slightly thinner. Other people might have had better success with this tool, but unfortunately bad crimps and the extra labor involved is just not worth the apparent savings when investing in this tool.