If you’re a network electrician looking for the latest network cable testers you would have noticed the sheer variety available on the market. Whether your troubleshooting existing cables or installing new cable, having a quality cable tester is a must-have tool for all professional network technicians.
Even if you are not a professional, our selection of the top 10 network cable testers make identifying faulty connections in your panel effortless.
A good quality cable tester can cut down the time you spend on fault finding by testing the strength and connectivity of your networking cable. Most of these network cable testers include basic to advanced diagnostics features to suit a range of tasks from testing wiring connections, condition of data transfer rate in your cable, and assist in pinpointing repair work in your network.
As networks evolve, so do the requirements of the cabling infrastructure to support them. New network cabling standards continually evolve to provide guidelines for technicians when troubleshooting, installing, testing, and certifying copper or fibre cable networks, so you really do want a reliable up to date cable tester to help make your services more efficient and accurate.
Below you will find a list of the top 10 Cable testers so that you can compare and narrow down which one best suits your needs.
Top 10 Network Cable testers
1. VDV II Multimedia Voice Data Video Cable Verifier
The VDV II is a user-friendly tester that checks the integrity of copper cables most often found in voice, data networks, telephone wiring and video/security cabling in homes and commercial settings. VDV II is more than just a wire mapper, the state-of-the-art technology displays intricate wiring faults almost instantly, while the integrated time-domain reflectometry, simplifies troubleshooting helping you move onto your next job timeously.
If you maintain or install data cabling, the SignalTek allows you to see if the cabling was installed accurately. This Data Cable Transmission Tester has the facility to create PDF test reports that prove installed links run at Gigabit Ethernet transmission rates providing network owners with peace of mind that the installed cabling will support services like VoIP and IP CCTV. One of SingnalTEK ‘s best features is that it uses time Domain Reflectometry to detect opens and shorts to the individual conductor helping to preventing any network downtime.
This Mini Pocket Cable tester detects faults and locations of RJ45 net-work cables. Good terminations, fault causes, and locations of cables are displayed on an LCD. A great feature of this unit is that it can detect where a cable is routed (with the use of a tone probe) and the location of the end of the cable thanks to a built-in tone generator.
The LanSeeker™ is a cable tester/tone generator all in one unit. An easy-to-use professional-grade tool, the LanSeeker is a must-have for residential and commercial cable installers. When the Lanseeker unit senses a connection the battery-saving auto-on feature initiates test results just a few seconds later. LanSeeker tests for miswires, reversals, shorts, opens and split pairs and can display connection and fault information on a pair-by-pair basis.
The NaviTEK NT from Ideal is a network tester that instantly displays everything you need to know about your network or cabling. Used for troubleshooting and maintenance of networks across copper and fibre, active or passive, the Navitek can monitor and broadcast network traffic and display in real-time. Tests can be saved as PDF reports and shared with colleagues and clients using the free IDEAL AnyWare™ app.
Net Prowler network and cabling tester make tedious tasks like troubleshooting and setting up networks quick and highly accurate. This tester has a wide range of capabilities ranging from DNS discovery, URL Ping tests, network mapping, DHCP testing, link test, IPv4 and IPv6 ping testing. The Net Prowler features TDR technology for tracking cable integrity for opens, shorts, miswires, reversed pinout and split pairs. This tester can measure the network cable length of telephone and coaxial cables.
If you need to keep track of test results the Net Prowler USB interface connects to your PC controller and results can be downloaded and saved to your PC with the app. Net prowler is a comprehensive unit packed full of features to help you identify, monitor and test any LAN issues
7. HDMI Tester
The HDMI display tester from Steren is a great tool to have onsite. It allows the technician to test and certify the system and cabling at the time of installation, even if there is no customer display present. You can perform a 19-pin continuity check to confirm the cable is working 100%. This versatile device also allows for testing audio and video signals up to 1080p to guarantee the signal source and HDMI® cables are functioning properly before the technician leaves the installation site, saving you time and money.
A versatile tester used to confirm the data-carrying capacity and capabilities of Ethernet network cables up to 1 Gb/s. This tester looks for noise in the network, detecting faults in the cable wiring, and verifies if the installed cable can support the speed capabilities of active equipment.
The versatility of the VDV MapMaster 3.0 makes it a great value for money cable tester whether you are troubleshooting or maintaining a network, coax or telco cable. The VDV MapMaster™ 3.0 combines mapping, generating tones, length measurement functions and continuity testing into one user-friendly unit. One of the most popular features is the backlit display, glow-in-the-dark keypad and a built-in flashlight, great when you need to work on call out in low light conditions.
10. Cable Prowler
Lucky Last -The Cable Prowler from Platinum Tools can identify link status and PoE detection features usually only seen in the high-end cable and length measurement testers. All of this functionality is combined with internal memory to save, download and output results in full colour.
Final Considerations
If you are a professional technician you may be using your tester frequently so consider the convenience and choose a lightweight unit if you’re going to be carrying it around all day and one that has good battery life.
Make sure the tester you buy is compatible with your cable type or specific application. Check what type of cable you have in your networking panel and select the tester that supports those specific cables. For example, if you measure the length of your cable make sure your tester is capable of measuring the full length of the cable you’re testing. Your tester must support all the tests that you want to carry out in your network panel. If you have a large network look for a unit with a high-resolution display so that you can clearly see your readings.
So now you have a good overview of our top 10 network cable testers, you can decide which tester will cater to the most common cable testing issues you encounter. Without a doubt having the right network cable tester makes diagnostics simpler, faster and easier!