Warning: Don't buy that cheap coax crimper from the hardware store

I picked up a $12 crimper last spring and lost a solid $300 in wasted connectors and radio time cause it kept crushing the dielectric unevenly. Anyone else got burned by a budget tool that just cost you more in the long run?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.jesse2mo ago

My buddy Tom grabbed a $10 crimper from the auto parts store last fall and spent the whole weekend fighting loose connections on his new antenna install. He ended up buying a proper one online after crushing six PL-259 connectors in a row, which cost him like $50 in parts alone. Cheap tools just seem to find new ways to waste your money lol.

kevin_dixon2mo ago

Six bucks per connector seems steep even for the name-brand ones.

margaret991mo ago

Yeah I feel you @kevin_dixon. Last year I tried going cheap on SMA connectors for my mobile setup. Bought a pack of 10 for like 8 bucks. Three of them had bad threads right out of the bag. Ended up swapping all of them out for the name-brand ones after my SWR went crazy. That was a frustrating weekend of troubleshooting. Sometimes you just have to pay the extra couple bucks and be done with it.