Jonard Tools CT-200, Universal Compression Tool with Dual Head for Coaxial Cable F Connector

I ordered 5 units in total, however just received 4 units in total. 3 in one package. 1 in another package. Refunded 1 item right away. Nice tools

Quality

delivery was so and so. first item lost after 21 days since dispatch, second item arrived by express delivery the next day after talking to amazon customer service. great people over there btw. my advice: use express delivery service! the item itself contains plastic handles bolt onto steel frame and some aluminum alloy parts (universal adapter and the rotary wire guide). not so good, those are exactly the pressure points involved in the compression process. hope they will last, otherwise the tool will become useless. made in taiwan, under US pattent. you also need a cable stripper , buy a good one, it counts for about 50% of the job. avoid chinese stuff. the compression dial is helpful, takes a bit to get used to, so prepare to ruin a plug or two in the training process. i give 4 stars out of 5, because of the mixed construction materials. 5/5 is for all steel pro tools. this is semi-pro in my opinion, but is better built than the rest out there.

Being handy with tools, I decided to make my own RG59 cables (for cable TV) for custom runs inside my house. I refuse to pay what brick and mortar stores charge for 100-foot lengths when I know I can create better cables for a ton less. It is critical that for best results you use quality compression fittings; avoid going the cheap route on those. In my opinion, if you’re contemplating buying this product, you already know this, and will likely pair this tool with some PPC EX6WPLUS compression connectors like I did. One thing to realize when buying this particular tool is that it is completely made of metal and therefore hefty; this is a professional’s tool, for professionals who do this type of work day-in and day-out. This explains the relative increase in cost versus cheaper (plastic) options which although offer a much wider range of compatibility for performing other types of compression fittings, are not as well built or have as nice a finished product as the Jonard boasts. Anyway, knowing that I’d only ever be running RG59 in my house, I decided on the Jonard instead of the plastic multi-tool options, mostly because of Jonard’s reputation of a good quality tool company that provides a lot of specialty tools for the trades. Because of this, I didn’t mind paying a little extra for a tool that will likely outlast my lifetime and will consistently give me good, tight compression fittings every time, which is exactly what happened when I used this tool with the PPC fittings I purchased. One point of caution: Due diligence is needed to ensure you are using this tool properly. I advise new users to look on YouTube for videos on how to use this tool in conjunction with a quality universal cable stripper like the Jonard UST-500. If you do not prep your RG59 cable properly before using the CTF-300 compression tool, you are going to have a bad time. Properly prepping your cable will make creating your own custom runs of RG59 a real breeze. As with anything, experience is king, so I recommend users to practice a few times using this compression tool to get a feel for it. Just grab a throw away piece of RG59, prep it, and fit it with a compression fitting. A good tip to remember, as with any tool, is to let the tool do the work. Done properly, there should be no reason why a user will need to strain or struggle to compress a fitting with this tool, as the tool practically does it on its own with minimal effort on your part. Anyhow, I am very pleased with the Jonard CTF-300 compression tool, and highly recommend it.

Tré bonne qualité.

This is a professional-quality tool that should last forever. It has two extra features that other cheaper brands don't have. Most importantly, the "stroke" of the compression action is adjustable. There are different kinds of compression fittings, including full-size and mini-size, and they require different settings for the compression stroke. The knurled screw easily adjusts the tool to fit different length coax fittings. The tool also has a triple head that can be switched for F, BNC, or RCA fittings, plus the usual rotating collar at the end for BNC or F/RCA. I have made-up lots of coax fittings around the house using cheap twist-on connectors, and not only does it take a long time, but the quality and durability is always questionable. The Jonard tool is super-fast (literally a few seconds to compress the fitting), and the professional-quality fittings are much more durable in the long run. I bought a bag of PPC EX6XL coax fittings along with this tool; they are not expensive, are very good quality, and are very easy to use and compress. I also got the Jonard UST-500 cable stripper, which works well and greatly speeds up the process of terminating coax.