Getting ready to replace some old/broken/lost tools and was curious what some of the board members prefer... For instance, we've always bought Fluke TS30 butt sets but there are times when Caller ID or hands-free would be a nice option to have.

Anyone have tried-and-true suggestions for things like toners, butt sets, cable cutters/strippers, etc? I know personal preference is a big part of these things but I've also come across some real junky products over the years.

Going to have to outfit another truck before long so I'm compiling a shopping list.

I'm surprised you haven't gotten a bunch of answers.

I just use a cheap butt set and my ear for a lot of testing, can't see investing a lot of bucks for a butt set.

Any name brand probe and toner, just stay away from the cheap stuff. I've got several different ones and they all work about the same, don't really prefer one over the other.

I like Klein for my hand tools.

I also carry a Yankee Drill, which I know most don't, can't see lugging in a cordless for a few holes.

Don't use wire strippers, just another needless extra tool in my opinion.

Decent Volt Ohm meter.

That's about it off the top of my head.

Bill- you, me and maybe a few here know what a Yankee drill is...we are showing our age. I still carry mine. I never throw away "old" tools either. Still have my brace and bit from 1976.

Butt set

10 in 1 Klein

VOM

Sandman High Loop Detector (simple but brilliant)

Fluke or Weiss Snips

Milwaukee LI-ION hammer drill for installs- best I ever had..it'll go weeks between charges.

A simple consumer grade Caller ID box for CID issues to show the customer.

AMP mod maker...stay away from the cheap Chinese knockoffs.

Fluke punch tool with ALL PUNCH TOOLS KNOWN TO MAN!

250 Lumen LED flashlight

Gopher pole and Greenlee fish sticks.

I'm sure there's more but these are the minimum I feel good rolling to a service call with.

I saw a hand mixer the other day that worked like a Yankee drill. No one knew what I was talking about!

I bought the Lil Buttie Ranger but set like it ok.

6-7 years ago I stopped by a grage sale and picked up a ts-19 buttset for $5 Ive been using it ever since I like it . its small and light I like the mod plug on the cordset it make it easy to plug a line cord in without a banjo.

I still have the TS25 I was using previously if a need speakerphone , CID or Loop current but I rarely use it

I like the 200 fp Filter probe it cuts the noise out and makes it easier to to tone cables

I still carry my chrome yankee , don't have a carbide bit for it anymore though

I just bought some snips at amazon Jonard brand , good price and quality

I like the klein 10 in one and the needlenose with scotchlok crimp built in Kelin scratch Awl for starting screws

I carry all the above on the van but rarely need them. I take a 10 in 1 driver, butt set, dikes and toner set in with me and seldom have to go back out for more.

Fluke TS44 Pro buttset. So nice. I often times am in the CO or on a busy street and need to check DT on a pair. With all of the fans in the CO (and summertime means A/C system is on at max level), it's really loud in there that I couldn't hear anything with my old TS19 buttset. TS44 Pro has an amplified speakerphone, very loud and works nicely. I use it all of the time.

Sidekick T&N. Must have to testing pairs in my job. 50% of the time that the LEC says "NTF" I found trouble with my Sidekick. Also great for testing and finding IW issues.

Bill - I hear ya on the butt sets. I grabbed a few cheapies off fleabay and they're plenty good for most days. I also got bored and ordered a Platinum T62 because I'm a gadget nerd and wanted a new toy. (btw, my youngest sister is headed your way... she's going to school in LaGrange WY)

Dave - I'll have to check that High Loop Detector out! I love Sandman's site... seems like I always learn something or at least have a good laugh.

Jim - All the Comcast guys around here carry those. They look kinda cheap but seem have a lot of nice features.

Merritt - Agreed, although an old tech I used to work with hammered it into my head that we were better off carrying in tools we didn't need than running back out to the truck. Then again, all these beers ain't gonna exercise themselves off!

Joshua - I've looked (lusted?) at the Sidekick but simply couldn't justify the cost. Cool tool though!

I appreciate the input; it's always nice to know what seasoned techs have settled on, by hook or by crook.

Some things I've come to like in my belt:

Fluke Need L-Lock pliers
Platinum 15015 cat5 stripper
Channellock 338 dikes
Ideal 35-087 snips
ICC handheld keystone punchdown aid
LanRoamer TP500 cat5 tester


-matt

from my truck:


Oh yeah, and those 10-in-1s are great but I have to buy them by the dozen. Between losing bits, leaving them on jobs, throwing them at NJ drivers....

What school? That's a pretty small community, but I really don't know much about it.

My Makita impact driver has been through hell and back.

One of the best fish rod sets I've ever used is by a company Labor Saving Devices. They are not hollow rods so they usually will not snap and splinter...saving a trip to the ER.

Frontier School of the Bible... I was hoping she'd go to Nebraska Western or Chadron State - my grandfather graduated from CSC and taught at both, my dad went to both and two of my siblings went to WNCC. Heck, I'm wearing a Cougars shirt today!

Hope she enjoys it, lot of things to see around there and here, will probably be quite a change for her.

Sounds like your grandfather was quite a man, he sure made the rounds in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. Norwesca Methodist Church Camp south of Chadron was largely lost in the fire last year, they've been working hard to get things back in shape.

Fluke Can Wrench (aka "216" by the LEC technicians). So handy for opening NIDs and entrance protectors (such as when there is no NI/demarc).

Thanks for getting us back on track. Yes the can wrench with the tool for "accessing" the key'd fasteners is very handy.

Something I've used for many years (from back in my cable splicing days) is a utility knife with the small hooked blade (not the big carpet hook). It is all I use for stripping cable other than the pull string.

The only time I bring in my larger tools is on a new job with lots of drilling and wiring. Basically if it doesn't fit in my tool pouch it stays in the truck until needed. I've seen people practically empty their trucks for small jobs.

Indeed; she's one of the PA natives... only ever visited that part of the country. We moved to the east coast in '87.


Thank you - he was indeed. I attribute most of my scientific/technical curiosity to him and miss him a lot. I had no idea about Norwesca - I'll have to check it out next time I'm back in the area. I have fond memories of that place...


I keep meaning to pick one of these up. Some of my guys have them but my toolbelt had three loops on one side so I stuck three nut drivers in there - 1/4", 3/8" and 7/16"...

You can pick up a working Sidekick with analog scale (which I prefer anyway, but to each his/hers own) for less than $50 on feebay. It will be money well spent.

I need to take pics of my setup, got a new tool bag over the weekend. I carry about 25 lbs of tools, mostly Klein stuff.
Still using the TS30 I won at the Vegas meet a few years ago, love that thing. For toners I use Progressive and Aines. I still have the original tone probe but lost my first toner.
I picked up an Ideal VDV multimedia tester last year and I love it. It does basic wiremap for voice and data and will also test coax.

Klein 11 in 1, Yankee drill (yes, I still have all the bits), a good pair of Klein side cutters, a pair of yellow handled needle nose with a cutter about a 1/4" from the tip, a TS-22 Butt set (I still have my old WE rotary dial blue set) a Dracon punch with inter-changeable blades, a flexible yellow fish tape (non metallic), a set of Greenlee rods, A Fluke VOM (get the best you can afford) and I still have and carry a full set of screwdrivers, (straight, phillips, stubby, long shank), a Klein Lineman's plier (makes a really good hammer),an insulated adjustable sliding jaw wrench (know by all as a Cresent Wrench) and a good pump plier (known as Channellocks).

I had used the yellow toner and probe for years but I got a fluke set, recently, and I love them. When you short the leads, the toner changes tones so you know you have the correct pair.

Finally, I know these aren't "hand tools" but a good line test set is really a life saver. I have a Sidekick, a Triplet Model 5 and a Dynatel 965.

Rcaman

Funny you mention the Dynatel 965... after ajkula66 posted that you could pick up a Sidekick inexpensively on eBay, I got to browsing around and found a Dynatel for ~$100 and was wondering if it was worth checking out. Same seller had a Sidekick and a Sunrise Sundown xDSL pretty reasonably priced so I was kicking it all around. Looks like the Triplett can be had pretty inexpensively too... If you were going to just get one (or maybe two! ), which would you go for?

Depends on what kind of service work you do. We have a huge copper plant in western PA, and a lot of independent telcos who still have a lot of POTS lines serving customers. The Dynatel will perform all the basic tests automatically and it is reliable, however, 3M does not support it and if you need service and can't repair it on your own, you have a nifty boat anchor.

I have had the Triplett for 25 years and it is my go to tester. It's light, does all the relevant tests and it uses components that are easily replaced. I use the Sidekick when I'm working at the coal mines. The copper lines are long and a sidekick will give a quick and dirty line test. You can also blow apart wet bridges and some cable faults to allow time to repair the problem properly. Of all three, the Triplett is my favorite.

Rcaman

Cool, I snagged a Triplett for $75 shipped... Will probably grab some flavor of Sidekick as well but this'll get me started. Shame I won't have it for tomorrow - have to test some POTS lines that AT&T/VZN have already said were good. They /were/ working when we extended the demarc, now I gotta figure out what happened.

My most used and favorite tool is my little tiny screwdriver.

here is my setup-

Jeff, where's the dirt?

the bag is new

^^^^^ This is the key.


Honestly, unless one works for a telco, a Dynatel is an overkill. A great tool nevertheless.


I've never used a Triplett, but for work on "private" side of the fence, if I had to pick and choose one (reasonably priced) meter, that would be a Sidekick.

In my world, I've retired most of my old test equipment once I was issued a JDSU HST-3000. However, most of the folks around here will never need something that expensive to troubleshoot the messes that we leave behind for them...

My $0.02 only...

I use a JDSU HST-3000 for FE and GigE circuit acceptance testing in our switch sites. It is a great test set!

Yeah my father-in-law is a lineman for Windstream and he has one of those on his truck... I keep suggesting he could 'lose' it as a Christmas present or something but no luck yet. =)

Jeff You surely don't need all those screw drivers?

Look here for a nice test set www.jdsu.com/know. I placed an order for one it turned out to be backordered, so I waited awhile and called to ask about the availability good to go was quoted a price which was more than the one that was backordered.
was given the old price and some time later had a problem with it called then and sent it back (free).I don't think you can beat a company like that.(still got it, still working)

No matter how hard I try, I just can't keep the nut drives to stay in those types of pockets. Doesn't matter if they are on the inside or outside of the bag.

Jim...I use all of them

You need the Klein 10 in 1 Toooooo many screwdrivers. They would be lost in one year

From what I'm to understand, there are means of remotely disabling a "lost" HST-3000, and I know for a fact that every time one wants to activate a new module, they have to put a call into JDSU themselves...so losing it might not be the best idea...

While I've bought some interesting stuff on feebay in the past, HST is the one tool I wouldn't go for there. It's too smart.

Obviously I'm joking - not worth risking nearly 20 years on the job for a tool. I mostly tease him because he's always losing spudgers and they just cough up more.

That said, I did manage to snag a Sidekick 7B for $35 shipped. =)

I know you were not being serious. Hence the silly smiley...and I've lost my fair share of toners, lugnuts, probes and punchdowns over the course of years...


Congrats. To this day, I hold Sidekick as the best tool my employer has ever provided me with.

Well I'm looking forward to checking it out... I could've used it today - stupid Verizon, NTF my @ss.

I'm still kicking myself over the buttset and toner I left on a job recently. The Avaya tech who followed me must've thought it was his lucky day 'cos when I came back, they were gone. $250 down the drain..

I guess we could even expand this topic to include favorite tools that we have lost. I lost my best toner last week and can't blame anyone but myself. Where do I remember last using it? Probably 50 miles away at a job site in Wisconsin. I office in Minnesota. It's just not worth the gas and time to go back and search for it.

P.S. I never found the gopher pole one of my guys left on another job either. Lift out ceiling tiles must be another place to recycle tools?

"ALWAYS Never" leave the site without checking your tools and equipment. Jeff has that nifty "arm extender" tool bag. I have no idea how anyone could carry that around and not wind up, at the end of the day, without dragging one's knuckles on the ground...but, I digress.....the tool bag, if organized properly, would be an instant check for missing, misplaced tools and test equipment. The key is to organize the tools in the pockets provided and replace the tools in the same place every time. That way, if a pocket is empty, you know, instantly, you left something behind.

I still have my original leather holster Mother gave me. I store my tools in it, but when on the job, a pair of Klein D252-6SW diagonal cutters, an 11-1 Klein screwdriver, Dracon D814 punch down, Klein D317-6PC Needle Nose plier with cutter in the tip is in my back pocket and a butt set on my belt loop. I can take care of 95% off all repair problems with these simple tools. The other 5% require special tools or specialized test equipment.

Because of the lack of seasoned and trained LEC techs, I had to replace my aging ComTech T1 analyzer with a T-berd. There may be better and more elegant testing equipment for PRI and T-1, but, show up to a vendor meet with a T-berd and know how to use it, the finger pointing stops immediately. I have totally stopped the nuisance calls that were generated because the LEC techs "tested" the span and everything is working....problem must be your PBX. Now I go out once, have my T-berd on the span and call the LEC. No more BS.

Regarding the Sidekick vs the Triplett vs the Dynatel, it's all about what testing you require and which test set you become accustomed to using. I really like the Dynatel when the LEC insists their crummy, noisy, PF influenced, over load coiled POTS lines are at spec. One push of a button and you know everything you need to argue, intelligently, with the LEC. The Triplett will do the same' but you will make several tests and use different test lead combinations. The Sidekick is a "telephone man's best friend" when push comes to shove and it's just you and a long, miserable wet cable.

As far as "losing" test equipment, my first "find" was a Bell Telephone tech leaving a "Kicker" at a mine site. You OLD guys remember the Kicker. I think you could jump start your Model Ts with it. I drove, almost 40 miles, tracking down the tech. When he saw me coming with the Kicker in hand, he said " I have looked everywhere for that. I'm lost without it. Thanks."

Rcaman

Yup. Somewhere there is a nice staple gun waiting for me to return to it. I have a feeling it's above a tile somewhere. Even backtracked a little, but never found it. Cusotmer probably beat me to it.

I had a tech "forget" an extension ladder once. When I eventually figured out where it was, I called the customer to apologize about it and said I would come and retrieve it. The customer hesitated and then said he had "borrowed" it and it was at his house. Borrowed? Yeah, right.

I opened up a tile the other day and found a pair of dikes. I already have 3 or 4 pair and I rarely use them. Just left them up in the ceiling for the next guy. "Paying it forward..."

"I guess we could even expand this topic to include favorite tools that we have lost."

I realize that I am adding to the drifting away from the original topic, however, I couldn't resist. A while back I was doing some work at a hotel. I realized that I had left my nice Fluke toner there and called the head maintenance guy and asked him to keep his eye out for it. A little while later I was called back and the same maintenance guy followed me around, I guess for some education. He had his tool bag with him and there was my toner in the bag near the top. I told him that was my toner and grabbed it. He moaned and was disappointed, but I bot my toner back.

Rcaman, since I work in IT the bag does not get carried around daily, just when I have to do wiring at work (rare) or any side jobs that come up.
I admit that it is a bit heavy (okay, a lot!) but I like to have everything with me!

OK, though also a former Ma Bell guy and agree with what's being said, that's for another topic. Anyone who would like can open one up.

Let's give this topic on "Favorite Tools" back.

Thanks all

A new topic has been opened in the Telecom Service Providers forum. The 2 posts have been moved there.

Vancouver had a screwdriver mfg right in town. The screwdriver has multiple tips and they come in a nice variety of sizes. https://www.picquic.com/

I carry a small pouch and it does 95% of the service I get called for. All of the screwdrivers are magnetized.
I can fix most printers, computer's and do basic data and telecom with this.

A fluke 66/110 punch,
a long shaft #2,
a Stubby#2,
a 4" #1,
a 4" 3/16 flat
magnetic 1/4 bit driver w/ bits in a case,
Klein scotch-lock pliers,
Klein scissors,
Klein 11 in 1,
A sharpie,
roll of tape
two AA batteries(camera spares), a 9v battery
a small plastic bag with lint free Alcohol pads, and some bandaids reside in the bottom.

There is some of the normal bottom of the bag junk as well. I try to keep some scotchlocks, a few screws, some screw downs, and an 8p8c and 6p6c jack. a few thin 4" zipties, a small roll of hookloop, and a folded up 4' of cross connect.

Can anyone recommend a cable tie pouch with a good size clip on it? The stupid thick gunbelt that I wear laughs at many things I attempt to hang on my belt.

I see that Sandman has something similar to what I'm looking for but that entire site looks like one of those goofy catalogs you get in the mail.

I use a flashlight pouch from ripoffs.com, the CO-85, https://ripoffs.com/flashpage/flashpage.html
I purchase through filmtools.com

You just insulted Saint Sandman- the Holy oracle of telephony! Pox upon thee!

Actually, I use a case for glasses that's shaped like a pistol holster. Fits in my tool pouch & I carry two sizes of Ty-raps in it. Best thing I've found so far....

If his tech site drives you nuts, you can always use his consumer site which has a ton more stuff. But be warned, the prices are a lot higher there.

I'm not talking bad about his site, it just looks like one of those Duluth trading catalogs that are good for one "sitting". Don't get me wrong, his site does have some good info on it and has saved me some time (and my butt)!

If you're talking about the TWAcomm site, I've been there but it doesn't have the same stuff.

His consumer site is

www.sandman-store.com