ByteBrothers RWC1000NP Real World Certifiers - No Print Version

2 different units, both with new cables and batteries. Neither would test cat5 in a hospital I'm working in..3 different people verified wires were punched down correctly. Tester runs half way and freezes up. Junk in my opinion.Spend the money on a real Tester and throw this Crap away!

When I ordered this unit I did not realize that I was getting a unit that did not have the printing option,Prior to writing this review I checked the postings for this product and the RWC1000K and could not find any differences other than the price being about $100 less. It was NOT CLEAR that this unit was not the same unit that was shown on the manufactures web site, in fact the only reference that I could find for it was a PDF sales brochure.I find that the unit is slow for doing some of the basic cable testing such as checking basic cable status (Open Pairs, Crossed pairs, etc..) In the units favor it does a fair amount of the testing without a remote connected to the other end of the cable and includes a tone locator feature on with the remote. The device will not replace my standard cable checker!Marketing stated that it came with a zippered case -> Came with case with a flap that is secured using Velcro.Marketing stated that it came with a Tablet that most people don't use, they Save and Print the tests. (Since this is a non-printing model how could that assume that, they didn't include a template on the disk provided either..)I called the company and the upgrade is $129.00 + Shipping and you have to send your current unit back to ByteBrothers so that they can update the software in the unit and send it back with a USB cable.The unit is good for testing unknown cabling but I wish that I could just run the performance testing without the slow cable tests.Good Idea, but need some software updates!

This is a great little device for tracking down unknown network cable runs, while doing a good (but not great) check on them. HOWEVER, if you don't *ever* need to track cables, and/or you want one person to be able to test multiple cables quickly, this is NOT the best device for you (see below).This RWC-1000 will enable you to simultaneously track-down and then test a cable, no matter how ridiculous the scenario. If the other end is connected to a switch or a computer, the test will error-out (in an way that's rather obvious the second-time you do it). From there you can either go to toner-only mode to track it down the traditional way. Or you can switch to "blink network port" mode, to make the link-light on the other end flash on/off every second, without needing a second person there to keep plugging/unplugging the cable.When the far end of the cable is disconnected, that's when the work-flow of this device really makes great sense... It does the first half of the cable test on the open cable. Then while waiting for you, it sends a tone down the help you locate it. Using the toner probe, you find the proper cable, and then plug the cable into the probe and the final (wire-map) half of the test automatically runs to completion. When you go back to the tester, you see the cable is good, an accurate distance measurement, AND you've already conclusively sorted-out exactly which cable it is, in the testing process.But in other scenarios, like doing major cable work (eg. wiring several long-distance runs at once), this device can be a poor choice.IF you need to test a number of cables quickly, where the remote end is a time-consuming distance from the source, AND you don't have (or don't want to need) a second intelligent person, AND if involved toning/tracing is unnecessary, then this device is a very bad fit for the job. In those cases, a Fluke tester (even if it's an old and used 100BaseTx model, which can be had for the same price as this unit) with 6 (numbered) remote dongles, is a vastly better choice. The Fluke will allow testing and labeling 6 different cables at once, while this one will require one person to travel from one end of the cable to the other for each cable tested. With two people working together, this isn't an issueThis tester isn't the most user-friendly thing in the world, but it doesn't take too much time to train someone how to use it. It really should be improved to either show tips on-screen, rather than massive errors you need to correctly interpret (usually a sign of the far end being plugged-in). OR even better would be if it could be made to automatically switch to a different mode (showing link speed or blinking network port) when it errors out of the test very early.In it's primary job, of testing cables, I'm sorry to say it does miss smaller errors, and even an old 100BaseTx Fluke meter will be more fastidious about rejecting not-quite-right cabling. For ultra-critical applications, you will want to use something 10X more expensive. But honestly, your odds of running into a marginally working network cable are tiny, so you have to be realistic about how much the most intense cable testing is really worth. In the end, this is heck of an improvement over basic $5 continuity testers, is invaluable in single-handedly unblinding a low-budget IT department stuck in the stone age, providing an array of several invaluable network tools in one for a very low price.I found it interesting that Fluke wrote up an article trying to criticize those considering buying this specific device. In the end, I found the few faint criticisms they worked so hard to find and emphasize, to actually be a ringing endorsement for the functionality of this low-cost device. See if you agree:flukenetworks dot com/fnet/en-us/supportAndDownloads/KB/Copper-Testing/CableIQ/CableIQ+vs.+REAL+WORLD+CERTIFIERWell worth the price.

This unit already has come in handy the first day I received it. I was asked to determine if there was a cable issue VS a device issue. It quickly pointed me in the right direction. I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase. For the price, it is a bargain.

The description INCORRECTLY states that you can store the results for later printing! This is a NON PRINT version. Not happy that this was not described correctly.

excelente but, has not print optión.

I purchased the Real World Certifier about a year ago. One of my customers required it for use in their restaurants. Given the price difference between this product and the big names like Klein and Fluke I was extremely skeptical. Over the past year I have used it to certify thousands of cables. It is now an indespensible tool I take on site everyday. It has replaced both of my cable testers as well as my analog and digital toners.Certification tests can be saved on the device, named individually on the device, named as a group on the device, and or loaded into any PC with Microsoft Excel and printed out or organized that way. The reviews that say you can't do these things are 100% wrong.The RCW will allow you to trace an active Ethernet connection from the jack to the switch even if it's POE.The cons are the sacrifices you make because it's $300 instead of $5000. The menus are a pain to navigate because the device only has three buttons. When a cable fails it can be difficult to determine where the fault is because of how the screen displays the test results. Annoying yes. Not a big deal though because you're gonna reterminate both ends regardless of what it says so who cares why it failed?Anywho... I would absolutely by this product again. It's worth every penny.