Coax Explorer Plus Tester Klein Tools VDV512-058

This is a straight forward, simple little tester, that works great if your trying to map out cables and make sure there are no shorts. The product is advertised as "sealed and batteries are non replaceable". However, the batteries CAN BE simply replaced. Take a small flat head screw driver (the wider the tip the better), wood chisel, putty knife or whatever else you can find that can fit in the small grove on the side of the tester. With the LED lights on the tester facing downward take your tool of choice, slip the tip of the tool into into the grove and apply a small amount of inward pressure while simultaneously lightly twisting the tool at the same time until the yellow case halves break free from each other. Do this several times per side and be careful not to apply to much inward pressure so when the case breaks apart you do not damage anything inside. Once your inside you can easily remove the small electronics board to locate the two CR2032 batters to replace them. Now, the case will not simply snap back together so use 4-6 very small dabs of super glue on each corner of the case and press together. Its that simple! Battery replacement takes at most 5 minutes.Excellent little tester that has saved me countless hours crawling around attics and I could not be happier with it's performance.

After using other brands over the years, I decided to buy these because of the Klein name and the low price. Works just as good as any other I’ve used. For anyone whose never used a tool like this, it’s a definite time saver when trying to determine where a set of Coax run to. Simply screw the colored terminator onto the connector at each location and then run the test on each line where they originate from. The lights will tell you the location of each (or if that line is open or shorted). Bottoms line, nice compact tool and works great.

Easy to use tool - wish it'd come with something to store it in for my toolbox. Could be a little more intuitive - have to make sure you read the instructions to know which end to connect when. If I used it more often than 1-2 times a year, I would have sprung for a model with a battery that can be replaced - this one dies with the battery... a poor design decision in my estimation - just let me thumb-off a door and replace a button battery... c'mon. Besides that flaw (that's why 4 stars not 5) - works as expected.

This device was great. I have a spaghetti pile of cables from multiple cable systems over the years. First with TWC, and old double cable system, then Direct TV and they put in cabling, then back to TWC and new lines...trying to figure it out was a nightmare.Then, I decided to hook up an antenna and wire into the existing cable lines. Trying to figure out which line went where was going to be a nightmare.All I can say is this works. I really don't care if the batter is not replaceable. This is an inexpensive item. Did the job.Place a cap on one cable end, test the others, and look for the correct color light.And, do buy some cable connectors.Mediabridge F81 Connector - 3GHz Female to Female F-Type Adapter - 5 Pack, $5 dollars. Saves a trip to the store.So,, it works, solved my problem. A great solution for a problem of cable wiring

So, I hemmed and hawed about whether I should spend the money on this device. As a DIYer, it's really a one-time use kind of item and I felt a little lazy buying it. I thought about the cheaper model that only has one tester, not 4.Boy, am I glad I purchased this item. It made the job SO MUCH EASIER. I had one bad Coax outlet and I could NOT figure out what was wrong until I bought this item. I tried going up in the attic to see if there was a broken wire but I'm a big guy and doing this in the heat of FL with blown insulation deep in the bowels of my house was not of interest to me. But, I did NOT want to pay Verizon $125+ to come out and do the same thing I knew I could do with this device. Turns out that there was just a short in the wire behind the outlet, so it made this fix very easy.Here are some quick tips:1. Make sure you don't have a splitter in the line you are testing - it will throw it off2. Make sure you write down which room has which color tester before you get up in the attic (assuming that is where your cables are).3. Pre-write down your cable labels. I just used masking tape and a thin-tipped magic marker then stuck them to my arm before I climbed up into the attic.4. I would recommend purchasing some connectors so that you can test the cable all the way up to the cable box/TV vs. testing just at the outlet. It's usually easier to get to and it will allow you to test the cable run between the outlet and the box. MAKE SURE YOU test the connector by connecting to both ends of the device to ensure it's good before you start using it though.I hope these tips you find helpful in making your usage of the device better and more efficient!

I have a motor-home, with several coax cables from here to there.2 are from the roof satellite, one is from the Wing Antenna, one is from the park cable,one goes to the back of the motor-home for the TV in the back, and a few go to the switch box.Well, it get's old trying to figure out what is going on, and since I decided to swap out the TV toa 32" HDTV Digital TV, it became very challenging. I also decided to clean up the wiring and remove excesswire. Then I'm standing looking at this mess i created, and tried to put everything back, didn't work.So I bought this Coax explorer plus tester, and the damn thing worked great. You don't have to haveall your marbles to use this thing and get everything traced out. Wonderful product.

Great tool . I would have giving it a 5 but unfortunately you have to dispose of it after the encased battery goes dead . I would never purchase another one because of this reason .

I am a bit slow on getting to know how it works but did a great job. Only had 28 cables to check out but did great.

Perfect tool for tracking down which cable line was needed and which ones needed to be removed. 4 cables can be tracked at one time. No more guessing or requiring the wife to check for a signal.

We bought a home that had coaxial cable everywhere. I mean two or more outlets in every room and a real mess in the basement where the wires from the antenna and satellite dish came in. This thing allowed me to match a wire in a room with the corresponding wire in the basement.

good tool