DougM—April 5, 2020
I bought this to run to my workshop behind my house. I recently ran power out there and buried also conduit for future installation of cat5e cable. This whole Covid-19 deal accelerated my plans as I finally decided to work from home even though I work at an oil and gas related company which is definitely essential. It was a tough decision for me because there weren’t many reviews for this cable, and there are a lot of competitors on amazon for cat5e cable. Rest assured this is good stuff. High twist rate on the pairs, which means good resistance to electrical noise. Wire comes spooked on a nice wooden spool (see my attached photo). Published Cat5e distance limits of reliable operation is ~300ft or about 100m. My run is about 275, and 150ft of that is buried on separate conduit running right next to my buried power conduit and power wire. So... I had concerns about reliable signal with my set up. NO ISSUES! Had my wife help me pull the wire (we used pulling soap which I highly recommend for long runs with bends in your conduit), Routed the side of my house and through my attic to our main internet modem. Terminated the ends with high quality “Panduit Gigabit TX5e” fittings which are tool-less connectors. Works like a charm. Since it is hardwired from end it end, my connection is much faster than WiFi. I may install a WiFi router in my workshop later, but this is excellent for now. Cable is flexible, seems sturdy, and pulls easily. Don’t hesitate. Note: this is NOT gell-filled cable. The other pro of this cable is that the seller offered it up in a 590ft spool option does I didn’t have to buy 1000ft and have 700ft leftover for no reason. Read more
Donald Schultz—May 24, 2019
Top quality Cat5e CMX outdoor shielded cable at a reasonable price! I install Wi-Fi networks and camera systems and this particular cable is meant for outdoor runs. When I made my choice, I went by the following criteria: 1. The cable must be solid copper. Many of the runs I install are up to 300 feet and almost always to a PoE device (Power Over Ethernet). It is always a good idea to use solid copper conductors for PoE. 2. The cable must be outdoor rated, with FTP (Foil Twisted Pair) aluminum shielding plus an ESD ground drain wire 3. The cable must be properly documented so I can select the proper connector to use with it. I will not trust cable that is not fully documented up front. 4. The cable must meet all EIA/TIA specifications trueCABLE has properly documented the specifications on the cable and I selected the Platinum Tools EZ-RJ45 Cat5/6 Shielded connector with external ground. The two most critical specifications needed are the OD or outside diameter of the cable jacket and the OD of the conductor insulation, which basically means the copper conductor diameter PLUS accounting for the insulation around the conductor. It is NOT enough that a connector says “Cat5e compatible”, nor is it enough that a particular connector says it will work with “24 AWG” conductors. Each cable manufacturer will have different ODs for the cable and conductors. In this case, the cable OD is 6.80mm and the OD of the conductor insulation is 0.97mm. After careful research, I selected the connector based upon these dimensions plus needing a shielded connector. This cable is stouter than indoor-grade cable. The jacket is thick, plus the foil shielding and waterproof tape add to the thickness. There is a rip cord inside the cable, but I did not make use of that. You should use a cable stripper when terminating cable to RJ45 connectors. For such a thick cable, you are well advised to get a heavy-duty adjustable stripper. Here is how the cable is constructed from the inside out: • Four twisted pairs (eight solid copper conductors) • Waterblock tape (basically a tough cloth wrap that blocks water from reaching the conductors if the outer jacket should be breached) • ESD drain wire (ground wire) • Overall foil shield (not cheapo metallized mylar like other brands…) • Rip cord (meh…I never use it) • Outer UV protective outdoor rated jacket I took copious pictures, showing the inside of the cable plus at various points during the process of cable termination to a RJ45 connector. Overall, I am impressed with the quality of this cable Read more
Michael R. Wilkes—August 20, 2024
we used cat 5e to support reolink POE cameras. we ran about 400 of cable outside and in the crawl space. this cable worked perfect. it’s quality cable with substantial outside plastic covering. definitely using it in the future. Read more