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Paid $40 for a used OTDR cable tester, saved a whole install job
Found a beaten up OTDR on Craigslist from a guy in Denver who was clearing out his van. He wanted $120 but I talked him down to $40 after showing him the cracked screen. Used it on a fiber run yesterday where the new client kept getting flaky signal at the termination box. Turns out the issue was a bad fusion splice from a subcontracted crew, not the main line like the fiber company claimed. That little tester paid for itself in one afternoon and now I double check every handoff before I pull the truck away. Has anyone else grabbed used test gear and actually had it work out better than the fancy rental options?
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betty_perry241mo ago
Was it calibrated before you used it? That's my first thought when I see cheap used test gear. A bad calibration on an OTDR can send you chasing ghosts down the line and waste way more than the $40 you saved. I have been burned by that once with an old power meter, took me two hours to figure out the readings were off by half a dB.
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