Poll: Do You Use Brand Name Cable?

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Ethan Ace
Aug 01, 2016

When cabling an IP camera system (or whatever else), do you use brand name UTP? E.g., Belden, Mohawk, Superior-Essex, etc.

Or, do you use whatever no-name cable is cheapest, buy online, etc.?

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Armando Perez
Aug 01, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

Depends on what you consider brand name...

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Undisclosed #1
Aug 01, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Speaking as an end-user, there is only one brand, Monster, and nothing else comes close. Considerable time and effort goes into marketing what is a consistently over-engineered product, and one which is visually captivating as well:

Arrogantly clad in the most esoteric of materials, these cables are built to impress. However, one should beware of the recent arrival of counterfeit Monster cables, some of which are quite convincing in their pretension.

Remember though, if your first thought was not "You gotta be kidding me!", the product is likely a knock-off.

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Undisclosed Integrator #2
Aug 02, 2016

I've always laughed at this regarding Monster Cable. HDMI is digital, 1's and 0's. An HDMI cable either works or it doesn't. All the old fancy jackety material, gold plated etc. stuff is more marketing and mark up. It's your money, and you're free to do what you want it, but you might google search Monster cable hype and read some of the many many articles about it.

that said, there are practical and functional differences in bulk cable as others have pointed out.

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Undisclosed #1
Aug 02, 2016
IPVMU Certified

It's your money, and you're free to do what you want it, but you might google search Monster cable hype and read some of the many many articles about it.

Reread my post, look for signs of sarcasm...

HDMI is digital 1's and 0's. An HDMI cable either works or it doesn't.

To the cable, it's nothing but Analog signals. It doesn't see any ones or zeros. And if the signal becomes attenuated enough, say because of connector oxidation, the interface will all of a sudden interpret the 1's as 0's, which is why seems to either work or not.

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Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
Aug 02, 2016

I personally hate Monster cables. Go to Best Buy to buy a TV, and they prey upon you to try to sell you a $50 HDMI cable...

Monster has sues other companies that have the name "monster" in their name. There is a "monster mini golf" near me. No one would be confused with the name monster. But the cable company has a history of suing everyone and trying to say their products are superior, when they are just cables!!!!

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Brian Rhodes
Aug 01, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I'm curious to see feedback here too. Several local distributors in my area have done a 'meet or beat' price promotion where they will sell brand-name product at generic prices.

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Armando Perez
Aug 01, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

I mean to imply that there are brands that are "name brand" or aspire to be so, but not necessarily the traditional top-tier beldens of the world.

We recently switched to Windy City Wire for our projects. Not enough data to justify their claims yet, but so far the techs love it. More expensive than generics, but not as $$$$ as Belden. We wired our new office iwth their stuff, so we will see what kind of results we have in a few weeks when we move in.

A

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Ethan Ace
Aug 01, 2016

I'd count Windy City Wire as brand name. I'd put them, West Penn, and ICC in the brand category, though I've had some issues with each of them.

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Armando Perez
Aug 01, 2016
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

well, guess I better check yes then.

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Jon Dillabaugh
Aug 01, 2016
Pro Focus LLC

We also use Windy City Wire due to the ease of pulls. They first package their wire on spools inside a box. The wire is also dry coated with lube for easier pulls. The jacket also resists binding due to its rigidity. I have used many brands of CAT cable over the years, and generally, all of them would knot up or bind in the pull box. I just assumed it was a part of pulling cable. Not anymore!

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Max Scott
Aug 18, 2016
IPVMU Certified

We went from generic to windy city, and we've been really happy with wire pulls. I prefer using their cat6 because the jackets seem to have the perfect amount of rigidity, and that makes long pulls much easier.

I remember starting off with generic wire... I'll never go back.

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Undisclosed Integrator #5
Aug 19, 2016

Pre-coated with lube? That's interesting. How's the pricing?

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Oleksiy Zayonchkovskyy
Aug 02, 2016
IPVMU Certified

We tend to sell brand cabling like LeGrand, Molex, Systimax, R&M and others and provide certification even if it is not needed for customer. "Internal" certification is a good way to provide high quality project documentation for customer, increase customer loyalty, avoid any problems during customer audits and be confident in cabling while troubleshooting...

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Ari Erenthal
Aug 02, 2016
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Once, in the dead of winter, we went to our local low voltage distributor to pick up stuff for a job. We ask for CAT5e, and the counter-monkey tells us they got in a new brand that costs less than half the price of our usual off brand stuff. Great, my boss says, we'll take five boxes in assorted colors.

Couple of days later, on the coldest day of the year, with temperatures in the teens, I unload the car and get set up in this house so I could wire up for alarm, telephone, intercom, and A/V. It was one of those days where the cold makes your bones hurt, and I was all alone because the plumbers had decided it was too cold to work and the company was too cheap to send two guys to a single rough-in job. So I spend the morning drilling holes for my runs, cursing everything and shivering.

That's okay, I have plenty of experience roughing in by myself. If you drill all the holes perfectly, you can pull everything through the trunk line and then branch off. I tape all the cables together and get ready. The cables seem unusually stiff but I put that down to my wearing two separate pairs of gloves in an effort to stave off frostbite.

So I start pulling and the jacket starts flaking off the damn cables! Flaking! I pull the taped-together cables through three or four studs, loose with plenty of room, and I ended up with a handful of twisted pair. Sitting around in the unheated house for a few hours had made the jacket so brittle that it just crumbled.

So I sent my boss a very obscene text message, threw the boxes of CAT5e in the dumpster out front, and went home.

Anyway, my point is, I recommend brand name cables. Also, get a desk job if you can.

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Ethan Ace
Aug 02, 2016

I actually have had that happen even with good brands. Something like 20 cables in a bundle for a school construction project. The sad thing was, after it happened and I asked for a propane heater...the PM still didn't want to give it to me.

I think if it's below 40°, you really need to start asking if you really need to pull those cables today.

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Ari Erenthal
Aug 02, 2016
Chesapeake & Midlantic

I think if it's below 40°, you really need to start asking if you really need to pull those cables today.

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Brian Rhodes
Aug 02, 2016
IPVMU Certified

If you drill all the holes perfectly, you can pull everything through the trunk line and then branch off.

DIFFICULTY = LEVEL 10

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Undisclosed #1
Aug 02, 2016
IPVMU Certified

DIFFICULTY = LEVEL 10

Once the jacket strips off the difficulty level comes down a bit, ask a phone guy!

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Ari Erenthal
Aug 02, 2016
Chesapeake & Midlantic

DIFFICULTY = LEVEL 10

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Undisclosed #1
Aug 02, 2016
IPVMU Certified
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Darrel Cross
Aug 02, 2016

All CommScope.

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Michael Miller
Aug 02, 2016

I had the same thing happen years ago with Cat5 and bundled cable (2 coax / 2 cat5e). So cold the jacket would just snap soon as you put any bend on it. The blue nail up boxes didn't stand a chance either. When we tried to nail them up they would just shatter to pieces. It was one of those days where the only way you were remotely warm is if you were hustling.

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Matt Ion
Aug 02, 2016

We almost always get Superior-Essex, simply because we have an account with Noramco and that's what they carry. We've picked up some cheaper stuff (that actually cost more at retail) from Home Depot, as well as some other brand from Tri-Ed recently when they were way closer to a job than Noramco, but found neither had the one feature we really REALLY love about the S-E: unique cable ID marks for each box.

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Undisclosed Integrator #4
Aug 19, 2016

This is a little off topic, but are Ari and Ethan competing for "Best Beard" status?

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Undisclosed #1
Aug 19, 2016
IPVMU Certified

It's a toss up.

Both beards appear to be outdoor rated, AWG #38 twisted hair.

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Ari Erenthal
Aug 19, 2016
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Please. No contest. Mine is better.

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Ethan Ace
Aug 19, 2016

Voting this disagree but also funny.

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Undisclosed #1
Aug 19, 2016
IPVMU Certified

The only way to resolve this may be to submit to the evidence to BICSI.

You know the Bearded Integrator Contest Standards Institute

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Jeff Russo
Aug 20, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Lately I use Remee and it seems nice to work with compared to other stuff I used. How does this stack up in brand name vs. not?

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Undisclosed Integrator #6
Nov 03, 2016

Honeywell Cable via ADI. It is very reasonable priced and relatively always available. We've been using them for years now. CAT5e (Indoor & Outdoor) pricing very good and works!

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