Unfortunately over the last 10 years or so cheap Chinese knock-offs of good quality American made tools have infiltrated this country. In this image I have five different ratcheting double crimp tools with five different die sets for insulated terminals. None of these tools perform the same nor do they make the same tensile strength terminations.


To the naked untrained eye they all look identical, but they are far from it.


*Two of these "double crimp" tools have die sets are are NON-DIRECTIONAL meaning the strain relief side and the wire crimp side are identical. The strain relief and wire crimp sides of an insulated terminal are NEVER IDENTICAL SIZES.. This = FAIL!


*The other three tools have dies sets that are nowhere even close to similar but they are all clearly marked Y, B & R. This = FAIL!


The Only tool here that really performs admirably is the Ancor tool. The die set in this tool is well machined and it makes a crimp that exceeds UL, ABYC & DIN standards.


Just like terminals, when buying crimp tools, stick to manufacturers that have a reputation to uphold.


Two of the pictured tools are from the same vendor using identical part numbers yet one has non-directional dies and the other has uni-directional dies. One thing Chinese knock-off artists are good at is consistency, yeah right... (wink) If you want to gamble buy a no-name Chinese crimp tool, if not stick with name brand tools from the likes of AMP, Molex, Ancor, T&B, Burndy etc.. Let these companies do the homework for you. With crimp tools you do tend to get what you pay for.