Unpopular opinion: Sometimes the old crimp method beats compression fittings

I spent 4 hours yesterday on a single RG6 run at a house in Phoenix because the compression fitting kept slipping off the cable. Turns out the jacket was slightly undersized but I didn't catch it until the third try. My partner swears by compression and says crimp fittings are outdated garbage. But I swapped to a crimp connector and it took me 10 minutes flat. How many of you have had a simple problem turn into a whole afternoon because of a bad fitting?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin_foster11mo ago

yeah i read somewhere that some of those cheaper compression fittings have been having QC issues lately, like the tolerances are all over the place. i think it was a forum post from a guy who installs for a living and he said he's been seeing more bad batches than before. crimp has been around forever and it's pretty foolproof if you match the connector to the cable right. i mean sure compression looks cleaner but if it's gonna fail after a few years because the rubber seal wasn't seated right then what's the point. i've had times where i just grab whatever works and move on.

james6611mo ago

Exactly, I've had that same experience with the cheap compression fittings. The rubber seal not seating right is a real problem, I've seen a few that were loose right out of the box. If you're gonna use compression, spend the extra couple bucks on the name brand stuff, not the no-name ones on Amazon. Crimp is just more reliable for the long haul, especially if you're using a good tool and you know the connector fits the cable gauge. Do you find yourself going back to crimp after those bad batches too?