Thoughts on Pockethernet tester, Indiegogo campaign ending soon

I know we have lots of people that have used various cat cabling test equipment.

Interested in your thoughts on this one http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pockethernet-the-swiss-army-knife-for-network-administrators/x/4207492
at $150

Looks like a clever little gizmo.  Haven't checked lately, but I recall length testers (TDR) used to be pretty pricey.  
 
The DHCP testing and port light blinking would be handy.  Bundling the tone feature would be sweet!

Looks really handy, I spent $40 on a regular trendnet cable tester.  Too bad the $100 package is sold out.

If it makes it to mainstream it'd be handy;  I carry two separate fluke testers currently - one that's a tester/certifier, and another that'll do IP checks, POE testing, etc - but they were >$1500 each.  That said, I wouldn't get in at this stage; if it works, it'll be on amazon and I'll get it then (in a couple years).
 
I didn't read everything but hopefully they'll have remote endpoints for tracing wires - each of the fluke kits has 8 so I can test several ports at a time and map them too.

The only problem with putting that functionality on smartphones is that I have fluke cable testers that are 15+ years old and still work great, but I have never owned a smartphone or even piece of software that long.  Wiring standards last a lot longer than software standards (or companies)...
 
But for $150 it might be ok considering it will only last 3-5 years...

Sure, the Fluke units are great, but they're pretty pricey and not necessarily something you'd put in the hands of everyone that could use them because of it. One admin on another list commented, it'd be better to have a few of those wwith the techs in the field rather than having them wait another day on-site until the tester was Fedex'd.

For an occasional user, sure, but I can't see it for anyone that really would use it consistently...I have a hard enough time keeping a battery alive during the day without a Mophie. Then, the part about putting a fragile smartphone on a rack/closet or whatever. Hello broken glass. Now you're going to be carrying the dongle to perform the testing and other interfacing the smartphone looses the "sexy" factor.
 
A basic TDR can be had for sub $100. A toner for about $50. A Psiber (cheap Fluke) is also in that realm.
 
I'd opt out for many reasons.....

Yeah, well, the whole 'sexy' factor is bullshit. Puh-leeze, it's a device, nothing more. Yeah, that's probably not what the sheeple have let themselves be conned into believing. If anything NOT having to drag along all the geek-ware is probably a lot MORE 'sexy'. Less being more, not geek-badges-of-honor-nonsense.

Personally I would go for it if it had a tiny little functional color hires LCD screen on it (mobile phone sized would be nice).  
 
A tiny serial port on it and a wireless BT keyboard would be a nice add to this tiny device, SSH/telnet, network port to connect to devices on the network and I would go for it.  Easy to upgrade firmware would nice too.
 
I would even pay more than $100 for this all in one network tester.
 
I did recently purchase an el cheapo multicable tester with endpoints for less than $30; which is really a throw away price.
 
Tells me all kinds stuff and it has helped me lately with my checking my older cabling as I convert stuff to POE.

I don't disagree that having an affordable tester is a great first line of defense.  If someone complains about POE devices being unreliable or network connectivity being problematic, then I don't waste 2 seconds before I break out the Fluke.  Though expensive, it's paid for itself 100 times over in saved time and frustration (though that could be an argument in itself if I only bill for 15 minutes vs. 2 hours of troubleshooting I suppose).
 
For that reason, even if it's not as good as a fluke, if it means that techs who couldn't otherwise afford to carry a tester at all would carry it, then by all means - line up for it when it hits Amazon.com.  I'm not touching it before it's made it mainstream though.

@ wkearney...
 
If you look at their page, there's a dongle that still is required, so in my mind, how is that any different than carrying a small kit with basic test equipment.
 
@ work:
For the price this unit costs for the bolt on feature on top of the base investment for a Iphone....I'd buy one of the Byte Brothers LV pro units first, then upgrade if needed. The base LV pro is $25 less than the unit they're showing and I think has a better set of features (without getting into the net section).

Style and price, those would be the two differences. For someone prepared to spend more and maintain the geek/tech look then this is unlikely to be a product to consider.

What additional investment? Who doesn't already have an iOS or Android smart phone?

Tbe Byte Brothers unit gets a bit pricey when you step up to the LV3, more than this unit, and still has no networking features. Still, it's a lot less than other non-network testing devices.

I'd imagine once the smart phone is part of the equation a lot of other possibilities open up. Site surveys and cable info collected into a database would be hugely convenient.

Don't get me wrong, if you're wrangling wires every day then higher-end gear is likely a better fit. If anything entrants like this will hopefully drive innovation and pricing on those units.

I have a smartphone, but in the corporate world, I didn't have a "company" one until late last year. Maybe I'm old school, but I refuse to use my personal cell for business purposes, but I suppose that can be another discussion altogether.
 
It can be commended that they are trying to drive this into the droid/IOS field, but it's  not for me, even as an entry level piece of gear.

I wouldn't want to do a site survey using a smart device....especially after losing my Galaxy from a sub 1' hit on ice when I slipped. Hit the corner of the otterbox, cracked that and took out the LCD. Could only imagine if I had a whole site survey that was unusable after that.

Heh, history is littered with the "I'd never do that" approach to everything new. There's always an overlap. Now, at least, there's an emerging alternative.

The upside to a broken phone is it's a quick trip to the nearest phone store for a new one and reloading from the cloud backups. Nothing comes for free, of course, but being careful helps.