Framescope Vs Fluke DX whatever

Hi, We have a corporate lan setting up in VA which is absolutely new. Just wondering if I should go for an Agilent Framescope 350 or the fluke one. please advise. Any comments will be really helpful.

Reply to
Ravi
Loading thread data ...

Ravi wrote:

Well, in reality the Agilent Framescope and the Fluke DTX line are really two different animals. The Framescope contains network monitoring and testing functions that the DTX does not. To do this you would also need to purchase the Fluke OneTouch II as well. Having said that, and recently having purchased a Framescope, I would take a serious look at the DTX, particularly when it comes to testing Cat6 and beyond. The Framescope does Cat6 Certification just fine, but takes some where between 45 and 75 seconds for the test. The DTX is touted to be at 12 seconds. From a contractors perspective, that's huge. But if you're not overly concerned about that, the major selling point for the DTX is the beyond Cat6 tests, which there really aren't yet. But it will be able too when they are. As for the Framescope, I'm not sure if and when it would be able to test beyond Cat6 (by that I really mean beyond 350Mhz, the DTX can test to some where around 900Mhz). The Agilent is more software based than the Fluke products, so it might be upgradeable. At the same time, I've also heard that Agilent was looking to sell off the Wirescope/Framescope line, so I don't know what the future holds for it. The point is, take a look at what you need. If you are only going to be testing Cat6 or down over the next 5-10 years, I'd go with with the Fluke DSP-4000 or the Agilent WIREscope. If you have lots of fiber to test as well, maybe then look at the lower end DTX. And being that is sounds like you're and end-user not a contractor, the speed of the DTX really doesn't help you much, and probably aren't going to have much fiber to test, so maybe the network functions of the Framescope are more useful.

Hope that helps

Justin

Reply to
jtodd5 dot 1

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.