Hilitchi Professional Insulated Wire Terminals Connectors Ratcheting Crimper Tool for 22-10AWG

As far as a basic crimping tool goes, this product is pretty excellent. Very sturdy and seems well made. The ratcheting function really lets you get a solid crimp on pretty much any size connector. It's definitely added to my tool box. I've used it a bunch since purchasing and it's holding up really well. It's a great tool for sure.However, let me warn you that it is NOT particularly good for crimping small pin-style connectors (i.e. Molex, multilock, Yazaki/Sumitomo automotive connectors, etc.). It has no way to hold the pin in place properly when crimping, and also it basically just mashes the wings together on the pins, doesn't really do a proper crimp on them. I'm only mentioning this because I bought this intending to use it for these types of connectors and it did not work well for them. But that's mostly on me, I should have looked at the tool a little more closely before ordering it. I've since then ordered a proper tool for pin crimping.Like I said above though, it is such a great tool for other styles of electrical connector that I have still added it to my tool box and use it regularly.

Works great first time - I didn't need any adjustment.I have a few issues, but they are nits.1. The red/yellow/blue dots are on the wrong side of the tool. The jaw is directional - one side does the actual crimping, and the other side (with the colored dots) does less/no crimping. See the 5th picture in the web page. If you can see the dots, you're probably holding it upside down and won't get the crimp where you think.2. It feels like it's designed for left-handed people. One handle is stationary (where you put the splice) and the other handle moves. If you hold it in your right hand looking at the crimping-side of the jaw (colored dots facing away), you move your thumb to squeeze the moving handle down. Feels awkward (to me anyway).3. The "ratcheting" action probably isn't what you think. It's more of a non-reversing latch. It maintains pressure even if you relax your grip, but the handles stay where they are. You squeeze the full range of motion exactly once. It's not like a car jack you pump multiple times to use distance as a force multiplier.4. You have much less leverage (and require much more strength) at the beginning when the jaws are wide open and start compressing the splice. Thus it's hard to get things started. You need 2 hands for strength, which leaves none to hold the splice/wire from slipping around. Once you get past the half-way point, you can easily finish with 1 hand.5. The inner-most position (with max leverage) is designed for 10-12 gauge yellow splices (good), but crimping blue/reds in the further positions are significanly harder than I would have thought. I feel we need longer handles, or a true multiple-squeeze ratcheting design.6. The Amazon webpage lists the product brand as "Hilitchi", but this name does not appear anywhere on the tool nor product packaging. At first I thought I got a knockoff/substitute, but on closer examination it looks *exactly* like the pictures on the webpage.Since all the ratcheting/crimping tools seem to have these same issues I can't fault this one for it. I guess you just need to spend more to get a better tool.Regardless of the nits above, it works as advertised and actually does quite a good job, so I give it 5 stars.

RECOMMENDATION:I rate these a ‘BUY, as they are very heavy duty, and the ratchet works really well for crimping. But be aware that it is only designed to crimp on one side which is not intuitive.THE GOOD:1. Crimping mechanism works well and has an easy-to-use release mechanism if you need to stop a crimp in the middle of the process.2. Very heavy duty.3. Have a replaceable crimping die if you need to swap that out for a different use.THE BAD:1. These are meant with single-sided butt crimp connectors only. You can use them on double-sided crimping connectors, but will have to crimp each connector twice, once on each side.2. The crimping only occurs on the right side of the die/crimper. The instructions say it is best to use the right side, when in fact you MUST use that side.

I have tendinitis in both hands and the old scissor-style crimpers we used at work were incredibly painful. Worse, I found my crimps slipping off and the wires get foamed into place afterwards. A crimp failure means digging the wire out of the foam for about an hour to re-crimp the wires. The only remedy was to squeeze harder. Co workers were using 2 hands on one side of the tool and pushing the other handle against the wall, using body weight to squeeze harder. This was no easier on my damaged hands.I can actually do a quick crimp on a blue connector with one hand using this tool! If I am doing more than one, I brace one end against my leg or use two hands, but that is ONLY because my hands are so damaged and I often need to make a dozen crimps in succession. I can fly through an install now and be 100% sure that every crimp is perfect. I used to dread having to use a crimp tool, but I love using my Hilitchis! Without this tool, I would have had to quit my job.Worth it at double the price for most people. For me, priceless!