Triplett Fox & Hound Premium Tone and Probe Wire Tracing Kit Generates Multiple Tones with Adjustable Sensitivity for Electrical Wire, LAN Cable, Telephone, and More (3399)

If you are looking for a product that was designed by an Engineer instead of a Marketeer, and with a manual that is written by an Engineer rather than a Technical Writer, then this is it! To be sure, it does have its flaws: The manual is the size of a credit card, with 62 pages of tiny text - I read the PDF on the web instead. The plastic housing lacks the finer fit and finish of more modern products. And, the spaces for the 9V batteries are cramped, making it very difficult to close the covers without a bulge remaining. I also have the $80 Extech 40180, and this product is in quite a different class, with the following additional features: 1. It is provided with a conductive metal probe tip, in addition to the insulated plastic tip. 2. Probe has a signal strength LED, in addition to the speaker / headphone jack. 3. Probe also acts as flashlight, allowing probing in dark spaces without having to turn on noisy fluorescent lights. 4. The injector box has a speaker, in addition to the speaker which is present in the probe. 5. Continuity test has an Audible Tone mode, in addition to Lit LED mode. 6. Tracer tone can be changed between Warble and Pulse without having to open case. 7. TrueTrace feature allows detecting which pair of wires signal is injected in to, by shorting at far end and listening for a change in the pulse rate. 8. It is designed to survive accidental connection across 120 Vac. 9. Injector can be connected to the base-station of a cordless phone, to wirelessly send its test tone to the phone's headsets. This allows you to use the TrueTrace capability at a distant location, even if the probe would not pick up an adequate signal, or would be overwhelmed by 60 Hz related noise. (Though not mentioned in its manual, the Extech can also drive the base-station of a cordless phone, however, without the TrueTrace feature, this is not of much use.) Jumpers inside injector's case also allow: 1. Disable speaker. 2. Disable TrueTrace. 3. Change tone to a higher pitch. 4. Change Warble tone to Continuous tone (The Extech does have a slide switch inside the case to do this). The manual is very clearly written, by someone with a deep understanding and considerable experience in using this product under a variety of difficult test conditions. It would be the envy of Hewlett Packard, which was once known for its excellent user manuals! Note, though, if you are not technically inclined you may find the manual overwhelming, and may prefer the Extech's 4-page manual instead.

We work in the power plant industry, which has 10's of thousands of cables/conductors. These 'toners' are stellar in their performance. Triplett's price point may be a little above average, but you get what you pay for! Being trustworthy and durable is more valuable than the initial cost! Buy it! You'll be glad you did!

Does the job, but for the price I would have expected better engineered cases and better materials in the plastics. Each component takes a 9v battery (not included). Being clever I decided to go with the best and install Li-ion batteries. Would not fit. Exasperating, finally checked and sure enough, alkaline 9v batteries are smaller than lithium and fit more easily. Trouble is, the wires are a tangle in the Hound3 with the speaker perilously fixed between battery and electronics. With the Fox2 the back unscrews and the entire guts of the machine fall out when installing the battery, and it is tricky getting it all back correctly. For $2 more they could have had battery compartments and ABS plastic, and perhaps a smidge larger and easier to use. Funny, because the case is quite nice to carry them in, and even more funny because the box, although cardboard, is quite heavy and has magnets holding the flap down. The corners fall apart on the box but the flap is held with two magnets hidden in the cardboard. What the heck is that about?

Great tone generator and tracer. Ive been using this routinely since 2012 and it still is good as new. The instruction manual is long and full of detail features and tips you dont get with cheaper toners. The toner eapecially is full of functions that others dont have like true trace (tone changes when continuity changes making it easy to pin down the port from a patch pannel) and cordless interface (use a cordless phone as a probe). Both toner and probe are very powerful. My only complaint is the probe can be sensitive. I also have a Greenlee in my office and its toner is weak compared to the Fox. This becomes very noticeable when toning cat6. Their support is exceptional (SHOUT OUT TO MATT H!) I emailed triplett to buy a new metal tip aftet losing mine and they mailed me a replacement tip for free!!! The Fox and Hound is also way better than these cheap $15-$30 toners. Ive used them too and theyre either weak or inconsistant compared to the professional toners like the Fox and Hound. Highly HIGHLY reccomended. Spend the extra $$ stay away from cheap toners if youre gonna depend on this tool routinely.

I was shocked to see how poorly made this unit was. Very thin, cheap plastic is not going to last long at all. Terrible design and ergonomics- for example: the Fox has no door for the 9v battery. You must take the unit apart like 2 halves of a clam. Soon as I did that, a spring with a piece of plastic flew out and landed somewhere on the floor. Not only did i have to locate it, but figure out where it was supposed to sit inside the unit. I also noticed that there is some flat spring/switch thingie which is held onto the body of the Fox with SCOTCH TAPE!!! That's gonna last...NOT!! The battery and its wires really don't fit well inside, so when you close the clam and try to tighten the (lone) screw to close it up, the two halvesof the clamshell now will not close properly. The Hound is also made from very thin and brittle red plastic. Now while this does have a door, it is precariously held on by a tiny semi-doughnut of plastic on one end (barely hanging on the the edge of the earphone jack), and two tiny tabs on the opposite side of the door.This door also barely closes once the battery, wires, and ribbon (for removing the battery) are stuffed inside. Both units feel cheap, look cheap, and seem about as robust as a Harbor Freight free voltmeter. Only the black nylon case was well-made. I have old Radio Shack VOMs which are well made and have lasted for decades, I cannot recommend this tool.

I bought this to find an open circuit in my son's house. We applied the tone to the hot (black) wire of an outlet that had no voltage. We traced the tone across a ceiling and into the utility room where the electric breaker panel is located. We then removed the black wire from the breaker applied the tone to it. We were able to trace the ton about 4 feet to the point it quit. We found a GFI outlet on the other side of the wall where the tone disappeared. When we removed the GFI outlet we found burned wiring terminals. To verify that we were in the right place, we applied the tone to the original location. Sure enough, we had tone coming to this outlet. The total cost of the repair was less than $85, including the cost of this cable locator. I've also used this to find another open in a power circuit and to verify a telephone cable. In my case it more than paid for itself in one job.

Device is not as simple as some I’ve used however it performs great and as described. Good value for the money.

Worked great the three times I used it. Then the “Hound” died. The tone sender portion still works with other tracers but not nearly as well as it did with the Hound 3. I have had it for 2 months.

Could not get a reliable result after many attempts. Waste of money.

Bought this to trace dead 120V AC branch in mid-century built house. Worked as expected and the sensitivity control allowed tracing of wiring embedded in walls and ceilings. Took about 30 minutes to locate the break. IMPORTANT!!! If you are tracing household AC wiring make CERTAIN the breaker for the dead circuit is switched off before connecting the fox device. If you have an intermittent break and you jiggle wires while tracing them you could apply full 120 or 240V AC to the fox, which will destroy it. The supplied case is a bit too small making it difficult to get the fox and its wiring in so you can close the velcroed flap.

Bought it to trace data wires works great

i like it