Milwaukee has recently released an easy-to-use, lightweight, and compact solution for folks working with a lot of CAT 3-6 universal twisted pair wire. The Milwaukee UTP Stripper features everything you’ll need for convenient, one-handed stripping.
With such a simple tool, Milwaukee is going to have to do something to stand out from the value brands. It’s clearly not the only model out there, so why should you consider Milwaukee instead of one of the other brands?
A Stripper Without Daddy Issues
The Milwaukee UTP Stripper features an adjustable blade height. Basically, insert your cable, anything between CAT 3-6, adjust the blade height, and give ‘er a spin.
The adjustment is fine enough to dial it in easily without cutting in too far and having to start over or leave your cable too short for comfort.
This stripper features a spring-loaded closure. Once your cable is in place, you can release the thumb tab, and the Milwaukee UTP Stripper will hold the cable in place. It’s about as easy an operation you can hope for with this cable range.
On the build quality side, most of the “budget” models use a plastic piece rather than the spring-loaded pivot on Milwaukee’s. That’s a common failure point that Milwaukee improves on.
While the stripper is designed for Cat 3 – 6 cable, it’s handy for most of the communication wiring I come across, including shielded balanced audio cable and serial communications cable.
The Bottom Line
There are definitely plenty of UTP strippers on the market, and they fall on both sides of the $14.99 price tag that the Milwaukee UTP Stripper carries. Some of them have a few more features to make them multi-tools. Personally, I think this is priced just a touch high. I’d like to see it come down $1 or $2 (hey, it’s a $15 stripper, not a $400 combo kit) to be right in line with some of the other competition.
The cool thing about the Milwaukee UTP Stripper mostly revolves around its size. It won’t take up a ton of space in your pouch or your pocket and it adds very little weight to your tool bag. The design makes it exceptionally easy to use, and its benefits outweigh the desire for a larger, heavier multi-purpose product.
Milwaukee UTP Stripper Features
- Adjustable blade height
- Optimized finger loop
- Spring loaded design
- Designed for cat 3-6 wire
Milwaukee UTP Stripper Specs
- Model Number: 48-22-3065
- Width: 5.1″
- Height: 1″
- Length: 5.85″
- Weight: 0.75
- MSRP: $20.70
