Cable Matters 10Gbps 5-Color Combo Snagless Short Cat 6 Ethernet Cable 5 ft (Cat 6 Cable, Cat6 Cable, Internet Cable, Network Cable)

Love the selection of colors, and the snagless ends. All have worked perfectly. I’ve also gotten these in different lengths, which makes cable layout simple!

Durables, facilita su uso para diferenciar conexiones en racks y realizar conexiones estructuradas. Excelente relación calidad-precio.

I’ve not speed tested them, but they appear to work just fine. I had installed a Cat 5E drop about a year ago and just recently had 3 more installed in the house. After that was finished up I realized all my cables were Cat 5. So I decided to buy these to hook up my drop to my NETGEAR GS105 ProSafe 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch (also bought here at Amazon) and then to connect my DVD, TIVO and Slingbox to the switch. Having the multi colors lets me easily trace where each wire goes.

No problems with the wires at all. The tab that snaps in when you click it into a network port seemed to be a little flimsy to me, so I’m not sure that these wires would hold up if you needed to constantly plug them in and then unplug them. But for me I’ve plugged them in and they won’t come back out again barring a move or a problem with equipment.

The price was also right for these guys.

Well made cables… Fair to little price maybe, but seem well made and easy to handle and work with.

I really am a fan of Cable Matters products.

An updated , in depth review… to clear the air about cat6 cables.

Just ordered some more from CM, and in the past from some other vendors.
From other vendors, when I held the patch cables I was readily suspect of the cable not being Cat6.
When I cut them open, nope.. was not.

While construction is not specified for cat5e vs cat6, just performance… there are things that are just a matter of accepted best practice to achieved the specified performance of bandwidth and rejection and capacitance.
The major item is the separator found in the middle.
To reduce noise.. distance is paramount. Spacer helps separate and organize the pairs.
Twist rate is another factor, huge factor…, again twist rate is not specified, but there is physics, so a best practice is there, and normally seen between the differently rated cables.

I’ve handled enough cat5, 5E, and 6 to tell the difference by the feel.

I received patch cables that were marked cat6 but it sure wasnt.. cut it open and it as pure cat5e… no separator and the twist was very loose.

These Cable Matters, while I like them, after reading some bad comments, I decided to sacrifice one to compare.
Mind you, I started second guessing these CM patch cables, the OD is a tad smaller.
I can feel it..
Normally cat6 patch cable is 5.9mm in OD.
These are 5.6mm OD.
Enough to feel the difference. And it’s visible, see attache photo.

In dissecting the cable, it’s the size of the divider.
It measures 4.1mm across the plane of the ” + ” , my bulk cat6 measures 4.6mm .
So some spacing it lost, very minor.
Again, construction is not specified for cat6, performance.
In my opinion as a EE, I don’t think this will make a difference.

So check, these cat6 patch cables have the separators, a little smaller, but this provides for a better flexibility.

Gauge of the wire is 24awg… all copper. Check, good.

A word on gauge and 5e vs 6…
Cat5e and Ca6 both are specified to have 24awg. But Cat6 can optionally have 23Awg, best for POE, but not needed for non POE applications.
So no issues here.

About another post that calls out the connector for being non-cat6 , that post is some whata correct, but not completely.
The reason for the stagger on “cat6 connectors”, is to accommodate 23awg wire.. not for noise or separation.
You can not fit all eight 23awg wire side by side in the confines of a “cat5” connector, which was designed for max awg of 24awg.

So check, the connector is acceptable, since this is a gauge issue, not spacing. And this is a 24awg patch cable, not 23awg.

What would matter, which we can not see, is for how long is the twist rate preserved as the wires leave the jacket and are found in the channels for the connection to the blades of the connector.
Here I have to trust CM, based on every other positive merit in the best practice construction of the cable.
They have tested and certified the cable to perform at the “cat6” levels.

Twist rate, see the photos…
Again, twist rate is not specified, just performance and left to the manufacturer to meet the criteria of the specifications.
Cat5e, is about 1 twist per 10mm, as seen on the photo, this is very common.

The CM under review, is about 1 twist in 5mm.
It’s generally accepted, but not specified that cat6 would be 50-100% greater twist rate, but again, left up to the manufacturer to determine to pass the specified performance criteria.

So Check, much great twist rate on these CM patch cables.

To compare, I also took a photo of the twist rate of the cat6 bulk cable I have..
See photo.
It is about 1 twist on 4.5mm, same magnitude at the CM patch cable.

Patch cable need to be flexible and rugged.
The potting with in the connectors on these CM patch cables provides great robustness IMHO.
Far sturdier them making the cables myself, hence why I buy rather than make. I make when I have a very odd length required and I’m looking to minimize the size of a “service loop”.

I thought by the time I was done with this, I might be knocking of a few or couple of stars, but nope… these PATCH cables are as good as expected.
The very minor difference of the cross section of the center separator might be, again MIGHT be measurable to a db or so if tested at the max specified length for Ethernet cabling, but for a 7ft patch cable this is nothing.
For the patch cable flexibility is needed, and this small compromise is nice..