Crappy knock-off crimpers

[Renate]

I need to do some 12V power wiring on my RV and thought that I'd do it right with making my own cables instead of relying on expensive pre-made cables that aren't the right size either.
I'm talking about crimp lugs on 8 AWG to 2 AWG (10 - 35 mm²).
A quick search finds the ubiquitous YQK-70.
There's a ton of them on ebay for ~$35.
But they are all clearly really crappy knock-offs.
I dislike tools of seriously inferior quality.

A bit of sleuthing leads me to IWISS (also a Chinese company) which seems to have made the original.
https://iwiss.com/product/yqk-70-hexagon-hydraulic-crimping-tool-4-70mm2/
Unfortunately, I can't find anyone who sells that in the states.
(Yes, I did follow the "Where to buy" links, even the Chinese links.)
Also searches are polluted with a million offers of knock-offs.
I will contact the company to see.

Any thoughts on crimpers or fakes or life in general?

[coppercone2]

get sg tool aid mechanical ones, 100$ or so, no bullshit, no leaky oil, decent as far as I can tell

made in taiwan.

hard to believe taiwan comes in at 30% of the price of a official greenlee (imo considered a mid-high end tool), at 100$, then the advanced hydraulic one comes in at 10% of the price of the original and 30% the price of the Taiwanese one. Meanwhile the normal hydraulic crimp tools from normal manufacturers at the 12 ton range, go for 1000-2000$. So how do you do it for 30$?

Are the hydraulic ones super easy to make or something? I mean it looks complicated, the normal ones are just like made of sheets of metal.

I don't think you are gonna get a good tool sub 200$ if the original costs 1000-2000....
https://www.zoro.com/greenlee-12-ton-hyd-crimp-tool-hkl1232/i/G3190050/

[Renate]

The long arm, plain mechanical ones are twice as big as the little hydraulic jobs.
It does present a storage problem here.

I don't need a super serious crimper because it's only a maximum of 2 AWG (35 mm²).
OTOH, the 8 AWG factory supplied cables on my inverter burned the connectors due to bad crimping on 15 Amperes!
(I soldered the replacement ones.)

I got an answer back from IWISS in Wenzhou, China.
They don't make the YQK-70 anymore!

Greenlee makes nice stuff but the prices will give you sticker shock.

[coppercone2]

how do they get the price down THAT much? Honestly I was paranoid about those tools leaking and make a oil slick. Don't want my tool box to take me out one day, of all things.

[Renate]

Well, I'm thinking of the TEMCo TH0006 crimper: https://www.ebay.com/itm/TEMCo-Hydraulic-Cable-Lug-Crimper-TH0006-5-US-TON-12-AWG-to-00-2-0/281746224039
The above crimper quotes 5 ton.
The head is at least forged and not cast (poorly).

One of the things that I've learned is that everybody quotes 6-8-10 ton for the same size crimper.
All the reports quote scepticism about these numbers.

Also, I don't get the attraction for chrome plating.
Any decent crimp die that I've seen was black oxide.

Honestly I was paranoid about those tools leaking and make a oil slick.

Well, people do complain about them leaking oil.