Gardner Bender GCT-3304 Continuity Tester

I'm reviewing the GCT-3304 Continuity Tester: This tester is a gem. Multimeters and test lamps have their place. But sometimes you just need to know if point A has an electrical connection to point B. In that case, less is more. No bulk, no settings, no waiting for auto-range, no beeping. This tool simply and cheaply does the job it was designed for. As is, I give it 5 star minus. But it could be better. The test lead is very stiff vinyl 18 gauge wire. Wants to tangle and pull no matter how you treat it. And the alligator clip is covered by a stiff plastic boot that makes it tough to operate. Why? This device operates at 3 volts. It is not for probing high-voltage, so why shield the clip? Gardner Bender could spend literally less than 5 cents more for 2 feet of excellent, flexible silicon wire for the test lead. Would elevate it from good to great, something every person who works on electronics or electrical systems would have in their kit. To improve this tester: Get some ultra-flexible silicone-jacketed hookup wire (Amazon has lots of options) in 18-22 gauge. Remove the battery compartment cover and the batteries. Use pliers to remove the battery contact connected to the test lead wire from the body of the tester. Pull the plastic boot away from the alligator clip and use pliers to bend the clip so that the wire slides out (it is not soldered at this end -- but it will be). Use a soldering iron to remove the battery contact from the other end of the test lead. Get rid of the old test lead and plastic alligator clip cover. Cut a piece of silicon wire to an appropriate length. Strip one end and solder it to the battery contact just like the original test lead. Strip the other end and thread it into on of the attachments/holes in the alligator clip. Solder the wire to the alligator clip. Bend the end of the alligator clip around the insulated wire to take the strain off the soldered connection. Replace the battery contact into the tool and install new LR-44 batteries. If the batteries seem loose after this process, remove the contact and bend it so it puts more pressure on the batteries. Finally, the two batteries that come with this tool are likely to leak. Find some genuine name-brand LR-44 batteries if you want to keep this tool long-term. If you buy from Amazon, find batteries that are sold and shipped by Amazon, because there are a lot of fakes sold by third parties on Amazon (particularly Maxell brand). Then use this simple and effective tool for decades and hand it down to your grandkids.

Very compact. The red indicator light is nice and bright. Great price. I'm normally hooked on using a Fluke but this definitely has it's place for quick wire tracing.

Easy to use.

Very useful little tester. I work as a technician in thr entertainment industry and wanted a way to verify continuity in lamps, wires etc. without carrying around a multimeter all day. This tiny thing does that job. Bright red LED is super easy to see. My only issues so far have been: 1. The battery has been somehow shaken loose of its contacts a couple times. It's held in place by a somewhat flimsy plastic tab and I've had one or two instances where I thought the battery had died, but it was actually that it had come loose. An easy fix however. 2. The wire is a bit on the long side and can get tangled easily in a tool pouch or pocket (which this tester seems to be intended for, given the pocket clip). 3. The alligator clip doesn't exactly make it easy to probe very small components. I'm not sure what applications this would normally be used for, but it didn't work for what I needed. Thankfully I had an old voltage tester lying around and repurposed one of the leads by crimping it onto this tester as a replacement for the clip.

Works great right out of the box!

The description states, 'uses AAA batteries. The Contintunity tester uses 3 LR44 button batteries. Test lead (wire) appears to be CCA and is quite stiff. For my purposes (work bench tests) this little tester works great. I guess I best get use to stocking a few button batteries now. Good tool

Junk tester, lasted one week with limited use then quit. It was past return date like a week. I did get in touch with Garder Bender company and they sent me a new one free.

\\ Review of Gardner Bender GCT-3304 Continuity Tester - LR44 batteries // As received the batteries interfere with the battery cover removal. I almost broke the cover trying to remove it. After successfully removing the cover, I observed that the rear battery contact was collapsed due to the extreme force I had to apply to the front of the cover and the body of the tester. I also noticed that the cover front latch finger was molded with an abrupt right angle as it attached to the underside of the cover. Also the batterie's tops were tilted toward the rear of the body. \\ THEORY OF FAIL // My theory is that the abrupt right angle catches the +end of the first battery and prevents the cover from moving in a rearward direction. An abnormally high force must be applied to the cover in order to collapse the rear terminal to create additional space to allow the cover latch finger to clear the body. Which frees the cover to move upward and rearward for removal. \\ FIX // Reversing the batteries fixes the problem. With the batteries reversed the -side of the battery is presented to the abrupt right angle when the cover is being removed (rearward direction) and it rides over the battery because the -end is more "rounded" than the +end. \\ CONCERNS // LED reverse bias: I assumed that the indicator light is a red LED. This may be wrong, but I have never seen such a pure red light ever created by an incandescent bulb. I reversed the batteries any way since 3 volts reverse bias would be safe, and it just would not light. To my surprise it lit up on good continuity, so battery polarity was not an issue. But this begs the question what additional components allow a polarity sensitive device to ignore polarity? Maybe a bridge rectifier? Well another mystery for another time. One other point, the probe tip will now become - and the alligator clip will be + so if checking a polarity sensitive device keep this in mind. \\ SUMMARY // After removal of the battery cover, the rear terminal must be bent back to it's normal form. I would suggest that the terminal be remove from the body to do this. If the collapsed terminal is left in the body and an effort is made to bend the terminal, the plastic "tabs'" that hold the rear terminal may be broken. After getting the rear terminal back in shape and inserted into the body, insert the batteries with the +end contacting the rear terminal, ( -|1st bat|+-|2nd bat|+|rear terminal| ). Slide cover on and test, then remove cover and reinstall and test again to see if the fix worked for you. \\ Post Script // I gave this product a one star based on it's serviceability. It is like buying a new car and after a few years of driving, the battery goes dead but you can not replace the battery because the hood is locked down tight. I consider this a major design issue. As far as the functionally, it's compact form, and solid construction, I REALLY LIKE IT. I even bought two more for my Son and Grandson and after some modifications, like replacing the stiff wire and alligator clip with a nice flexible 18 awg silicon wire terminated with 2mm plug (male), which allows attachment of 2mm clips and needle probes. \\ CONCLUSION // I f you like to do this kind of stuff, then BUY ONE, if not then DO NOT BUY. TL |

Exelente calidad del producto muy complacido con mi compra.

Electrical work.

Just used for simple continuity testing.

Great asset to have in every home

Todo bien