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IxChariot vs LinkRunner comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 11, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

IxChariot
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
LinkRunner
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of IxChariot is 3.6%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of LinkRunner is 21.1%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Lkmula - PeerSpot reviewer
A vast solution with user-friendly features and reasonable pricing
It is very scalable. You can easily increase the payers in the license activation. If you have any issues, the IxChariot host system can be rebooted. We currently have about 100 setups in our lab. Out of those 100 setups, around 90 are being used. So overall, 90% of the setups use a minimum of 10 paces where we test the range versus rate. In addition, we are building up several test bits, which will increase the usage. No maintenance is required for this solution unless the host system has a problem. Once IxChariot is installed, it automatically updates if you set it to auto-update.
Mike Robinson - PeerSpot reviewer
Single Auto-Test button gives me all the information I need on most jobs.
I like the fact that I can tell the equipment to stop at a certain point during the test of a cable, to see whether or not there is basic connectivity. I can stop it before it starts pinging the outside world, such as Google or, perhaps, our core network switch. Those basic results—do I have a basic connection and power—finish up fast and I can move on. The fact that I can stop it at certain points, if that's the targeted job for the day, is helpful. It does the job fast enough, producing accurate information every time. I don't use the online results because I don't pay for the account. Right there, on the spot, the handheld gives me what I need to know. I don't have to report to anybody else. I am the guy who needs the information. The AutoTest feature is pretty much the only button I use. It provides me with 100 percent of the information I need. There are a lot of other cool things available, like speed tests, but I don't use them. The Auto-Test gives me the POE, the DNS, DCP, responses, and which switchport it is on. That one button gives me all the most important information for my needs. Overall, what I like about it is that I can do jobs quickly and tailor them in a way that I like.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Implementing IxChariot is very easy and user-friendly."
"LinkRunner 10G is very handy for onsite troubleshooting and implementations. We can quickly identify the links in terms of 1G, 2.5G, 5G, and 10G on the copper side, and also from 1G up to 10G on the fiber side. It is very handy for me because we deal with a lot of banks. Especially for the provisioning of new services, we use this tool to identify the link capacity and do the necessary testing to ensure all the circuits are ready before the handover to the next team to operate the technology. This is something that saves a lot of time as compared to the old days."
"Having the results sent directly, via email, from the LinkRunner itself makes it really great for logging different things that you're trying to document within your organization. You can have a paper trail of what your organization has as far as infrastructure goes."
"The most valuable feature is the end-to-end testing with the "dart," as they call it, where you can test for faults in the cable or if they've been terminated properly."
"It is fast in providing results. It is pretty accurate."
"The auto-test feature is vital and does 90 percent of what I need on its own. It's fast and I can get there in just a few clicks. It does a good job and tells me everything I need to know. LinkRunner works pretty quickly and always seems to be accurate."
"The solution's ability to simplify network validation and configuration of copper and fiber Ethernet networks is very useful to me. Otherwise, I’m guessing. Having a tool that I can trust doesn't solve all problems, but for the problems it solves, I can trust that it has told me “yes” or “no.” I would rate it highly for that."
"I've found the VLAN test feature to be most valuable. That's because not many devices do VLAN tests. Normally, I have to send a center technician to check a line and see if it's alive. If it's working, then I have to send a network technician out to log into a switch and see which port it's on and on which VLAN that port is. That's two persons and two separate visits. This device does all of this in a matter of seconds, and that has saved me a lot of time, troubleshooting, and resources."
"Performance testing is the most valuable feature. It gives a brief summary of the information we're looking at, such as latency, jitter, and the available throughput."
 

Cons

"The graphical user interface needs to be improved."
"It is a great tool, but in the long-term, they can make its processor more powerful to do more functions. They can upgrade the hardware to make it run faster and more efficiently from the process point of view. That'll be beneficial because the technology is evolving and the network traffic is going higher and higher. We have to leverage better spec products to handle the traffic load."
"I wish they had software that could create continuous streams of traffic. I'm not sure if that's possible with LinkRunner, but it would be very helpful in some of the test case scenarios that clients are looking for, in regards to quality of service"
"It's a little bit tough getting used to at first, but once you get the hang of it, and once you start using it more, like anything, it gets easier. The difficult part, at first, is knowing where to find each test and how to use the tests."
"They should allow firmware updates even if you don't have an AllyCare contract. I'm in a situation right now where they've released firmware for bug fixes, but we cannot access those, which makes the device almost useless. You almost want to just throw it out the window because they're not supporting their product unless you have an AllyCare contract."
"It is very stable. That being said, there is one feature that is not quite as stable as the rest of the product. You can leave it plugged into a location where you're doing some work and connect to it remotely by a program called VNC... sometimes that function breaks down, if you've been running for a couple of days... if you're remotely controlling it, you're probably not right next to it. That can be modestly annoying."
"If it weren't for the battery, it would probably get an eight out of 10. But because of the battery, it's infuriating and it's not reliable."
"It runs tests quickly, but it takes a while to boot up. It's somewhat disappointing that LinkRunner takes some time to turn on. When I arrive in the space, I usually spend the first two minutes waiting."
"A feature that I would like to see is the ability to send a tone down the cable. That would be great. I have to use a separate tool for that. If I'm trying to troubleshoot a cable that is not plugged into a network switch, I need the ability to tone."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The price was fine. You pay for the unit, and there are no licensing or maintenance fees."
"It's expensive but you definitely get what you pay for. I would buy another one if I had to."
"Compared to another company's product, LinkRunner is cheaper, but it's still about $1,000 too expensive, considering that the operating system is a free operating system. The OS has just been tweaked to give you a graphical interface. I don't think it's priced right."
"It's an expensive device. Don't expect it to be cheap. But the pricing is good. It certainly seemed in line with anything else I was looking at at the time."
"It's reasonably priced in my market. It provides good value for money. The device is competitively priced as compared to other solutions. It gives you a lot of functionality and saves you a lot of time and resources. I see it as a good buy and good value for money. I stand for it."
"The 10Gig ones are quite expensive, and we have only two of them, but I know that this option was cheaper than the other 10Gig option we looked at, and we're very happy with it."
"We... decided to go with NetAlly for the price and the bang for the buck."
"The cost of this device is very expensive, especially with the NetAlly Care on top of the costs. It is not for personal use and would be very expensive for smaller businesses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Healthcare Company
12%
Government
9%
Construction Company
9%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for LinkRunner?
It's reasonably priced in my market. It provides good value for money. The device is competitively priced as compared to other solutions. It gives you a lot of functionality and saves you a lot of ...
What needs improvement with LinkRunner?
One of the things I'd like to see in future versions of LinkRunner is a wireless dongle embedded into the product so that I don't need to have a separate wireless dongle. It should be built into th...
What is your primary use case for LinkRunner?
I have LinkRunner G2, and I use this product for testing and troubleshooting. I am able to test my network connections and cables and do general troubleshooting for network drops, network outlets, ...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Philips Healthcare, HCA Healthcare, University of South Dakota, Memorial Hermann, Baltimore County Public Schools, Aaramrak.
Find out what your peers are saying about IxChariot vs. LinkRunner and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.