The compression tool in Homedepot is made by Ideal, it cost about $58 or more. You can go to Ebay, and after careful searching, you could find an off brand tool for far less. These tools work with most compression RG6 connectors, but not all RG6 connectors. Some manufacturers have their own tool for their own connector. Some RG6 connectors are made for outdoor use, and some are not. I will use only weather tight RG6 connectors for everything. There are even o-tings for RG6 connectors, but I don't trust them, either the connector was made to be water tight, or not. Look at this Ebay item, Item number: 5805615896 for a "RG-6 Coaxial Compression Tool+RG6 Coax Connectors" for a inexpensive compression tool that looks like it is made well. I am thinking of buying one of these as a spare. There is another ebayer that sells RG6 cable for $27 per thousand feet with $19.97 shipping, that is 4.7 cents per foot. Home Depot will charge you .19 per foot, so do the math; for the price of a 100 feet at Home Depot (+tax), you can pay for the first 424 feet of this ebay order. You can never have enough RG6 if you like to tinker.