My tests were done with a SSC fully built with pigtails and waterproof female connector, connected to male waterproof connector pigtail to 24" Shack test leads clipped to string. Not a single issue.
With respect to max distance from SSC to first node, I will test a few more lengths and see what I get, but I cannot think of any good reason to go so far. Especially since last year I successfully used several 50' cat 5 cables from hub to SSC with no issues.