Comments on: EEVblog #66 – Death & Destruction of a Fluke Multimeter

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:34:16 +0000

I think it’s just the brittle nature of those standard build ferrites. No doubt other inductor constructions would vary. The best thing to do would be to pot them, that’s common in designs that must survive drops.
Dave.

By: Bernhard Weller

Bernhard Weller — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:41:10 +0000

I wonder if shielded inductors have less problems with shearing off, but I couldn’t possibly ask you to kill another multimeter just to find that out.

By: Dora Dipanfilo

Dora Dipanfilo — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:22:31 +0000

The mind is the limit. As long as the brain can visualize the very fact that you can do something, you can do it

By: gianpi

gianpi — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:40:18 +0000

Hi Dave!
Very nice blog and you are a super funny guy!!
What do you think about new metrix dmm?

By: Sean

Sean — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 05:02:57 +0000

Dave, there’s one shot of the meter sitting on a ledge in the canyon with a beautiful backdrop that Fluke should buy off you for advertising purposes.

My neighbor probably could come closer to doing fatal damage to it, but only because he regularly does tower work on 450 ft radio towers and it should get closer to terminal velocity at that height.

It truly deserves to live!

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:10:33 +0000

This will be calibrated electronically. So as long as none of the main circuity is damaged I would bet it would still be in spec.

By: Norman

Norman — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:20:21 +0000

Dave should have checked the *concrete under the dam at the impact site* for chips and damage. The multimeter is that awesome.

By: fox

fox — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:22:02 +0000

that was the most awesome blog i have seen !!
i really really liked the canyon trip. it was enough for me as a proof this fluke is indestructible.

later on i was just begging you in my mind you to stop. enough. it can’t survive this. but each time it did survived.
i feel pity for it, and designers. no one would ever predict dropping multimeter from car or dam.

i thought it will just explode on the pieces when you drop it from 3 meters.

it was way over the limits and rational thinking, you just wanted to destroy it. thats way beyond daily basis use.

im prety sure if you would drop a hammer from this dam it would brake. and this is a multimeter

please dont do that again, thats just wrong. if you want you can destroy everything. its just not fair.
and i feel pity for those devices.
i guess, i like happy endings

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:00:50 +0000

Really awesome review Dave, the shots of you canyoning with the thing dangling had me in stitches!

Also keen to hear if there is a response from Fluke.

By: edward

edward — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:09:08 +0000

Fantastic! I went to high school 2 miles from Fluke’s headquarters. Their reputation lives on. I remember seeing a sales guy throw his demo meter against the wall to show off. Nice to see they still can deliver on the same level.

Thanks dave for all the work in the review. I hope you sell a lot of meters through your ads.

By: george graves

george graves — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:30:25 +0000

Dear Fluke.

You have some brass balls for letting someone publicly do that to one of your meters. I’m in the market for my first “pro” meter, and I had scratched you off my list.

I’m re-writing my list.

George Graves

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:34:22 +0000

I wonder what Fluke’s response was to this blog? I’m sure they were waiting to see what you did to it, I know I was

I did cringe though every time you threw it and I heard the smack against concrete, I’ve lost a laptop that way (good thing it wasn’t new!).

And if you put a new inductor and LCD into it, did it still meet spec? I know it’s not analog, but after those drops, it’d have to be knocked out of calibration!

By: Norman

Norman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:51:25 +0000

Dropping a $10 crap multimeter off a 30 meter high dam might be considered littering, scattering all the non-RoHS compliant, lead filled junk into his watershed doesn’t sound like the brightest idea.

Having said that, if there is a reasonable way to test it, it might as well be done for comparison.

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:47:41 +0000

Hey dav,
have you replaced the inductor and LCD screen from the 100 foot dam drop test? I bet it still will work.

I still have my original fluke 82, the first version. Dropped it many times from a few feet to roof tops, still working to this day. The only thing is the wafer switch is wearing out, but almost 20 years of everyday use I have no complaints.

By: Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:44:58 +0000

Incredible.

That’s one hell of a meter!

By: Sam D.

Sam D. — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:39:19 +0000

Please Dave, try again with a scrap Chinese multimeter

By: Duncan Livingston

Duncan Livingston — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:26:05 +0000

WOW
That would have to be the best multimeter review I have ever seen. There was excitement, drama, fast cars, cool gadgets and blues brothers gags.

I especially liked that you let the Fluke 28-II live another day.

By: Alan Parekh

Alan Parekh — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:10:48 +0000

Nice to see it hold up to tons of abuse! When I was doing service work I dropped my meter from a 6 foot ladder on more than one occasion, each time my heart sunk until I saw that it was working just fine.

Good to see that the meter would have probably been just fine if I was even more clumsy.

By: walter delbono

walter delbono — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:36:48 +0000

wooooooooooooooooooooow…

incredible…

it’s like bruce willis in die hard…

jajajaja…

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:31:31 +0000

That IS the question!

By: Tilman Baumann

Tilman Baumann — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:36:09 +0000

Awsome!

By: Dakota

Dakota — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:23:02 +0000

It probably would survive the hammer hit. I’m sure Fluke appreciates the data.

By: Maverick

Maverick — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:00:09 +0000

I used a Fluke23III in the steel industry and I dropped that of crane at 80m (near 300ft) onto a steel slab and it survived even the LCD

By: RyanE

RyanE — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:41:16 +0000

I thought for sure you were going to drive over it, and it would *still* survive.

By: James Lerch

James Lerch — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:05:37 +0000

While you still have it in one relatively complete piece, perhaps try the following:

Meter face up
Cover with water
Place in freezer

Will water -> ice expansion in the test lead plugs cause the plastic to crack and compromise the environmental integrity of the case?

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:35:51 +0000

Nice entertainment Dave!

By: James

James — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:21:45 +0000

Your canyons look more fun than what we’ve got in the UK. I used to do a lot of rock climbing, but when the weather was too bad we’d go and climb the mountain streams and rivers instead – sort of like reverse canyoneering.

I think Fluke should start making mobile phone and laptop cases too. I’d like a laptop that’d survive six metre drops.

What video camera did you record the canyoneering stuff with, and would that survive a 6m drop off a bridge?

By: Rubi

Rubi — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:31:58 +0000

Common Dave that hurts,…

At least, please don’t do that with the Agilent Oled, be so kind and “only” fuck up the lcd version.

By: Auggie

Auggie — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:11:43 +0000

awwwwww man I could have used that meter hahaha. Awsome video though.

By: MsJaye

MsJaye — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:56:50 +0000

You’re a loon! And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

By: Curtisbeef

Curtisbeef — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:53:49 +0000

The Thumbnail for that video looks hilarious.

By: elproducts

elproducts — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:18:53 +0000

That was fun to watch.

It was interesting to see the USPS Priority Mail box in the background.
Is that a common shipping method down under?

By: Todd Harrison

Todd Harrison — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:56:35 +0000

oops, I see now that the 88mph was just a BTTF movie referance. The speed was really 60kmh ~= 37mph. But still, jeees he tossed it out a moving car and it lived just fine.

By: bluehash

bluehash — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:34:30 +0000

I had to look away at the dam drop. They must make you their QA engineer. Thaks for an entertaining podacast!

By: Todd Harrison

Todd Harrison — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:14:51 +0000

Holy he2xl Dave!
Just when I thought you couldn’t dare do more you tossed it out a car at 88mph! I thought that was the big test but you just keep ramping it up. It was hard to keep my eyes open, I just wanted to look away a few times. I’m glad you didn’t take it to the hammer. A new screen plus inductor and some community college could still get 30 years of great use out of that damn thing.
Amazing video it was worth the wait!
I’m a lifetime viewer from here on.

By: Tony P

Tony P — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:10:23 +0000

Nice real world test of the specs on that meter. At the 100′ level I expected it might get a little messed up but alas, just the common issue you id’d with the inductor.

By: Norman

Norman — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:02:56 +0000

All those muscles paying off with the canyon trip – not the typical engineers stress test. What was Fluke’s response to the 30 meter drop?

By: Steve Dardas

Steve Dardas — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:42:44 +0000

Dave,
I got my 28 II Jan-2-2010, I liked it right out of the box. But now thanks to your demolition video I LOVE it.

Thank You

By: starlino

starlino — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:07:13 +0000

Great-great-great video. We’d like to see more of these.

By: Karthik

Karthik — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:53:07 +0000

I can’t believe it. It is twice over its spec.
where did you get the spare lcd ?

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:24:02 +0000

But will it blend?

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:20:24 +0000

But is it bulletproof?

By: Murphy

Murphy — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:18:09 +0000

That’s awesome.
Painful watching it go off the dam. >.<