18 responses to “Product Design FAIL – IDEAL Multimeter – Redux”

• Shaun Clarke June 6th, 2010 at 00:01

  Were any of the bails touching the back wall? Would that have interfered at all to assist them in not falling over?

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  • Karl June 6th, 2010 at 00:18

    The bail touching the wall would have helped in letting a meter fall over. The bail wouldn’t slide on the surface, and the the force making the bail fold would apply in full.

    No, that IDEAL meter is toast. And I laugh about all the idiots claiming a meter is not supposed to be operated when propped up. Uahahhahahaha.

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  • EEVblog June 6th, 2010 at 01:55

    No, none of the meter stands were touching the back wall. No trickery involved.

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    • Adrian June 6th, 2010 at 11:17

      Well now wait a second Dave… The Gossen Metra clearly looks to have its bail up against the corner of the window, preventing the possibility of easily tipping over. You can clearly see this at both 1:09 and 1:59.

      Not saying you faked it all Dave. The Ideal meter clearly has a problem with the bail, both in terms of a lack of lock and a lack of proper opening angle… but ummm, look at your video again. Test fail!

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      • EEVblog June 6th, 2010 at 12:36

        No, sorry, the test was not a fail, the camera angle is deceptive. I can assure you the Gossen was NOT touching the window frame. I know because I noticed it was close after I did the shots and actually checked it. If it was touching I would have re-shot it, but it wasn’t. There is actually a gap between the wood and the window frame filled with white filler, so it looks like the bail is closer to the white window frame than it actually is.
        This has been explained on the forum, and there is a better angle photo in there for those pedantic enough to care.
        I did not fake it, every one of those meters passed the button push test, and anyone with the same meter can confirm for themselves.

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• Michael Thompson June 6th, 2010 at 04:02

  I love this blog.

  There, I said it.

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  • Martin Niec June 7th, 2010 at 10:16

    This is just so funny, really make me laugh!

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• sneakypoo June 6th, 2010 at 06:26

  Now that’s the most elaborate and polite bird flipping I’ve seen in quite some time. Awesome

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  • Sean June 6th, 2010 at 07:57

    Wow, exactly my thoughts…

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• Brian Hoskins June 6th, 2010 at 06:56

  What the…

  That’s the shitest design I’ve ever seen in my life!!!

  If I went to my boss and showed him my finished meter design (regardless of how cheap it was supposed to be) and the first time he tried to press a button it fell over, I’d expect to be FIRED!!!

  Only one thing for it…

  http://www.sadtrombone.com/

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• Fernando June 6th, 2010 at 17:57

  That IDEAL multimeter is way off ideal, it may be a great multimeter, but it sucks on case design.
  It’s just a centre of mass problem.
  Anyway, if you buy a $100 product, you shouldn’t expect a bug like this.

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• Mike Smith June 7th, 2010 at 05:46

  ok so besides bad design feature, is it a good multimeter like the extech and amprobe multimeters you reviewed in blog 91?

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• Steve June 7th, 2010 at 07:59

  It’s a valid design flaw. Personally, I couldn’t care less though.

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• tobias June 7th, 2010 at 10:58

  there’s nothing better than dave ranting in aussie slang

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  • Eric Haskett June 14th, 2010 at 11:53

    agreed
    “heap o shyt”

    hahahahaha

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• Luc June 8th, 2010 at 14:12

  Lovely!
  I expect the stand on my fluke to let me use the thing inside a machine and not flop over when I change modes and such.. While I like Ideal tools, I agree with the FAIL verdict!
  Thanks Dave!

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• Rebecca Lacey June 10th, 2010 at 02:27

  so hey with the design flaw of the ideal, is it still a good multimeter like the amprobe and extech you reviewed on the multimeter show u did???

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• macsboost June 14th, 2010 at 06:24

  “Heap of shit”

  I love it. Keep the reviews and rants coming. I have a 50mhz rigol on the way because of this blog…

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