15 responses to “EEVblog #151 – Extech Multimeter Canyon Trip”

• Jaspel March 3rd, 2011 at 18:05

  I love your test, and the water temp. It was 5deg F this morning…

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• Jacek March 3rd, 2011 at 19:02

  Dave,

  In addition to all these issues you’ve mentioned, there’s one you missed: looks like the big fuse has moved in its socket. I can’t see if there are retainers at the ends of the holders, but if the fuse moves a bit more, it can cause problems with current measurements.

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• Mike March 3rd, 2011 at 22:51

  I wonder if it would survive the New York Hudson river!

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• firewalker March 4th, 2011 at 01:10

  Dave, do you know if ExTech fixed the dogy parts of this instrument?

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• André Rebelo, Extech Instruments March 4th, 2011 at 01:52

  Dave,

  I wish I had been there to join you! Rocky Creek and the canyons look other-worldly.

  Hey, thanks for taking our EX505 along for the canyon trip. You dished out quite a lot of abuse! I’m glad to see our own drive-over video offered some inspiration — even taking it to “point break.”

  Aside from the fun of the trip, I know the video editing and production for a shoot like this takes a lot of planning, time and effort. Thanks for the hard work!

  I’m going to ask your viewers to join me in proposing a new Ingress Protection rating:

  IPDJ — Dave Jones Tested

  Thanks again, Dave!
  André

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  • firewalker March 4th, 2011 at 06:23

    Did ExTech changed anything on the design (e.g. the “naked” hand soldered wire bridge) to improve the product after Dave’s videos?

    I am very happy when companies pays attention on user driven communities.

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    • André Rebelo, Extech Instruments March 4th, 2011 at 08:08

      @firewalker Without giving away too much to other ‘guests’, I can say, thanks directly to Dave and EEVBlog’s forums, significant improvements are in the pipeline design-wise and QC-wise.

      This applies to issues he raised like PTC proximity and crowding on the board. The naked wire bridge, on the other hand, was a one-off defect that should’ve been rejected (definitely not part of the design).

      Extech has an expansive, multi-phase QC process which we are proud to showcase. So it was disappointing to see that defective unit which spurred a quality investigation specific to that product line. Related to that, see the EX530 he also featured in the review–it’s more representative of the design.

      We take Dave’s input seriously. The next gen RC200 tweezer meter for example, is substantially redesigned board- and body-wise, pretty much in lockstep with the specifics of Dave’s feedback and the discussion on the forums.

      Crowdsourcing might be a cliché overstatement but from an end-user feedback perspective, Dave and the community at EEVBlog have been an invaluable partner to Extech. We’re excited to be a part of the conversation not only in the videos but also in the dialogues that flow from them.

      Sorry, long answer to your question!

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      • firewalker March 4th, 2011 at 08:36

        Thanks you very much for your immediate response.

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      • Robert March 4th, 2011 at 10:23

        No need to apologize for a long answer, quite the opposite. I think it is great to see when companies take an interest and actively listens to what their customers want and most importantly act on that input.

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        • EEVblog March 4th, 2011 at 12:43

          It is certainly a very positive thing to see companies take constructive and critical product feedback and seriously act upon it like Extech have. It’s what separates good companies from the pack.
          And smart companies will know that responding openly like this really helps bolster their reputation.
          I’ve said it before, but well done Extech.

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    • EEVblog March 4th, 2011 at 12:47

      As André said, the wire bridge was a one-off, not part of the design at any stage.
      They started to investigate how it slipped through within hours of me tweeting it!
      For some reason I keep ending up with the extreme outliers of the production bell curve for review!

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• Stephen March 4th, 2011 at 13:47

  I’m just becoming a bit worried about all this spelunking and water-caving with your multimeters. I mean… well…

  Kids could be watching, is all. Sigh.

  Hair could develop on the back of your anodes… and then the (electron) potential blindness too!!

  Wretched debauchery. Ugh. Oh, bother.

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• PetrosA March 4th, 2011 at 15:14

  Great job Dave! And my admiration to the folks at Extech for not only taking this kind of review in stride, but also for setting a great example of how to take your product to the next level based on constructive criticism. Bravo!

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• firewalker March 4th, 2011 at 21:21

  As far as I am considered ExTech has a new friend.

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  • André Rebelo, Extech Instruments March 5th, 2011 at 04:34

    Thanks for the good word, @firewalker and @PetrosA!

    Dave, I’ll post a link for our fans over on http://www.PlanetExtech.com for a few more page views — not that you need any help in that department!

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