Mastech M9803R

[legacy]

how good is it?

[VK5RC]

Not sure what your price is, but for the eBay price, I would get a good second hand HP 34401.

[med6753]

I have the similar MS8040 and I'm quite happy with it. It's accuracy is pretty much spot on and compares favorably with my vintage Flukes and has features the Flukes don't have.

I did a full teardown and evaluation here:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/part-1-teardown-mastech-ms8040-bench-dmm/msg1085517/#msg1085517

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/part-2-teardownevaluation-mastech-ms8040-bench-dmm/msg1089068/#msg1089068

[wraper]

Basically it's a not that good portable multimeter put into large case. Very hard to justify buying one.

[legacy]

Not sure what your price is, but for the eBay price, I would get a good second hand HP 34401.

brand new from a local electronic seller is listed at 250 euro (tax included).
a second hand HP 34401 might be an option, but I prefer a brand new unit.

[legacy]

I have the similar MS8040

yup, 9803 looks similar, I wonder about improvements 

[wraper]

brand new from a local electronic seller is listed at 250 euro (tax included).

At such price it's simply insane to buy it. EUR 250 for crappy 4 ½ digit Mastech which does not even have relays for function/range selection . It costs half of that elsewhere but even then it's very hard to justify.

a second hand HP 34401 might be an option, but I prefer a brand new unit.

Do you understand that 34401 is a very good, reliable and very precise 6 ½ digit multimeter but M9803R is a 4 ½ digit junk? EDIT: Opps sorry, it's a whopping 3999 count super junk. Basically as good as $30-40 portable multimeter.

[med6753]

I have the similar MS8040

yup, 9803 looks similar, I wonder about improvements 

I bought the MS8040 through Amazon for $158 USD but it's no longer available. But there are other sellers listed on Amazon's site who want an insane $338 USD. And I think 250 euros ($285 USD) for the 9803 is hard to justify. 

[med6753]

brand new from a local electronic seller is listed at 250 euro (tax included).

At such price it's simply insane to buy it. EUR 250 for crappy 4 ½ digit Mastech which does not even have relays for function/range selection . It costs half of that elsewhere but even then it's very hard to justify.

a second hand HP 34401 might be an option, but I prefer a brand new unit.

Do you understand that 34401 is a very good, reliable and very precise 6 ½ digit multimeter but M9803R is a 4 ½ digit junk? EDIT: Opps sorry, it's a whopping 3999 count super junk. Basically as good as $30-40 portable multimeter.

No argument about the HP 34401. But after using the Mastech for 2 years it is considerably better than your typical $30-40 handheld DMM.

[wraper]

No argument about the HP 34401. But after using the Mastech for 2 years it is considerably better than your typical $30-40 handheld DMM.

Your MS8040 at least has one more digit of resolution. How it's better? No decent input protection, same rotary switch and basically same functionality. If you compare it with $30-40 multimeter from 10 years ago, maybe it's better but not modern $30-40 multimeter if you get one of the best you can get for this money.

[wraper]

Specifications:
DC Voltage: 0-400m-4-40-400-1kV±0.3%
AC Voltage: 0-4-40±0.8%-400-750V±1.2% (40Hz-1kHz)
DC Current: 0-4m-40m-400m±0.8%-10A±2.0% (20A for 30 Sec.)
AC Current: 0-4m-40m-400m±1.5%-10A±2.0% (20A for 30 Sec.)
Resistor: 0-400-4k-40k-400k±0.5%-4M±1.0%-40Mohm±1.5%
Capacitance: 0-4n-40n-400n-4u-20±2.0%-40uF±5.0%
Frequency: 0-100-1k-10k-100k-1MHz±0.1%

Spec wise it's barely better than this $9 multimeter link And actually M9803R is more limided in measuring capacitance and frequency, does not measure duty cycle.
Yes it has some additional functions like peak and average but when you get to $30-40 level, you can get better specs and about the same additional functions.

If you want to spend such money, just buy a good portable multimeter which will be far better and not from half-crap brand like Mastech.

[legacy]

If you want to spend such money, just buy a good portable multimeter

which one brand/model do you suggest (brand new, please) ?

[legacy]

Do you understand that 34401 is

rather impossible to be bought as brand new unit, only available as second hand, and my boss won't pay for second hand equipment 

[Jon.C]

can not be compared to mastech


https://brymen.eu/shop/bm869s/


https://www.welectron.com/Brymen-BM869s-Multimeter_3

[rsjsouza]

As a handheld, the BM869 is hard to beat for its price. However, if you prefer a bench, Nico vouches for the VC8145 (there is a thread around here with teardown pictures and quite a comprehensive discussion) - his meters are still in spec after a number of years. The major drawback is that, after the same number of years, you can never tell if the manufacturer's production quality is still holding up.

Rigol EU has a DM3058 in their clearance store: https://www.rigol.eu/clearance/

[legacy]

VC8145 seems perfect for my needs 
and the price here is around 120 euro
edit:
and I am looking at the serial protocol: it doesn't look brilliant, but decently useful