A beginner's Meter

[anishkgt]

Based on daves review on dim. I bought the ex330 from eBay. I would have gone for the uni-t UT61D but it did not have resistance measurement below 600ohm. The extent are good for low budget soldering and working.


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[sleemanj]

I would have gone for the uni-t UT61D but it did not have resistance measurement below 600ohm.

Just to be clear, the lowest *range* on the UT61D is 600 Ohm, that doesn't mean it can not measure below 600 Ohm (which would be a pretty shitty meter :-))

[Brumby]

Indeed.

I just picked out a random listing  for an EX330 - and this was one of the specifications:

Resistance              0.1O to 40MO

0.1 Ohm resolution at the lower end of the scale is not too shabby.  (At the other end, 40 Meg Ohm isn't too bad either.)

Read the post correctly this time.....

I just picked out a random listing  for an UNI-T UT61D - and this was one of the specifications:

Resistance	600.0	±(1.2%+2 dig.)	0.1
	6.000 k	±(1.0%+2 dig.)	0.001 k
	60.00 k	±(1.0%+2 dig.)	0.01 k
	600.0 k	±(1.0%+2 dig.)	0.1 k
	6.000 M	±(1.2%+2 dig.)	0.001 M
	60.00 M	±(1.5%+2 dig.)	0.01 M

0.1 Ohm resolution at the lower end of the scale is not too shabby.  (At the other end, 60 Meg Ohm isn't too bad either.)


I also noticed the ranges for the UT61D are generally better or at least equal to the EX330 (except for the low end of capacitance measurement) and that the UT61D has notably better CAT ratings.

[krappleby]

I bought the Vici vc97 after watching reviews, cost me around 29 uk pounds, so would probably be around $35 i think, but it seems a great meter. large display and auto range, it is only cat 2 though but up to 1000v. never ad any problems with it

[Wytnucls]

I don't know anything about this meter, I just bumped in to it on eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Multimeter-6000-Counts-AC-DC-Ammeter-Voltmeter-Temperature-Meter-AN860B/311773197220

The specs aren't stellar (0.5% DCV) but not that bad considering the price $22

It looks like they are pretty serious about the safety ratings but I haven't seen a review or tear-down.

If I weren't knee deep in multimeters, I might give this a try.  It has the required uA range that Dave considers mandatory for electronics work.  For $22, it would be worth buying just to tear it apart.

ETA:  So I did!  I'll tear it apart when it gets here...

Somebody did a review already.
Built to a price. Might be ok for someone on a tight budget. Keep away from high energy circuits.

[rstofer]

I don't know anything about this meter, I just bumped in to it on eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Multimeter-6000-Counts-AC-DC-Ammeter-Voltmeter-Temperature-Meter-AN860B/311773197220

The specs aren't stellar (0.5% DCV) but not that bad considering the price $22

It looks like they are pretty serious about the safety ratings but I haven't seen a review or tear-down.

If I weren't knee deep in multimeters, I might give this a try.  It has the required uA range that Dave considers mandatory for electronics work.  For $22, it would be worth buying just to tear it apart.

ETA:  So I did!  I'll tear it apart when it gets here...

Somebody did a review already.
Built to a price. Might be ok for someone on a tight budget. Keep away from high energy circuits.

I'm not much for working on high energy circuits with a DMM.  My definition of high energy might be 480V 1000 kVA substations or up from there.  At some point, it seems a better procedure would be to wire the meter into a de-energized circuit and then energize it from a distance.  No hand held meter operation.

How many threads are devoted to chasing DMM costs toward $0?  It seems everybody wants to jump into the hobby with a $20 meter.  Given that, this seems like a pretty decent DMM.  I'll know more when it shows up - whenever that is.  I look forward to comparing its functionality against the $100 EEVblog Brymen  BM235.  I expect the Brymen to win, hands down!  Still, it costs 6 times as much.

I like the Brymen, it's the only portable DMM on my bench but I never confuse it with my Fluke 189 when I really need accuracy.

Still, if someone just can't afford $100 and insists on dirt cheap, this unit will be far superior to the $5 Harbor Freight meter.

[PeterMadach]

the Uni-T 139C seems to pack a quite decent amount of functionality for the price and if I'm not mistaken it's at least not laughable on the inside. It even has HRC fuses (even though they the smaller ones for both ranges).