Bench or portable multimeter

[alm]

Curiously I wonder which meter has the best battery life these days?
The old Fluke 25/27 used to have 1000+ hours.

I would have expected something really basic like a Fluke 12, but the Fluke 12E is rated for just 200 hours. Something modern with a simple ASIC (but not the ancient ICL7106). Accuracy, features, powerful MCU's and fancy displays tend to suck power. Basically the opposite of the Fluke 80-IV/180/280 series. I checked a few candidates, but couldn't find anything better than 800 hours, 400 hours appears to be standard. The Fluke 17B is 500 hours, which is at least better than the 87-V.

[StephenOng]

Curiously I wonder which meter has the best battery life these days?
The old Fluke 25/27 used to have 1000+ hours.

Fluke 77 III has an awesome 2000 hours battery life

[EEVblog]

Curiously I wonder which meter has the best battery life these days?
The old Fluke 25/27 used to have 1000+ hours.

I would have expected something really basic like a Fluke 12, but the Fluke 12E is rated for just 200 hours. Something modern with a simple ASIC (but not the ancient ICL7106). Accuracy, features, powerful MCU's and fancy displays tend to suck power. Basically the opposite of the Fluke 80-IV/180/280 series. I checked a few candidates, but couldn't find anything better than 800 hours, 400 hours appears to be standard. The Fluke 17B is 500 hours, which is at least better than the 87-V.

I know I've seen a current model meter somewhere that does 1000+ hours, but for the life of me can't think of it!
One of the more obscure brands maybe...

My Gossen MetraHit World does 750hours from 2 AA's.

Dave.

[jpb]

Forget bench meters unless you have a specific requirement for one.
Hand held meters are infinitely more versatile.
Even if you have a small bench, it's handy to be able to place your meter anywhere you want and not worry about a power cord.

Dave.

Dave,

Sorry to raise an old thread, but I'm curious to see if you're view has changed since you acquired your Agilent 34461A?

I currently have a nice Advantest 5 1/2 digit I got cheap on e-bay and a surprisingly accurate (at least it agrees well with my Advantest) handheld meter I got from Maplin.

I want to get another meter that is of the same order as the Advantest - I'd like a 6 1/2 digit but they are a little pricey - and am looking at high end handhelds vs mid range (5 1/2 digit) bench.

The trade off is versatility/robustness of the handheld versus increased accuracy (of the order of a factor of 4 or so)/no batteries to worry about/larger brighter display of a bench top.

I want to buy new so I get a calibration point to compare my older uncalibrated meters with.

What are people's latest views?

[electr_peter]

I am with Dave that handhelds are much more versatile and more useful all around, except maybe for super high accuracy and long term logging applications. Benchtops contains mostly empty space (due to "box" size constraint) and adds additional cable to trip on.

Concerning power options. Only cheap meters do not have auto power off feature. Proper meters have settable APO (or just turn off APO is it is not needed).
One point I did not find in posts above is power outage. What can you do with benchtop meter if there is no mains power? Nothing, you are left with 0 functionality. Handheld has inherit advantage of versatility in such situation.

[AG6QR]

Sorry to raise an old thread, but I'm curious to see if you're view has changed since you acquired your Agilent 34461A?

I currently have a nice Advantest 5 1/2 digit I got cheap on e-bay and a surprisingly accurate (at least it agrees well with my Advantest) handheld meter I got from Maplin.

I want to get another meter that is of the same order as the Advantest - I'd like a 6 1/2 digit but they are a little pricey - and am looking at high end handhelds vs mid range (5 1/2 digit) bench.

The trade off is versatility/robustness of the handheld versus increased accuracy (of the order of a factor of 4 or so)/no batteries to worry about/larger brighter display of a bench top.

I want to buy new so I get a calibration point to compare my older uncalibrated meters with.

What are people's latest views?

I doubt things have changed much since the original thread.  That kind of accuracy is rarely needed for general electronics work, though I'll cheerfully admit there are times when it can be useful.  And I can admit to having a twinge of volt nut fever myself sometimes, wanting more accuracy than I really need.  Truthfully, it's rare that I genuinely need more than two and a half digits, but I'm glad to have more.

For most purposes, the flexibility of a handheld wins hands-down.  But a bench meter still has some advantages.

• In a school lab, bench meters aren't as likely as handhelds to "walk out the door" in someone's pocket.  This is less of a concern in a private setting, but sometimes it's nice to know that the meter stays on your bench.
• Bench meters are available with more digits than handhelds
• Bench meters never suffer a dead battery.  True, handheld ones rarely do in most use cases, as was already pointed out earlier.  But there are special cases like long term data logging where it's nice to know a long experimental run won't be interrupted by a dead battery or auto power off.
• Bench meters can have nice lighted displays, since they're not dependent on battery power

I'm just glad it doesn't have to be an either/or proposition.  Nothing wrong with owning both!

One point I did not find in posts above is power outage. What can you do with benchtop meter if there is no mains power? Nothing, you are left with 0 functionality. Handheld has inherit advantage of versatility in such situation.

During a power outage, my power supplies, oscilloscope, signal generator, soldering iron, and lots of other devices won't be working.  So I'm unlikely to use a meter for much, except perhaps diagnosing whether the problem is mine or the utility company's.  For that purpose, a test lamp is sufficiently accurate.  But you do have a point, I sometimes use a handheld meter far from utility power, for example for automotive diagnostics in the field.

[jpb]

I am with Dave that handhelds are much more versatile and more useful all around, except maybe for super high accuracy and long term logging applications. Benchtops contains mostly empty space (due to "box" size constraint) and adds additional cable to trip on.

Space is a negative for bench DMMs, it is a bit like the comparison between desktop and laptop computers - laptops are smaller and portable but they cost more for a given power (or in this case given accuracy level). I have lots of sockets on my bench so tripping over a cable isn't an option in my case. Display wise the modern bench units have much bigger and clearer displays than battery powered portables but then a handheld can be placed close to the work and looked at more easily so this is probably a draw.

Concerning power options. Only cheap meters do not have auto power off feature. Proper meters have settable APO (or just turn off APO is it is npt needed).
One point I did not find in posts above is power outage. What can you do with benchtop meter if there is no mains power? Nothing, you are left with 0 functionality. Handheld has inherit advantage of versatility in such situation.

APO I tend to find annoying as you have to keep waking the thing up.

As AG6QR said (he posted just as I was typing this) If there is no mains power, then my scope, power supply, lights, soldering iron and so on wouldn't be working anyway so I'd probably give up and do something different anyway - but I can see if I wanted to test voltages on a car or in an external active antenna or whatever then the battery powered meter is the only option.

[jpb]

I'm just glad it doesn't have to be an either/or proposition.  Nothing wrong with owning both!

I already have both, though my handhelds are an ancient analogue and a Precision Gold from Maplin. My bench is a 5 1/2 digit from e-bay that I recapped and it seems to work well but I've never had it calibrated.

I thought I would invest in a good meter. But given that; I can't decide whether this is an opportunity to go for a new bench that will be calibrated and possibly more accurate than my e-bay Advantest or go for a less accurate but more versatile solid handheld.

[nanofrog]

I thought I would invest in a good meter. But given that; I can't decide whether this is an opportunity to go for a new bench that will be calibrated and possibly more accurate than my e-bay Advantest or go for a less accurate but more versatile solid handheld.

You'll probably get more use out of a solid handheld, and the convenience is nice to have as well (less bench space and no power cord to fuss with). Worst case and you want top accuracy without going crazy on price, look for a 50k count model, such as a Brymen BM869 from tme.eu (Gossen makes a 1.2M count model, but it's very expensive).

You might also want to consider a DMM Check Plus to check your existing meters against, and doesn't cost a fortune (less than half the calibration fee for one meter based on US cal pricing).

[jpb]

You'll probably get more use out of a solid handheld, and the convenience is nice to have as well (less bench space and no power cord to fuss with). Worst case and you want top accuracy without going crazy on price, look for a 50k count model, such as a Brymen BM869 from tme.eu (Gossen makes a 1.2M count model, but it's very expensive).

You might also want to consider a DMM Check Plus to check your existing meters against, and doesn't cost a fortune (less than half the calibration fee for one meter based on US cal pricing).

The Gossen 1.2M model is actually reasonably priced in that it is about the same (slightly cheaper) than the Agilent 34461A with very similar accuracy specs (in fact slightly better) but it is rather limited in that it only measures up to 100mA but it does do 4 wire resistance measurements. A more sensibly priced and versatile one is the Gossen Ultra which is 300k count though it is around 2-3 times the error spec of my 5 1/2 digit (so it is not as good as a 300k 5 1/2 digit bench meter) - but it is a proper CAT IV meter with AA batteries and a 10A range, capacitance and other measurements. The price of the Ultra without the interface module is more than a Fluke 87V but not much more (Fluke is around £410 inc VAT and the Ultra is £470 whilst the M30 is £840!!).

I'm planning to get the 0.01% Voltage reference from Doug rather than the DMM check plus - I'm not so bothered by AC and I'm working on a GPSDXO which I can use for frequency and I'll probably get a Vishay resistor or two for resistance and current. If I buy an new meter (a Gossen at least) then it comes with a detailed calibration and I can use it to check my existing meters.

[nanofrog]

The Gossen 1.2M model is actually reasonably priced in that it is about the same (slightly cheaper) than the Agilent 34461A with very similar accuracy specs (in fact slightly better) but it is rather limited in that it only measures up to 100mA but it does do 4 wire resistance measurements.

Compared to new benchtop units, the M30 does offer value. But I still see it as pricey for a handheld, and it's possible to get a 6.5 digit bench unit via the used market for a lot less.

FWIW, my U1252B is capable of 4 wire measurements. 

I'm planning to get the 0.01% Voltage reference from Doug rather than the DMM check plus

I thought Doug stopped making his, leaving either the DMM Check or other units available on eBay.

[cellularmitosis]

Here's a perspective from someone who has been a hobbyist for a couple of years:

Bench or Handheld, get meters which have serial out / GPIB / whatever.  You won't need this functionality yet, but a couple of years from now you might wish you had it!

I've been slowly working towards being able to characterize parts by sweeping one parameter, etc.  I want to be able to hit "enter" on my keyboard and have a script do the rest.  Fun!  Up until now, I had to take data manually: tweak the knob, take a photo, repeat, then dump it all into excel.

Frankie (a forum user in china) sells two handhelds which are decent and both feature serial out.  One it a bit higher precision (but not accuracy) than the other, and they are both pretty cheap for what you get ($54 and $37 USD).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNI-T-UT-61E-UT61E-22-000-count-Digital-Multimeter-/200901686717
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digitek-DT-4000ZC-TekPower-TP4000ZC-Data-Logging-Multimeter-with-Temperature-/200912705694

Eventually you will want four multimeters (you need four to characterize the efficiency of a power supply).  If I had to start over with acquiring gear, knowing what I know now, those four would probably be:

* ($37) One of frankie's Digitek DT-4000ZC
* ($54) One of frankie's UT61E
* ($150) A vintage 5.5 digit bench meter with GPIB or serial (e.g. the HP 3478A)
* the fourth would either be another Digitek DT-4000ZC or another, but different manufacturer 5.5 digit bench meter.

Having a variety of meters like that is a good thing.  Typically, if you are measuring and logging several variables at once, it is likely you only need uber precision on just one of them, so having one really high-end (5.5 digit) meter is nice.  Having different makes of meters will give you a good picture into measuring their drift against each other (this is why it would be nice to have two 5.5 digit meters).

[jpb]

I thought Doug stopped making his, leaving either the DMM Check or other units available on eBay.

He still has them on his web shop - I've not looked on eBay:

http://shop.voltagestandard.com/product.sc;jsessionid=3D61DFF47B5BCBB2B42273295C4E96DF.m1plqscsfapp03?productId=1&categoryId=1

The other advantage of the Voltage reference vs the DMM check from my point of view is I can order one at 3V instead of 5V which fits in with my 5 1/2 digit meter (the calibration points are 300mV, 3V and 30V so combined with a 10:1 divider I can check at 3 points (using the 3 matched resistors in parallel and series trick by the person whose name I forget - as described on Geller labs site - a great shame he's stopped selling his 10V reference):

http://www.gellerlabs.com/752AJunior.htm

I'd love to get Doug's 5V 0.0025% reference but I'm in the UK so I have to pay VAT/import duty plus shipping and the cost is already $280 plus I wouldn't really be able to send it back for recalibration without risking having the customs people charge me import duty all over again (plus the expensive shipping).

[jpb]

Here's a perspective from someone who has been a hobbyist for a couple of years:

Bench or Handheld, get meters which have serial out / GPIB / whatever.  You won't need this functionality yet, but a couple of years from now you might wish you had it!

I've been slowly working towards being able to characterize parts by sweeping one parameter, etc.  I want to be able to hit "enter" on my keyboard and have a script do the rest.  Fun!  Up until now, I had to take data manually: tweak the knob, take a photo, repeat, then dump it all into excel.

Frankie (a forum user in china) sells two handhelds which are decent and both feature serial out.  One it a bit higher precision (but not accuracy) than the other, and they are both pretty cheap for what you get ($54 and $37 USD).

A good point. One thing that annoys me about my WaveJet scope (which is otherwise excellent) is that I got an early model without USB control port (it actually has one physically present but it can't be used) and the cost of adding a LAN connection is £400!! ($600 in your money!!). I've been getting repetitive strain injury having to manually save the 1024 history screens to USB stick one at a time!

My Advantest 5 1/2 digit meter has serial (USB) connection built-in and also has two ports so can be used to characterise devices (i.e. measure Voltage and current at the same time) and my cheap DMM has USB connectivity but I've not yet used these features.

One thing that Dave pointed out about Gossen meters is they charge a fortune for the simple IR - USB serial lead (£180 inc VAT) and for the power adapter (around £100 inc VAT) plus even more if you want their software. Their Ultra meter can be got with Bluetooth and that is a more reasonable £60 to £70 extra.

Having a variety of meters like that is a good thing.  Typically, if you are measuring and logging several variables at once, it is likely you only need uber precision on just one of them, so having one really high-end (5.5 digit) meter is nice.  Having different makes of meters will give you a good picture into measuring their drift against each other (this is why it would be nice to have two 5.5 digit meters).

My thoughts were to try and combine getting a good portable meter with one that is on a par with the 5 1/2 digit so I could both have a really good handheld and be able to check the high resolution meters against each other.

The closest I can find is the Gossen MetaHIT Ultra which is 300k count i.e. should be a 5 1/2 digit but its noise floor is quite high at 25 microVolts and so though its headline dc error is 0.02% which is just a little bit more than the 0.015% typical of a 5 1/2 digit, when the overall error is taken into account it is about 2 1/2 times worse (0.052% versus 0.021% of my Advantest). Still pretty good though being a factor of 2 up on say a Fluke 87V or Agilent U1273A.

Having the accuracy at least of a 5 1/2 digit is important to me as I've been working on a GPSDO and I need to adjust the frequency pulling voltage down in the 10s of microVolts if not microVolts range when doing my manual experiments - absolute accuracy is not so important but being able to make very small adjustments and have stable readings is important. I'd really like to get a 6 1/2 digit but the price is getting a bit high. The difference between 5 1/2 digits and 6 1/2 digits is not that large - it works out at about a factor of 4 rather than 10.

[nanofrog]

He still has them on his web shop - I've not looked on eBay:

Got Doug mixed up with Joe Geller (ceased sales).   

The other advantage of the Voltage reference vs the DMM check from my point of view is I can order one at 3V instead of 5V which fits in with my 5 1/2 digit meter (the calibration points are 300mV, 3V and 30V so combined with a 10:1 divider I can check at 3 points (using the 3 matched resistors in parallel and series trick by the person whose name I forget - as described on Geller labs site):

Shame the PentaREF doesn't have the level of accuracy the Voltage Reference does (more convenient if it did).

[mzacharias]

I have lots of really good handhelds, but I wouldn't want to be without my Fluke 8840A. Aside from the really nerd-cool NASA cal sticker, I occasionally do benefit from the extra resolution. For example, when cleaning / checking relay contacts, I can rel out (offset) the OHMS and measure contact resistance down to the milliohm level without even going to 4-wire, which is a pain if the connection pins on the relay are small, which they always are. I'll admit I practically never really need the full 5 1/2 digit resolution on voltage, but who among us really does? Aside from those of us who are really into solar cells and ultra capacitors, I suppose...

Still, for day-to-day use, I have to concede handhelds are best in most situations.

[saturation]

Summarizing features of bench vs handheld the most unique item in benchmeters remains the highest available accuracy and precision.  Bench DMM that look like a bench meter but have features, accuracy and precision of a HH are a waste of space, IMHO, unless they are sold at a substantial discount pricewise.

In the past 10 years, built in trend capture has been a timesaver I wish I had, each time I truly need one I rig up my laptop for realtime data capture and plotting or setting the scope on roll mode, having that feature saves me setup time and I'd use it nearly all the time.

There are a few metrology grade benchmeters that would sell for $100 typically in the USA [ range $50-200 working, $300 with cal certificate FWIW] that would be worth having for the accuracy and precision, for any lab wishing so but can't justify the cost of a 34461a or similar.  Those would be the HP3456a and HP3455a, both are DVM.   The HP3457a is a full DMM, is about $200-500.  The DC accuracy of the 3456a is overall better than the new 34461a.  You can find spec sheets online.

There are many used non-HP metrology grade DMMs but the problem are spare parts to keep them working.  What I did over 2 years was buy 4 3456a working, assuming some would die along the way.  4 years later, one died that I keep for spare parts or repair as needed, while 3 remain working and calibrated, and I paid about $100 for each on average, cal included.