EEVBlog 121GW Discussion thread

[JDW]

I just made my 121GW review video public here...
https://youtu.be/1iqURp-NsdM

Took me a minute to realise you didn't have a green screen here!
Your lighting is amazing, what are you using? Do you have a studio tour video?

Thanks for taking a look at the video. 

Instead of a green-screen, I simply have a black felt sheet hanging on a whiteboard behind me (affixed with magnets so it won't fall down). The scenes with meters used a thinner black felt sheet placed on a table.  When editing the video, I crush the blacks to make the background go pretty much pure black.  I do it that way because I don't have a lovely scene to put behind me for my videos.  The other reason is that a pitch black background isolates me and the items shown in the video.  The viewers eyes then focus on the content rather than the background. 

No special lighting used.  Just overhead, office-length fluorescents shooting straight down on me.  I can do that because I shoot at the office after-hours.  Fluorescent tubes do produce a rather diffused light though, which is nice.

For the intro and outro sections, I often put a white felt sheet on the table before me (which isn't shown in the camera frame). The white sheet reflects and defuses the overhead lighting up and at me.  No other lights or reflectors used.

I shoot with a Panasonic GH5 in 4K HLG(Rec.2020) 10-bit, then convert to Rec.709 in post. (Not everyone has an HDR display, that's why.) Shooting in HLG offers the best dynamic range my camera offers, such that the highlights don't get blown out most of the time.

I don't use autofocus (just half-press to focus and then record a scene).  I mostly have my camera on a tripod.  I use an iPhone app to stop and start the video during the intro and outro sections.  My mic is always a wired LAV with a long cable to the camera.  Maybe not as good as wireless, but I never have audio cut out issues with the wired mic.

Any background music I use tends to be the free, no-attribution stuff YouTube gives to creators.

And that's about it.  Sounds rather simple, but editing takes hours of time, especially for a long video like this one.

[e0ne199]

Many products have app issues over their lifetime, it is a fact of life now.  Best to just move on.  The 121GW actually has it pretty good, with the official Android and Windows app still available and working...

Once upon a time, most engineering software was exclusive to Windows, and there was a lot of shaming that took place when it came to engineers who preferred Apple hardware, even to the extent that many who embraced Windows called into question the engineering credentials of those who preferred the Mac.  But in recent years Apple product adoption has increased to the level that even Microchip decided to make a MacOS version of MPLAB X.  People in the engineering world are a tiny bit friendlier to Mac users, which is a nice break from the past.  And that has been great for folks like me who are Mac and iOS users exclusively when it comes to machines I used privately at home.  Even at work, I've moved my ProMate 3 from an old WinXP machine to my iMac, since MPLAB is on MacOS now. 

So when I read something is considered "pretty good" ONLY BECAUSE it has "official Android and Windows apps", I am compelled to chuckle and whisper to myself — that doesn't help me! :-)

But like I said, the Meteor app exists for iOS, and that DOES help me; and I will continue to use it, along with the SD card for data logging.  I am merely saying that if Meteor could be improved by way of adding a FREEZE button that freezes the currently logged waveform without frustratingly dimming the screen content, that would be outstanding for iOS users like myself (and I doubt I am the only one).  And, if the release of the official iOS app's source code leads to it coming back to the App store AND offering a different set of features than Meteor, all the better!

I wish to humbly that @EEVblog for having investing the time to reply and make source code publicly available, for those (other than myself) who could possibly make productive use of it, for the good of all 121GW users.

lol in contrast to me, every single apple products are the last thing i want to touch in the world...but everyone has different preference after all 
btw why don't you try using VM for iOs and smuview?? if your iOs is good then it should have no problem running windows or linux VM anyway

[JDW]

lol in contrast to me, every single apple products are the last thing i want to touch in the world...but everyone has different preference after all 
btw why don't you try using VM for iOs and smuview?? if your iOs is good then it should have no problem running windows or linux VM anyway

iOS running Windows...  Too funny. 
Even if that were possible, and I assure you it is not, most Apple fans tend to share your sentiment regarding Windows: "the last thing I want to touch in the world."
:-)

But the root issue is something I demonstrated in my 121GW video.  The only way to get the 200ms logging interval is to log to the 121GW's internal SD card.  Sadly, when you log over BlueTooth, for reasons I don't fully understand.  The logging interval is fixed, less consistent, and closer to once every half second to 1 second.  Sometimes you want to log consistently and quicker than that, which is why the SD card is your only option. 

If "BlueTooth logging" could be made more consistent and with the fast interval of once every 200ms like SD card logging, then that would be ideal.  That discussion seems to have nothing to do with Android or iOS, because I've not heard any of you Android users say that 121GW BlueTooth logging is a consistent interval of once every 200ms, or that the interval can be changed over BlueTooth.

[rthorntn]

Hi,

Apologies for the thread necro, I forgot to fix up my DMM back in the day.

I have the "repair" kit, with the round PCB shim thing and dial but I can't find any instructions on the repair, do they exist?

Also my startup screen shows "U-1.01" should I be upgrading?

Thanks,
Richard

[J-R]

I have two 121GW DMMs that shipped with the shim, and I removed it on both and had no issues.   I did check the spring contacts to make sure they were making a good connection with the PCB.  So my opinion is that if you're not having an issue, then don't worry about it for now.  But here is one video showing where the shim goes:



The cutout portion faces the clip.  I also personally added a tiny amount of lubricant where the plastic parts rub, and also some precision lubricant to the contacts.  There is debate about this, but I think it's far easier to clean up some old lube than try to fix a worn component.

I do think you want to be on the latest firmware.  Maybe just double-check to make sure you can go directly to the latest release.  I don't recall off-hand.

[ploxiln]

Google Play won't let me install the official 121GW app on my android phone ... I think because it's pretty new and I'm on the latest android version (13), and they have a scheme to try to force apps to target later "api level" if they want to submit updates, or want to support the latest Android, in order to get newer security/permissions rules rolled out over time ...

Anyway, I was able to find the APK on some mirror sites, a little bit sketchy, but I cross-checked a few to try to ensure I got the authentic thing:

bytes: 20624429
sha256: e9ecb6c86b1012b6829c813e0c6fb6929526d85218b50f3a3d2ac832ab32e1d5

I side-loaded it (possible on almost all android phones) and it worked just fine.

It would be nice to get an official download link on the product page for the APK, and for the "modern windows" app if that's even possible ... realistically I understand Dave is just not a software guy, but has provided the full source for these apps to enable others. So will I be the one who steps up to at least provide recent builds, to appease the fast decay of modern app platforms? hah I dunno ... I've never worked with these particular technologies (server/infra seems a lot more stable ) but that's a lame excuse ...

[J-R]

The official app is linked from the 121GW store page: https://gitlab.com/eevblog/app-121gw
However, neither it nor the one currently on the Play store will work with Android 14.
I think most folks are using the Meteor app these days, which does work with Android 14, although I didn't fully test all the features.
The best solution in my opinion is to get an old phone and dedicate it for this specific purpose.  If you don't have one, check eBay, family members, friends.  Get a phone that is supported by LineageOS: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

[ploxiln]

Ah, I see the built android apk was recently-ish added to the gitlab repo, I didn't spot it there before - I was looking for "releases". It is a bit bigger than the copy I found on the mirror sites - maybe it's a debug build, or google re-compresses it? I'll have to extract and compare them ...

Google Play also says Meteor 121gw is not compatible with my phone, either - I guess I should mention it's a Sony Xperia 5 IV. Maybe it's a weird bluetooth version thing? I suspect it would work fine if side-loaded, like the original 121gw app does.

[J-R]

Did a couple posts get deleted?

Anyway, the app available for download on GitLab doesn't work, I've tried a few versions of android and the screen is just mostly blank after connecting.

So the app store app and Meteor app are the way to go for now.

[tszaboo]

Just got a 121GW at work. It's a cool little meter, I think it's full of nice have features, still haven't tried all the options.
One thing that I would like to submit as an error report:

When measuring power, negative current values and positive voltage results positive mVA (watt). So you get positive results when measuring on a battery if it's charging or discharging. I haven't verified this myself, just reported by my colleague.

[JDW]

Dave,

I was contacted by a viewer of my 121GW review video who says he cannot order the meter from your product page.  I just checked.  Pretty crazy.  Says 2 in stock, but when you try to add to your Cart you can't.  Why?  Because it then says this:

You cannot add "121GW Multimeter" to the cart because the product is out of stock.

Yet another problem you need to fix is the blue info bar at the bottom which says this...

Some EEVblog store products are also available from Simon's Electronics in the UK, Welectron in Germany, and Amazon in the US and Australia.

"Amazon in the US" is not accurate.  I just checked.  Says UNAVAILABLE.

[GraXXoR]

Hi. I am the person who intended to purchase 121GW accessing your store from Japan After watching a thoroughly comprehensive review by fellow Japan resident youTuber, JDW.

Unfortunately, While I was able to add the device to my cart and check in to PayPal to make the payment, when I confirm my address it says shipping to that address is not available.

Yet the confirm payment button is still clickable Despite the product supposedly being on shippable.

Not sure what the problem is. It’s the address that is already registered with PayPal so I know that it’s correct because it’s auto entered into the fields.

Hope this problem can be resolved so that I can get my 121GW ASAP.

Regards.

[Veteran68]

Didn't Dave or someone mention recently that the 121GW was discontinued or soon to be?

That may explain the availability issues and lack of Amazon presence while the BM786 and BM235 are still available. Dave needs to update his site, if so. Then again he still advertises the uCurrent Gold too, even though he hasn't made/sold them in years now it seems.

Also interesting to note he's also selling the UT61E (but not the much improved E+) model. Did I just overlook that before? I didn't realize he resold Uni-T meters.

[JDW]

Didn't Dave or someone mention recently that the 121GW was discontinued or soon to be?

Curious you seem to be asking that question to either myself or GraXXoR, when it's rather clear that neither one of us are aware of any mention of product discontinuation.  You didn't even link to any post citing discontinuation.  And as you said, the website has not been updated, still showing inventory, which makes no sense if a product has been discontinued.

Dave?

[thm_w]

Dave,

I was contacted by a viewer of my 121GW review video who says he cannot order the meter from your product page.  I just checked.  Pretty crazy.  Says 2 in stock, but when you try to add to your Cart you can't.  Why?  Because it then says this:

He was having issues with store and shipping prices, I don't know if its fully moved over to shopify or not. But can try ordering from here if you want to take the risk, OR wait for him to respond: https://eevblog.store/products/121gw-multimeter?variant=45270685581620 (thread here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/ot-shopify-kinda-sucks/msg5020315/#msg5020315)

If the stock was accurate (2 or 0) then you may have to wait until the meter is in stock again, so could be some months.

Some EEVblog store products are also available from Simon's Electronics in the UK, Welectron in Germany, and Amazon in the US and Australia.

"Amazon in the US" is not accurate.  I just checked.  Says UNAVAILABLE.

Just means out of stock, may or may not be restocked, depending on if dave decides to sell through amazon or find a US reshipper.

[J-R]

I have not heard anything about the 121GW being discontinued, and they are still selling out regularly.  But of course it is possible.

If you want one right now, Welectron has 9 in stock: https://www.welectron.com/EEVBlog-121GW-Data-Logging-Multimeter-with-Bluetooth

Is the UT61E listing maybe just be his way of doing an affiliate/click-through?  Seems like it will be drop shipped direct from China rather than through Dave in Australia.

[JDW]

If you want one right now, Welectron has 9 in stock: https://www.welectron.com/EEVBlog-121GW-Data-Logging-Multimeter-with-Bluetooth

I myself already have one. I am simply commenting here to help out someone who wants one for a reasonable price. And the best pricing seems to be available from Dave’s website. That €250 price is extremely expensive because it seems to include the VAT that only applies to Europe. So if someone wants to buy it outside Europe, it doesn’t make sense at that price.

[EEVblog]

Hi. I am the person who intended to purchase 121GW accessing your store from Japan After watching a thoroughly comprehensive review by fellow Japan resident youTuber, JDW.

Sorry about the problems, I've actually moved to a new store website, so try that.
https://eevblog.store/products/121gw-multimeter
It now has an exta cheaper shipping option with Sendle, in addition to DHL express.
The link on my website menu has changed to reflect that, but the old Woocommerce product pages and order system are still there and searchable by goolgle.
So I'm currently getting about 50/50 order split from the old and new website.
Had too many issues with Woocommerce, one of which is a buggy stock system, so I switched to shoppify and used the new domain name.
Will eventually shut down the old product pages so they are purged from Google search.

I do still have some stock left, and have ordered some more stock due late Jan. But Kane have advised that they are basically using up their remaining stock of parts, and I get the vibe that once that's done they might not want to make it any more.

[EEVblog]

Is the UT61E listing maybe just be his way of doing an affiliate/click-through?  Seems like it will be drop shipped direct from China rather than through Dave in Australia.

Correct. Shopify has a plugin that allows affiliate link integration via Aliexpress, and that product was just a test to see how it works. Ultimately I'd like to get around to adding a bunch of useful product suggestions there.

[Veteran68]

Didn't Dave or someone mention recently that the 121GW was discontinued or soon to be?

Curious you seem to be asking that question to either myself or GraXXoR, when it's rather clear that neither one of us are aware of any mention of product discontinuation.  You didn't even link to any post citing discontinuation.  And as you said, the website has not been updated, still showing inventory, which makes no sense if a product has been discontinued.

It wasn't directed at anyone in particular. It was just me rhetorically commenting that I *thought* I'd heard something about availability being in question. I didn't link anything because I wasn't even sure I'd heard that, just that I seemed to recall it. Obviously if I were sure and had a link, I wouldn't have expressed it as a question.

Many store listings, including Dave's, often keep products that are permanently or at least indefinitely out of stock. That's not unusual, whether it makes sense or not. If something never comes into stock, then one can argue it's discontinued (if they're the manufacturer, anyway). Again, uCurrent Gold is a good example. It's been OOS for years and Dave has suggested he may not make/sell any more.

I do still have some stock left, and have ordered some more stock due late Jan. But Kane have advised that they are basically using up their remaining stock of parts, and I get the vibe that once that's done they might not want to make it any more.

This is probably what I'd heard/read somewhere and was remembering.

[JDW]

Sorry about the problems, I've actually moved to a new store website, so try that.
https://eevblog.store/products/121gw-multimeter

I am updating the purchase links in the text description under my 121GW Review video now, Dave.  But even though I see the FUSE PACK on your new shop site, it has been out of stock for at least a year and as long as I can remember.  And news about availability?

https://eevblog.store/products/multimeter-fuse-pack

Same issue with the Soft Case for 121GW too:

https://eevblog.store/products/bm235-121gw-case

Thanks.

[EEVblog]

I am updating the purchase links in the text description under my 121GW Review video now, Dave.  But even though I see the FUSE PACK on your new shop site, it has been out of stock for at least a year and as long as I can remember.  And news about availability?

https://eevblog.store/products/multimeter-fuse-pack

Same issue with the Soft Case for 121GW too:

https://eevblog.store/products/bm235-121gw-case

Cases are at the local port, so will have them next week.
Fuses I need to order again, no ETA on that.

[J-R]

Welectron has the including/excluding VAT pricing clearly listed.  So 121GW + Brymen silicon test leads (the default if you simply add it to your cart) is $239.74USD delivered to USA via DHL Express Worldwide (less than a week).

121GW from Dave direct is $223.68USD delivered to USA via Sendle International (Estimated delivery Tuesday, Jan 2–Monday, Jan 29) or DHL Expresss Zone 4 for a couple dollars more (sssent by sssnake? no ETA listed).

So pricing is not too drastically different.  It also fluctuates with the exchange rates, which you can gamble with if you like.  I personally like Welectron because I can add fuses, test leads, carrying cases, etc. to my order and save on shipping.

[GraXXoR]

Hi there there seems to be some confusion about what issue I’m having here.

The thing is I go through the entire shopping process added to my cart, it does actually seem to be in stock…. And once I’ve added it to my cart I go to the PayPal checkout and then I enter my business address or use the one register with my PayPal (home address) and then it says that it cannot be shipped to my country.

However there is still a pay button underneath it which seems a bit odd considering it can’t be shipped and I don’t want to press it.

I have attached the error message which I am receiving.

My address is central Tokyo.

[EEVblog]

Hi there there seems to be some confusion about what issue I’m having here.

The thing is I go through the entire shopping process added to my cart, it does actually seem to be in stock…. And once I’ve added it to my cart I go to the PayPal checkout and then I enter my business address or use the one register with my PayPal (home address) and then it says that it cannot be shipped to my country.

However there is still a pay button underneath it which seems a bit odd considering it can’t be shipped and I don’t want to press it.

I have attached the error message which I am receiving.

My address is central Tokyo.

Email me your address.