Thank you both, but I would like a concrete answer to my question about what makes this device better than cheaper ones to buy.
The cheaper products are usually junk by comparison. Any tweezers I've seen that compare at all cost 3 times as much, and typically are not better. These were not my first tweezers, anything else I tried got returned.
I love using these tweezers when I need a quick measurement, or maybe need to measure something away from my bench where the ST2832 is. My DE5000 almost never comes out of the drawer unless somebody asks something specific about the DE5000.
When I use the bench LCR, I let it warm up, calibrate it after warmup time, etc... These tweezers are fast, and if you need to calibrate, that's fast too.
I did buy the ST42 before I bought the ST2832, but had I bought them the other way around, I would have still got the ST42 for it's portability and price. The "real" tweezers for the bench LCR cost just as much. If you look at my cal tests for the earlier firmwares for the bench LCR, I included readings from the ST42, which was always exactly as expected.
It's a solid performer, but whether or not you need it is up to you. I think it would wind up being both highly useful, and still one of your least expensive pieces of TE. 😉
I endorse this 100%. ^^
My now retired ST3 was once the bees knees and even all those years ago when Dave reviewed them I could never understand how he couldn't see the value in SMD tweezers.
I brought ST3 cheap for the sorta $ Shannon now wants for ST42 darn near 20 years back and never regretted it for a minute.
IME SMD tweezer legs will spread to some 30mm which permits connection to all but the larger TH components that we encounter less and less these days.
Mine's had more TH work primarily for fault finding and measuring those darn useless unmarked SMD caps
but probably most use has been to confirm dud electrolytics with high ESR of which it has found many, however.....
ST42 is totally next level !
I'll challenge anyone to a race to measure all the common components using the Auto mode vs any bench or other HH device !
2-3s boot and it's ready to go, faster than you can turn a rotary dial on any DMM.
Test leads, who needs any more than is totally necessary on the bench ? 4 wire measurements to the tips...and yes I have $ $ Kelvin clips that I just don't use. Again
I've tried a couple of cheap SMD tweezers some years back outta curiosity and quickly gifted those POS to others that might have lesser expectations......and one was a Mastech !
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