Chinese LCR meters on eBay, what do you think?

[Wartex]

I'm looking to buy an LCR meter but as a diy guy can't spend a grand on a Fluke or BK, at the same time I don't want to buy a shitty 1 KHz Agilent/Bk/Extech for $350. This is what I found and specs don't look so bad. What do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/TONGHUI-10KHZ-HANDHELD-DIGITAL-LCR-LCZ-LCRZ-METER-USB-/350431410132?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519756f7d4

http://cgi.ebay.ca/10Khz-Precision-Digital-LCR-Bridge-D-Q-Meter-clip-/270646261885?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f03c6387d

They are made by Tonghui, I checked out their website and they seem legit. Anyone used one of those meters before?

[Kiriakos-GR]

shitty

shitty called anything that it does not do , what the specs reports .

I have no idea , about the those that you had found , but if you trust it in any way , get it.

[Wartex]

shitty

shitty called anything that it does not do , what the specs reports .

I have no idea , about the those that you had found , but if you trust it in any way , get it.

What I meant by shitty is that features do not justify the price at all.

[eliocor]

I own a TH2821A (the 2nd one in your list): it works flawlessly and it is really precise.
I have checked it with lots of precision capacitors (0.5% and 1% ones with values from few pF to about 1uF).
Unfortunately I have no precision inductors to check it.
One of the best things about this meter is the 4 terminal sensing (kelvin probe) measurement: it require a special pod (4 cables) but it eliminate the stray capacitance/impedance.
I suggest you to buy even the kelvin tweezers to measure SMD components.
The probes are not built as HP/Agilent ones but they are enough for a "casual" user.
The only trouble I got with this device: I had to replace the rechargeable battery after some months of usage.

After about 2 years of usage, my only regret is to not have bought one of its more expensive "brothers" with selectable test frequency higher than 10kHz.

To my knowledge those products are not CE marked: be careful if you are living in Europe and your instrument will be caught by customs! They can reject it and send it back to the shipper!

[saturation]

Do you need just an LCR or LCRZ meter? Adding impedance makes it more costly.  LCR meters typically are $50-200.

Some no-name LCR meters can be bought locally in Canada, say Toronto:

http://www.a1parts.com/mode/meters/index.html#LCR%20Meter

[zaoka]

I got second one and returned it last week, its very old model of Tonghui.
It was brand new, however, its not accurate when measuring capacitors over 100uF. It was measuring around -7% of the actual value.
Also I measured 1mH inductor and meter tells me its 1.3mH.

I compared readings to Sencore LC103 and it was very close to 1mH...

[alm]

I agree that the meter should meet whatever spec they publish, but why would you want to measure a >100uF cap with any accuracy? They're usually electrolytics with lousy tolerances like +/- 20% anyway, and are not usually used for applications like filters were you need accurate values. I've never felt the need to know the value of an electrolytic cap, except to know if it's not shorted/open. If it's about the condition, ESR and leakage are more useful parameters. But I guess it might be different if you deal with extremely low frequencies (<10Hz or so).

BTW, on the low end of the market, this AADE L/C meter kit has gotten good reviews. Less features than the expensive ones, no R/Z/ESR, fixed frequency per range, no high ranges, but only $100 or so, and good accuracy and resolution.

[Wartex]

Here's Protek for $400 that looks exact same as Tonghui, from a reputable seller http://www.tequipment.net/ProtekZ580.html