BTMeter BT-39C New Sub $20 champ AKA AN8008 Killer

[jayjr1105]

Yes the title is a little click-baity but this meter cost me $15 after an instant Amazon coupon and it's pretty nice.

Notable features
-Automatic backlight
-6x30mm fuses (glass but can be upgraded to ceramic)
-lightning quick continuity
-NCV detection
-Battery ranges
-Magnetic attachment (strong rare earth magnet)
-Actual silicone boot
-The most crisp digits I have ever seen



What are your thoughts?

[sambonator]

AN8008 I think still beats it in a few areas...
It needs a manual backlight for when surroundings are bright but meter face is not.  I think a user knows best when a backlight is needed; not a light sensor.
Auto-backlight dimmer seems gimmicky... it should be brightest when it's slightly dark, and dimmer when its very dark, but seems to get brighter as ambient light gets dimmer.
I don't understand the point of the 1.5v and 9v battery settings... it seems to work the same as regular voltage mode, just displaying the voltage. 
6000 count only, vs 9999 on the Aneng
Shape of the meter I think is not as nice as the AN8008 (opinion).

It looks like it might be more rugged than the AN8008.
It needs a clock function so we can wear it as a time piece with the included wrist strap

[Fungus]

I don't understand the point of the 1.5v and 9v battery settings... it seems to work the same as regular voltage mode, just displaying the voltage. 

Presumably it places a small load on the battery during measurement (eg. 100mA for 1.5V and maybe 50mA for 9V).

Measuring a battery with a typical 10MOhm-impedance multimeter is pointless.

I'm not sure about the backlight or the probe holders (probe points sticking out like antennas to snag everything in sight?)

Apart from that it looks like a decent enough meter for $15.

There seems to be some variants in the Bt-139 lineup. There's one with a transistor tester and this one, with a twiddly knob:

Yes the title is a little click-baity

I'm not sure what's up with ANENG lately. Their prices have gone way up and they stopped making their best model (the 860B+).

Edit: Oh, wait... it's back again!

[jayjr1105]

So is that an LCR meter or just capacitance?

[sambonator]

So is that an LCR meter or just capacitance?

This one I do think is cool 

[Muttley Snickers]

These multimeters are made by Holdpeak and as mentioned there are a few model variations, Aldi down here had the 2000 count model for $20 a while back. I once did five minutes of in-depth research on Holdpeak meters after somebody gave me a HP-760D to repair, I fixed the meter but what a waste of time that was.

Holdpeak Products
https://www.holdpeak.com/Product

 

[jayjr1105]

These multimeters are made by Holdpeak and as mentioned there are a few model variations, Aldi down here had the 2000 count model for $20 a while back. I once did five minutes of in-depth research on Holdpeak meters after somebody gave me a HP-760D to repair, I fixed the meter but what a waste of time that was.

Holdpeak Products
https://www.holdpeak.com/Product

Nice find. The HP-39C version is $37 on Aliexpress so Amazon's $17 is a no brainer.

[rsjsouza]

Interesting find. I have been looking for the "AN8008 killer" since they jacked their price to a level I am not willing to pay. Several weeks ago I got a nice new year's sale promotion at Banggood for a Mestek DM91A for $14. A 10000 count meter but with similar features as both the AN8008 and the BT-39C.

The BT-39C wins in temperature but loses in number of counts to the AN8008 and perhaps in overall size and the square wave generator. The DM91A pretty much wins over the AN8008 in all areas, except the speed of the continuity test and the square wave generator. The DM91A loses on continuity and capacitance meter speed, but it wins in backlight (manually operated, great white flood), the resistance meter goes up to 100M­Ω and, obviously, the higher count. But otherwise the meters are quite similar.

I personally dislike the probe holders on the side of the BT-39C, especially since you can't remove the plastic boot, but I like the color.

[jayjr1105]

Interesting find. I have been looking for the "AN8008 killer" since they jacked their price to a level I am not willing to pay. Several weeks ago I got a nice new year's sale promotion at Banggood for a Mestek DM91A for $14. A 10000 count meter but with similar features as both the AN8008 and the BT-39C.

The BT-39C wins in temperature but loses in number of counts to the AN8008 and perhaps in overall size and the square wave generator. The DM91A pretty much wins over the AN8008 in all areas, except the speed of the continuity test and the square wave generator. The DM91A loses on continuity and capacitance meter speed, but it wins in backlight (manually operated, great white flood), the resistance meter goes up to 100M­Ω and, obviously, the higher count. But otherwise the meters are quite similar.

I personally dislike the probe holders on the side of the BT-39C, especially since you can't remove the plastic boot, but I like the color.

You can remove the boot.  He figures it out later in the video. (I removed mine)  A hot sharp blade will take those probe holders right off if you want.

Ugh, that continuity on the DM91A is unacceptable.

[rsjsouza]

You can remove the boot.  He figures it out later in the video. (I removed mine)  A hot sharp blade will take those probe holders right off if you want.

Ugh, that continuity on the DM91A is unacceptable.

Thanks. I didn't watch the video continuously.

I agree the continuity is bad. Interestingly, though, the display reacts instantaneously but the beeper varies; if you do a series of probes, it beeps faster than the first run. I have never seen such behaviour, thus I wonder if it is fixable in some way. 

[HKJ]

I have taken a look at this meter:

http://lygte-info.dk/review/DMMBTMeter%20BT-39C%20UK.html

It has a rather interesting off mode.

[jayjr1105]

I have taken a look at this meter:

http://lygte-info.dk/review/DMMBTMeter%20BT-39C%20UK.html

It has a rather interesting off mode.

I love the simplicity of your reviews/website.  Good work.

[HKJ]

I love the simplicity of your reviews/website.  Good work.

The website may use a simple design/layout, but the reviews are not simple. There are not many other reviews with as much technical tests.

[Lanaki]

After  I saw his review I picked up on of these on ebay, worked out really nice as a knock about
meter for my lab. Was easy to trim the ears off so they would not keep getting snagged on all
sorts of leads. Got rid of the probes that shipped with the meter and added a decent pair and
I really do enjoy having this on my bench. I'm not worried about ruining an expensive meter,
it takes up a minimum of space and since my eyes are getting older I just pop in batteries that
I can recharge and put a little sticker on the place that covers the port so that the auto back
 light stays on when I need it. I set it up so it does not auto shut off most of the time also
and just keep a tub of fresh charged batteries handy. This meter meets all of my needs
 right now and the Fluke, UniT, and Greenlee meters stay in the drawer. Aloha from
around Makawao town

[LeonR]

I don't understand the point of the 1.5v and 9v battery settings... it seems to work the same as regular voltage mode, just displaying the voltage. 

Presumably it places a small load on the battery during measurement (eg. 100mA for 1.5V and maybe 50mA for 9V).

Measuring a battery with a typical 10MOhm-impedance multimeter is pointless.

I'm not sure about the backlight or the probe holders (probe points sticking out like antennas to snag everything in sight?)

Apart from that it looks like a decent enough meter for $15.

There seems to be some variants in the Bt-139 lineup. There's one with a transistor tester and this one, with a twiddly knob:

Yes the title is a little click-baity

I'm not sure what's up with ANENG lately. Their prices have gone way up and they stopped making their best model (the 860B+).

Edit: Oh, wait... it's back again!

That link leads to a no-stock page. There's another link for it that works: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33004834123.html