Mastech MS8265 review

[abhishekkumar1902]

I have recently purchased the "MASTECH MS8265" digital multimeter which costed me $65 (INR approx 3250) here in India that I purchased from a local retailer in New Delhi.I thought I would just review it and may be recommend to beginners and young players its worth.

Well coming onto its specs, it is  a four and a half digit multimeter boosting upto 20000 counts which i suppose is to be a good grace of accuracy for a beginner(well it sounds pretty industrial=20000 counts). It has a DC accuracy of 0.1%+5 digits upto 1000 volts and an accuracy of 0.8%+15 for AC upto 750 volts.Indeed it is not a true RMS meter in the sort of a descent price range but its good for young players.At least it is calibrated average responding for rms of sine wave as other good non true-RMS meters do. It has an accuracy of 0.5%+10 digits for DC current upto 200mA and 2%+20 digits for 10A. It has an accuracy of 1.2%+20 digits for AC current upto 200mA and 2.5%+50 digits for 10A. For resistance it has an accuracy of 0.5%+5 digits upto 20M ohm and 5%+20 digits upto 200M ohm. For capacitance measurement,it has a very poor accuracy of 4%+20 digits and the range of measurement is also not good.It is just from 20nF to 200uF. The frequency measurement accuracy is 1.5%+15 digits from 0 to 20KHz,which I think is a very low range for such a price of multimeter, atleast you can get from 0.1 to 30MHz in this price range.This bloody beast is not auto-ranging too indeed having 20000 counts. It does has sound and light warning if you accidently insert the probes into wrong sockets for a particular mode of measurement which I think is good atleast when you are doing the business at high voltages and currents, you can blew up the meter right in your hand if you put the probes wrong.The meter has a bright enough white backlight and a goodlooking darkgreen holster. The meter is super sturdy and robust,and quite announcing at its look and feel. It look like a super rugged industrial multimeter. It also boost other features like transistor hFE measurement from 0-1000 and diode test,etc. It has quite fast responding continuity test mode and has data hold mode.The display is super appealing too with enlarged digits and has very good contrast. It is powered from single 9V 6F22 battery and weights about 380gms. It is CAT rated at CATIII 600V and CAT II 1000V.

At last I would summarize the goods and bads about the meter as:

Pros:
1.Nice accuracy and 20000 counts at this price point.
2.Super rugged design.
3.Good for beginners as it has no extra frills at this price point.
4.Not the best but fair response time (3 times/sec).
5.Easy to use and long battery life.

Cons:
1.No MAX/MIN measurement.
2.No relative mode (superbly requisite feature, atleast at this price point).
3.No duty cycle measurement.
4.No temperature measurement(i don't know but i expected it at this price).
5.Very poor rotary mode selection dial.

Well coming to the verdict of this meter,I would not recommend it to beginners as indeed it has fair amount of accuracy at this level but does not have indispensable features like max/min measurement,relative mode,etc. Atleast for the one who has saved his pocket money to buy a good multimeter in the range of 50$-100$,it is not worth at all and also it does not have temperature measurement which is easily available on most of the meters at this price range.

[JBaughb]

I honestly don't know why manufacturers insist on creating non-auto ranging multimeters in 2015. Seeing a dial with 30+ settings on it just makes me nauseous..

[retiredcaps]

I thought I would just review it and may be recommend to beginners and young players its worth.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and comments.   

How about pictures of inside the meter?

[aryasridhar]

I have a Mastech too, Mastech 830L, no input protection on current inputs, UNFUSED. These are a waste of money, I find it very dangerous that some of the meters sold in the Indian market are super cheap and are very dangerous to use, but then people do not spend a decent amount on good meters, thinking they are a waste of money. Sad behavior, risking their meters and possibly lives if these things blow up in their hands.

My meter is accurate, i compared it with my Flukes, and it is pretty close, but I would never ever use it with Current.

[abhishekkumar1902]

Well to be honest MASTECH 830L is really cheap and often duplicated by Chinese manufacturers too. Cannot say u have an original or Chinese one. But yeah MASTECH MS8265 is rugged and good quality one and obviously this one is not the cheapest one.

[aryasridhar]

You may be right about copies etc, for 3250 you may have easily scored a nice used Fluke or something, I recently did get a Fluke 179 for 3500 bucks in Bangalore.

manual ranging meters are super old, I would not go for one.