Author Topic: If Brymen BM869s is cheaper and as good, why people would still buy Fluke?  (Read 194940 times)

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Offline joeqsmith

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From the manual, it looks like the BM869s draws about 6.5mA.   It uses a single transistor battery.  An Energizer 522 at 25ma draw looks like about 600mAh. Call it about 100 hours. 

The Hioki DT4282 uses four AAs and will operate for 100 hours. 
The HIOKI I looked (DT4252) at uses four AAA and will operate for 130 hours.   
The Fluke 289 uses six AA and will operate for 100 hours.     
I wonder what the OLED Keysight is.
As bad as those seem, the UNI-T I last played with worked out to about 40 hours between charges.   That's assuming the meter survives that long!  :-DD

Then again, I bet some of the pocket meters I am looking at are lower power than all of the above AND... they don't cost as much!!       

Do Fluke, Hioki and Keysight DMMs have lower power consumption than Brymen? According to product datasheets I think so.

Offline nanofrog

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I wonder what the OLED Keysight is.
From the specifications...
 

Offline joeqsmith

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Wow!!?? 8 hours!!    So, to be real honest, after running the power sucking UNI-T I really could not complain about it.  40 hours of life was more than enough for what I would call a portable bench meter.      So 36 on the U1252B, as long as I can recharge it, would not be too much of a problem.  But 8???!! That's not even a full work day!   

Sorry, I couldn't meet the schedules due to the fact I had to keep changing my meter's batteries.   To prevent this in the future, I have added a task to the schedule to allow for a battery change a day.  We plan to assign this task to the new intern to save costs.   We also had the purchasing department work on getting us volume pricing for the batteries and we have budgeted for this ....   

8 hours.... :palm:

I wonder what the OLED Keysight is.
From the specifications...


Offline nanofrog

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Wow!!?? 8 hours!!    So, to be real honest, after running the power sucking UNI-T I really could not complain about it.  40 hours of life was more than enough for what I would call a portable bench meter.      So 36 on the U1252B, as long as I can recharge it, would not be too much of a problem.  But 8???!! That's not even a full work day!   

Sorry, I couldn't meet the schedules due to the fact I had to keep changing my meter's batteries.   To prevent this in the future, I have added a task to the schedule to allow for a battery change a day.  We plan to assign this task to the new intern to save costs.   We also had the purchasing department work on getting us volume pricing for the batteries and we have budgeted for this ....   

8 hours.... :palm:
FWIW, I've a U1252B (~4.5x better battery life  ;)). And although ~36hrs. is worse than the other models mentioned, I don't find it all that big of an issue as I have rechargeable batteries ready to go on-hand (under a minute to do a battery swap isn't so horrible IMHO).  ;D Particularly as I find it's a very good meter, battery life not withstanding *.  :-+

Of course, the fact I got it at a good price doesn't hurt either ($100 rebate from Agilent + Allied was dumping stock due to having dumped or lost their distributorship at the time).  :-DD

* Battery life didn't hurt, but display lifetime of the OLED display on the U1253B was the main factor in my decision process to purchase this particular meter.
 

Offline hgg

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I have also decided to buy the BM869S but I can only find it on TME.EU
I've sent them 4 emails during the last 48 hours and got no response...

I am not %100 sure its a wise choice to buy form TME.  On top of that,
the battery compartment of the BM869S scares me...   :o

Shall I pull the trigger?   :)
 

Offline Lightages

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TME does seem to handle the sale OK. Many people have purchased from them. Where they fall down is when it comes to customer communication and service. You are not likely to find a  better price.
 

Offline pxl

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I have also decided to buy the BM869S but I can only find it on TME.EU
I've sent them 4 emails during the last 48 hours and got no response...

I am not %100 sure its a wise choice to buy form TME.  On top of that,
the battery compartment of the BM869S scares me...   :o

Shall I pull the trigger?   :)

Well, there are no alternatives, if you want a reliable, fast and 5 digit meter near this price. Ahh, wait. There is!

BM 867 :P
 

Offline hgg

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You are right I guess.
I think I will buy it and see what happens.   ::)

Just before I press the BUY NOW button... do you think that there is a better multimeter at this price range?
From the little research I did, this looks like the best multimeter for the price.

(but again, I cannot believe how they choose this kind of battery connection  :palm:)

BM867 was indeed my first choice, but I've heard that they use lesser quality fuses.
I don't really care about the VDF.
 

Offline hgg

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On the other hand, looking at my number of posts just before this one, maybe this is not a good idea.    ::)
So, one more post for better luck...
 

Offline pxl

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You are right I guess.
I think I will buy it and see what happens.   ::)

Just before I press the BUY NOW button... do you think that there is a better multimeter at this price range?
From the little research I did, this looks like the best multimeter for the price.

(but again, I cannot believe how they choose this kind of battery connection  :palm:)

BM867 was indeed my first choice, but I've heard that they use lesser quality fuses.
I don't really care about the VDF.

I don't know any other meters in this range (available in EU). Probably some Keysight (U1241B, U1242B, U1241C, U1242C) (10000 counts), but I have no trust with that brand at all. The youtube is full with videos of failed Agilent Keysight meters (probably it is because they sell a lot, and the expectations are high), and some meters does not measure current in particular ranges, which is wtf for me.

However, if you will find another one, that's great, you will need more DMM :)

There are 2 things which bothers me:
1., the beeper is so loud, that my glasses always breaks when I turned it on. No problem, I bought already a power resistor to replace the 3 ohm in there, that will solve this problem.
2., the display light has a timeout, which, I would say is unacceptable, but I never used it (I use it as a desktop meter), so it is just a theoretical issue for me. Still an issue!  :rant:
+1: the encoder switch is too stiff, definitely needs some lubricants, but I can live with that for now.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2016, 01:43:37 pm by pxl »
 

Offline chickenHeadKnob

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I have also decided to buy the BM869S but I can only find it on TME.EU
I've sent them 4 emails during the last 48 hours and got no response...

I am not %100 sure its a wise choice to buy form TME.  On top of that,
the battery compartment of the BM869S scares me...   :o

Shall I pull the trigger?   :)

They ignored two emails from me as well, and I had already paid. Just relax, life is too short to get wound-up over this stuff. I got my meter in around 4 days shipped to Canada.
 

Offline hgg

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Quote
1., the beeper is so loud, that my glasses always breaks when I turned it on. No problem, I bought already a power resistor to replace the 3 ohm in there, that will solve this problem.

Good thing if you are using it in an industrial environment.
No need for resistors.  Some blue tack on top of the buzzer will make it a lot sweeter.   :)

Quote
>>2., the display light has a timeout, which, I would say is unacceptable, but I never used it (I use it as a desktop meter), so it is just a theoretical issue for me. Still an issue!  :rant:

Hmmm, that is not good.   :--

Quote
+1: the encoder switch is too stiff, definitely needs some lubricants, but I can live with that for now.

It looks disproportionately small as well.  Maybe that's why.


Quote
They ignored two emails from me as well, and I had already paid. Just relax, life is too short to get wound-up over this stuff. I got my meter in around 4 days shipped to Canada.

It looks like that they have a lot of customers and not a lot of staff, so they are focusing on
shipping as the first priority. 

I think I will buy it.
 

Offline pascal_swedenTopic starter

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I have also decided to buy the BM869S but I can only find it on TME.EU
I've sent them 4 emails during the last 48 hours and got no response...

I am not %100 sure its a wise choice to buy form TME.  On top of that,
the battery compartment of the BM869S scares me...   :o

Shall I pull the trigger?   :)

Can you elaborate on your concern about the battery compartment?
What scares you about it?
 

Offline hgg

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Quote
Can you elaborate on your concern about the battery compartment?
What scares you about it?

This :  ....   :)



Completely unacceptable, to say the least, on a $250 multimeter.
The $45 UT61E is light years ahead in battery case design.  (unfortunately this stops there...  :))
 

Offline hgg

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As a side note, does anybody know if the VFD function of the BM869S
is similar with the LPF hidden mode of the UT61E ?
 

Offline wraper

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Quote
Can you elaborate on your concern about the battery compartment?
What scares you about it?

This :  ....   :)



Completely unacceptable, to say the least, on a $250 multimeter.
The $45 UT61E is light years ahead in battery case design.  (unfortunately this stops there...  :))
Older versions of Fluke 87 are exactly like this.
 

Offline hgg

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Quote
Older versions of Fluke 87 are exactly like this.

Exactly...
 

Offline wraper

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Or Fluke 77 IV
 

Offline wraper

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Quote
Older versions of Fluke 87 are exactly like this.

Exactly...
And other currently sold models which are more expensive than $250.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2016, 02:40:44 pm by wraper »
 

Offline hgg

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It does not instill confidence.

At least Fluke went to the effort to use a socket and I am sure that their version of the 9V clip
will be of good quality.

From the photos it looks like that the Brymen 9V clip is the usual thin version that can be easily
damaged when you remove it from the battery.

 

Offline pascal_swedenTopic starter

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At least it is using 9V battery and nothing of that AA or AAA rubbish.

9V batteries are less prone to leak over AA/AAA batteries.

In fact AA batteries leak all the time. Even Duracell are prone to leaking.
Ridiculous actually that battery manufacturers haven't done anything in the past 30 years
to make their batteries less prone to leaking.

Right now I only buy Lithium batteries. And I will definitely not buy any IKEA batteries anymore.
In a fresh pack of IKEA batteries, there were already 2 batteries out of 10 that started leaking,
while still in the carton box, and never used. Unbelievable! IKEA batteries crap!

But even with Duracell you can have this. And typically it happens a lot with AA and AAA batteries.

With 9V batteries the chance of leaking is much less. At least my experience.

And to be 100% safe, just go for 9V Lithium batteries from VARTA. They have a shelf life of 10 years.

 

Offline hgg

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Indeed, having an instrument damaged just from a leaked battery is not the best.

>>And to be 100% safe, just go for 9V Lithium batteries from VARTA. They have a shelf life of 10 years.

Nice to know!  They will be my next 9V batteries.
 

Offline hgg

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The other thing that bothers me is that on a $250 multimeter they have implemented
the HOLD functionality of the usual $5 one...   :palm:   How difficult would have been
to implement a proper HOLD button?

Even the UT61E has a very nice HOLD function when you long press it.



 

Offline wraper

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Indeed, having an instrument damaged just from a leaked battery is not the best.

>>And to be 100% safe, just go for 9V Lithium batteries from VARTA. They have a shelf life of 10 years.

Nice to know!  They will be my next 9V batteries.
I got to order order new back cover for my Agilent U1272A. F...ing batteries.
 

Offline mos6502

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9V batteries leak, too.



That battery had been in there for 13 years, though ...

But the advantage is, the 9V clip is easily replaced. The compartment is separate, so nothing can leak on the PCB. Snip the wires and solder in a new one. With a meter with AA contacts on the PCB, the stuff would have very likely leaked all over the main PCB and the meter would have been destroyed. At the very least, the battery contacts would have been gone and it would have been very difficult to find replacements. Unlike 9V battery clips, which you can find in an electronics store in downtown Kinshasa.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2016, 03:23:36 pm by mos6502 »
for(;;);
 


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