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Keysight's new 34465A (6.5 digit) and 34470A (7.5 digit) bench multimeters

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G0HZU:

--- Quote from: georges80 on March 03, 2015, 11:34:17 pm ---
--- Quote from: EEVblog on March 03, 2015, 11:02:57 pm ---
--- Quote from: georges80 on March 03, 2015, 10:34:50 pm ---I doubt more than a tiny fraction of folk have a need for 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 or ... accuracy and indeed many of the purchasing decision are based on wanting the perceived latest & greatest versus needing it
--- End quote ---

Trying watching something simple, like the slow discharge of a battery, using a 4.5 digit meter. Good luck.
Having a 6.5 digit meter is like having a deep memory scope. You don't know how useful it can be until you get it.

--- End quote ---

Yep, I guess we'll all be doing slow discharge tests of batteries next to justify our 6 1/2 digit meters :) I work with battery powered designs all the time, haven't seen the need for measuring battery discharge with a 6 1/2 digit meter yet. An electronic load with logging to a laptop has been much more useful for my use when characterising a battery.

I have a 6 1/2 digit bench meter (got it free), use it occasionally, but certainly wouldn't rush out to buy one and I am designing/working with electronics every day. I agree that there are 'some' applications where it is needed, but I'll stick to my original claim that only a small fraction of users actually NEED one.

cheers,
george.

--- End quote ---

Agreed. I've worked in design labs for over 25 years and worked alongside hundreds of talented engineers across RF/HW/SW/DSP designing all manner of products in the defence industry and it's extremely rare to see a 6.5 digit DMM being used in our labs. We have loads of very expensive test
gear but the DMM isn't seen as anything special and is just seen as a dull and boring accessory and we  get by just fine with 3.5 to 5 digit H/H models.

In the test dept things are different and there are quite a few high end DMMs. some in ATE racks and some are on test benches where they have a definite status appeal.

LabSpokane:

--- Quote from: Tom45 on March 03, 2015, 11:27:54 pm ---Anyone know who has the 34465A in stock in the US?

--- End quote ---

TestEquity and MicroLease both claim to have current stock.  Best price is MicroLease.  Fastest delivery for me is usually TestEquity.  I'm probably going to sell one of my 34461As and upgrade if anyone is interested. 

EEVblog:

--- Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on March 03, 2015, 11:37:44 pm ---Haven't tried it but I wonder if the effect of temperature variations is more than that of discharge by the time you get to the 6th digit...

--- End quote ---

Generally not, no. The extra resolution lets you easily see rate of change when your load varies too, you can physically see ti counting quicker, it's a very useful and gives you a good intuitive feel for what's going on.

EEVblog:

--- Quote from: G0HZU on March 04, 2015, 01:44:47 am ---Agreed. I've worked in design labs for over 25 years and worked alongside hundreds of talented engineers across RF/HW/SW/DSP designing all manner of products in the defence industry and it's extremely rare to see a 6.5 digit DMM being used in our labs. We have loads of very expensive test
gear but the DMM isn't seen as anything special and is just seen as a dull and boring accessory and we  get by just fine with 3.5 to 5 digit H/H models.

--- End quote ---

I've found the opposite. Every good lab I've worked in has had a high resolution bench meter. We've always been big on production testing though were such bench meters are commonplace.
But again, it's one of those thing that you often don't know how useful it is until you have one to hand for a certain job. If a lab already has half a dozen decent meters, then it's hard to think you might need a good bench meter.
Many times though I've been without the high res bench meter and along comes a requirement and scream when it's not available.
Also, they have not traditionally been cheap.
If I was setting up a new lab here then I'd certainly spring the $1K for the 6.5 digit Agilent or less for the Rigol.

Tom45:
Besides Test Equity and Microlease, I see that Newark is now listing quantities on hand for the new meters.

For the various Keysight bench meters, old and new quantities on hand are:

34461A: 43
34465A: 50
34470A: 10
3458A:    7

So they expect to sell 5 34465A to each 34470A.

When I contacted TEquipement about the 34465A, the response was essentially: huh? They later got back to me saying it would take 4 to 6 weeks to get one.

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