LCRZ Meters, Chart ?

[Randy222]

Is there on EEVb a chart that lists out the relatively good LCR meters using community feedback, in a chart or the like?
I just trying to get a sense of what meters are better than others, and for what reasons, like "best value", "most accurate", "better precision", "better resolution", etc.

[KungFuJosh]

I haven't seen one.

The short list is:

DE-5000 - accurate / best value / handheld meter

TH2830 or 2832 / ST2830 or 2832 - Best lowish cost lab grade bench meters (Tonghui TH is terrible support, SourceTronic ST has excellent support).

Hioki IM3536 - excellent lab grade bench meter.

Instek LCR-8200 series - very expensive lab grade / high frequency meters.

There's also some less reliable, but usable bench meters from East Tester.

[coromonadalix]

I haven't seen one.

The short list is:

DE-5000 - accurate / best value / handheld meter

TH2830 or 2832 / ST2830 or 2832 - Best lowish cost lab grade bench meters (Tonghui TH is terrible support, SourceTronic ST has excellent support).

Hioki IM3536 - excellent lab grade bench meter.

Instek LCR-8200 series - very expensive lab grade / high frequency meters.

There's also some less reliable, but usable bench meters from East Tester.

the DE-5000  is built around 2 ic's,  Mastech  lcr as them, Uni-t  old series,  and other clones

now  maybe in the middle range
Many of the ET-430 and up models, new Uni-T
Hantek 1832 1833


100khz  is a basic requirement  nowadays

and i hope  you discern precision vs resolution ...

[Randy222]

and i hope  you discern precision vs resolution ...

100%. I am well versed with accuracy vs precision vs resolution. They are 3 terms often not understood.

Now I go lool at the various listed models.

[coromonadalix]

really depend of your need

serial parallel   ecr dcr   etc ....   resolution 20000 40000 counts

interfacing

lots of portables one if not all, dont do supplemental DC biais voltages,  just the bench ones

or need special cases  like sencore lc102 lc103   who will really do 1kv tests   they are the only ones at an astonishing price

even thoses  little component tester can do wonders ... 20$ is not excessive, Fw Hw support

and only some of the high ends will discharge the caps before measurements, all the portables low medium costs  will bust, even some middle high end ones  etc ...

[Randy222]

Basic handheld is my needs.
I am replacing an old made-in-taiwan "SCOPE LCR 680".
2023, time for an upgrade.


Is this a legit seller at this price? ET432 for $142US ? Are there counterfeits of the ET43's labled as ET43's I need to look out for?
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804318991185.htm

[csuhi17]

I've seen few tests about it, but the accuracy of the ET430 was not good in those.
maybe Uni-t is better, but I haven't seen a video about it yet.

[Randy222]

I looked at the latest Uni-T 612, but the specs seem odd. R has a range of 20-200M. 20 ohms is the lowest it can read? Doesn't make sense to me.
On my old Scope 680, R is not R at all, it's really Z. L C & R all run at 1kHz. So if you wanted DC ohms from just a resistor, the reading might be off, because it's really Z.

Are the "LCR" handhelds today all LCRZ? I would like LCRZ because with some Rf work it's good to be abe to measure LCZ and real DC R.

GwInstek LCR-1100 looks ok from the spec sheet, just can't find much about it, or where to buy.
I have a GwInstek signal gen, works ok.

[Martin72]

I agree with KungFuJosh, TongHui or Sourcetronic is the best you can get at an affordable price.
The workmanship, the accuracy, the features...
If you want more, you have to pay a lot more, we're talking about 4000€/$ upwards.
If you can live with 100khz (sorry, 200khz  ), you won't find anything better, not even for more money (GWinstek, BK precision...).
The DE5000 was also mentioned, and I agree, you can't get more for the money.
The cheap desktop devices from East Tester are slightly better, but they are desktop devices and not portable.

[Randy222]

Anyone use or have test data for a Tecpel lcr-615 ?
Can't seem to find any online sellers of this unit.

[pope]

I haven't seen one.

The short list is:

DE-5000 - accurate / best value / handheld meter

TH2830 or 2832 / ST2830 or 2832 - Best lowish cost lab grade bench meters (Tonghui TH is terrible support, SourceTronic ST has excellent support).

Hioki IM3536 - excellent lab grade bench meter.

Instek LCR-8200 series - very expensive lab grade / high frequency meters.

There's also some less reliable, but usable bench meters from East Tester.

What makes you think that the ET meter is less reliable? I mean, it might well be the case but do you have some personal experience with these meters?

[Veteran68]

As with most things you'll generally get what you pay for.

The DE-5000 is the goto for hobbyists on a budget, but it has its limitations. Namely in test parameters and user interface, which is pretty horrid. A step up would be the Hantek 183x series. I have the 1833C and like it okay. If I were buying another handheld LCR today in the ~$200 range I might go for the highest end Uni-T 622 model.

If you want a bench LCR, then you're looking at EastTester, RuoShui/Victor, and Matrix at the lower end but even those can run into the 300-500 range for the higher models.

As you get to Tonghui, Sourcetronic, and Hioki, then you're approaching if not exceeding $1000, depending on model.

And of course you can go with something like R&S for a couple more K.

[Randy222]

The Hantek units are in my budget. But I read a few reviews that said the unit was horribly not accurate. Maybe some bad apples coming out of the mill?

[Martin72]

The Hantek units are in my budget.

And your budget is ?
And what to prefer, handheld or desktop ?
Measure frequency up to ??

[Veteran68]

The Hantek units are in my budget. But I read a few reviews that said the unit was horribly not accurate. Maybe some bad apples coming out of the mill?

Possibly. I've had a few measurements I've scratched my head at, which is why I said if I were buying again in that budget range I might choose something else. But if I'm honest most measurements I've done and compared against other meters (from 6.5 digit bench DMMs to cheap capacitor/ESR meters) it's been close enough to call it within expected range.

These things are so sensitive to test conditions and parameters that unless I knew exactly how a reviewer's test was setup, I'd take their results with a grain of salt. You can play around with the settings (test voltage, frequency, range, etc.) and get pretty vastly different results. Not to mention that some people insist on testing in-circuit and expect reliable readings.

[coromonadalix]

in circuit is a first general test / basic values check tests /  when having doubts, isolate or remove the part

for sure there is some limits, and surrounding parts may play tricks on you

an open and close calibration when available is a plus, 

ex: i use an de-5000 at my job,  and each time i power it up, i do the open and close calibrations, and for sure, just moving the leads change values quite a bit  .... human body presence ...

i use some circuits while putting rf in it,  just being around it, play tricks   loll i can not use any serial or parallel tests, it will self oscillate the circuit
but with experience and many many archived tests, even with an ohmmeter now i know if a portion is defective   ...



The ET430 and up lcr meters are resold in many colors and brands,  not sure for their quality  seems to have some decent circuitry 
Tonghui have some protables ones too, pricing seems high
Hioki
Applent / and rebranded ones
old BK Precision models like BK885 BK886

now we beggin to have ideas ...

[KungFuJosh]

What makes you think that the ET meter is less reliable? I mean, it might well be the case but do you have some personal experience with these meters?

Search the forum, other users have stated as such. 🤷

[Randy222]

I'll give the Hantexk 1833C a try. In my searching for the 1833C I also found a ZT-703S dual channel handheld scope.

[csuhi17]

Does anyone have experience with the UNI-T UT622E, how reliable is it, is it better in terms of features than the Hantek?
If I see correctly, it is only slightly more expensive than the Hantek 1833C.

[KungFuJosh]

I think the general consensus is:

Almost Anything > Hantek

I have a few UNI-T devices that work fine; no LCRs from them though.

[Veteran68]

I've seen a few reviews of the 622's and don't recall seeing a head-to-head comparison with the Hantek, but just observationally I thought the Uni-T looked like the better option. I wasn't aware of the 622 series when I bought the Hantek, if I had been I'd have probably got the 622E myself. Darren Walker reviewed the 622A some time ago, but most of the 622E video reviews I find are non-English and require translated captions, so I've not dived into those yet.

That said, the Hantek 1833C has worked fine for me so far, as I mentioned, so I have no real regrets other than I typically don't care for Hantek products. In that budget tier I definitely tend to favor Uni-T. Not that they're premium quality either, but to Josh's point almost anything is better than Hantek, generally speaking. I was actually leaning towards the defacto DER-5000 but saw enough favorable reviews of the 1833C and it's improvements over the DER that I decided to go with it. No regrets as I said, I'm just not exactly in love with it.

I posted my thoughts on Hantek in this thread asking about the 622E vs the DER-5000 and referenced Tony Albus' video that compared accuracy specs of the lower Hantek 1832C against higher end meters. It performed pretty well.

[Veteran68]

In my searching for the 1833C I also found a ZT-703S dual channel handheld scope.

I have both the ZT-702S and ZT-703S. Recognizing their shortcomings for what they are as a scope, they are an excellent value for the money IMO. Toss them in a toolbag to have a useful DMM and a low-bandwidth scope on the go, and if you break it you're not out much. Whereas I'm much more protective of my Owon HDS2022S.

Although the new ZT-703S that just came out has some FW regressions in my opinion, namely around restoring last mode at powerup which had already been addressed in the 702SS. Also consider their really useful bandwidth as about half of what is stated for each.

[hpw]

That said, the Hantek 1833C has worked fine for me so far, as I mentioned, so I have no real regrets other than I typically don't care for Hantek products. In that budget tier I definitely tend to favor Uni-T. Not that they're premium quality either, but to Josh's point almost anything is better than Hantek, generally speaking. I was actually leaning towards the defacto DER-5000 but saw enough favorable reviews of the 1833C and it's improvements over the DER that I decided to go with it. No regrets as I said, I'm just not exactly in love with it.

What me  is each time to calibrate (open connection mode), specially the Cap as on startup 8pF off. As it do not gets saved even using last FW. After that 1pf SMD is possible to measure with the required fixture.

Anyway... for SMD parts a fixture is a must have and needs additional tweaking as cable and fixture. For more look on the good & ugly SMD fixture thread.

Hp

[HalFoster]

For bench meters, I have both a Wayne Kerr 6425 and a Instek LCR6100 - both .05% class meters and I can highly recommend either one although the 6425 tends to be much easier to use although also much larger.  The DE5000 really can't be beat for hobbyist level equipment.

Hal

[Randy222]

For bench meters, I have both a Wayne Kerr 6425 and a Instek LCR6100 - both .05% class meters and I can highly recommend either one although the 6425 tends to be much easier to use although also much larger.  The DE5000 really can't be beat for hobbyist level equipment.

Hal

The high quality benchtop style are 5-10x the cost of the handheld units, perhaps for good reason, or perhaps the dollar-per-unit of accuracy & precision is just much higher on the better benchtop units. Finding a linear cost basis is almost unheard of these days. It's like double the accuracy & precision and pay 3x as much, etc.

I am replacing my old Scope LCR 680 handheld. So I am kinda comparing to what I have now, which means just about anything new today is likley way better than the 680.
If I needed something like Instek 6100, I would just buy something like that, but I think a "decent" handheld is all I need as of now.