New EEVBlog-Branded Multimeter Coming?

[dcac]

I’m a bit concerned/surprised with the initial reports that auto-ranging seems slow on the 121GW. I seem to remember Dave often pointed out if a DMM seemed slow in his reviews, and also the Brymen meters seems quite fast both in update-rate and auto-ranging so I was hoping the 121GW would at least have similar speed as the Brymen.

I’m backer 924 btw, so I’ve yet to test anything myself. And my initial impression was that the 121GW did not really seem slow when Dave used one of the prototypes in his videos.

[Fungus]

I’m a bit concerned/surprised with the initial reports that auto-ranging seems slow on the 121GW. I seem to remember Dave often pointed out if a DMM seemed slow in his reviews

Just because he's a qualified multimeter critic doesn't mean his own meter has to be perfect. Maybe he's just trying to sell a decent meter and make some money while he's at it.

(He'd have to charge a lot more for the mythical 100% perfect meter.  )

[dcac]

I’m a bit concerned/surprised with the initial reports that auto-ranging seems slow on the 121GW. I seem to remember Dave often pointed out if a DMM seemed slow in his reviews

Just because he's a qualified multimeter critic doesn't mean his own meter has to be perfect. Maybe he's just trying to sell a decent meter and make some money while he's at it.

(He'd have to charge a lot more for the mythical 100% perfect meter.  )

should I take your statement as a confirmation that the 121GW is indeed slow?

and btw, did I ask for a mythical 100% perfect meter(?)

[IanB]

should I take your statement as a confirmation that the 121GW is indeed slow?

It didn't seem slow when I watched someone test it.

[Fungus]

should I take your statement as a confirmation that the 121GW is indeed slow?

I wouldn't know.

I'm just saying that because Dave has criticized speed in his reviews doesn't necessarily mean his own meter has to be faster than every other meter ever.

[dcac]

should I take your statement as a confirmation that the 121GW is indeed slow?

It didn't seem slow when I watched someone test it.

I guess everything is relative but here it seemed slower than I was expecting from a meter with 5 updates/sec.

[rsjsouza]

I’m a bit concerned/surprised with the initial reports that auto-ranging seems slow on the 121GW. I seem to remember Dave often pointed out if a DMM seemed slow in his reviews, and also the Brymen meters seems quite fast both in update-rate and auto-ranging so I was hoping the 121GW would at least have similar speed as the Brymen.

I’m backer 924 btw, so I’ve yet to test anything myself. And my initial impression was that the 121GW did not really seem slow when Dave used one of the prototypes in his videos.

I don't know about the 121GW, but I don't recall seeing anything faster than the Brymen meters I have used (I currently have a BM857) and the Fluke 179 I had.

Keysight U1233A/U1273A are quite fast as well, in contrast to their new flagship model U1282A.

[dcac]

I’m a bit concerned/surprised with the initial reports that auto-ranging seems slow on the 121GW. I seem to remember Dave often pointed out if a DMM seemed slow in his reviews, and also the Brymen meters seems quite fast both in update-rate and auto-ranging so I was hoping the 121GW would at least have similar speed as the Brymen.

I’m backer 924 btw, so I’ve yet to test anything myself. And my initial impression was that the 121GW did not really seem slow when Dave used one of the prototypes in his videos.

I don't know about the 121GW, but I don't recall seeing anything faster than the Brymen meters I have used (I currently have a BM857) and the Fluke 179 I had.

Keysight U1233A/U1273A are quite fast as well, in contrast to their new flagship model U1282A.

Thanks for your input, yeah I agree the Brymen are fast. And the 121GW also goes all the way down to milli-ohms resolution so taking a bit longer would be understandable, still -  auto-ranging from open circuit to short seems about 5-6 sec, ouch!

I’m surely hoping that a fastmode with lesser resolution can/will be implemented, that i.e. puts the meter in a 5000 count mode. If it isn’t a FW bug that’s slowing the meter down.

[fanOfeeDIY]

Just uploaded another video of the 131GW Multimeter. This time it is joke video for fun

EEVBlog Meter Joke Review
https://youtu.be/zlYwwf2PTvg

[GameProgrammer79]

cant use 121GW to eat .. such a shame.. imagine forgetting to bring chopsticks to office .. 

[joeqsmith]

should I take your statement as a confirmation that the 121GW is indeed slow?

It didn't seem slow when I watched someone test it.

I guess everything is relative but here it seemed slower than I was expecting from a meter with 5 updates/sec.

I had wondered if it could not run in a low res mode then switch to high res to get it to lock in faster.  The 121GW uses the same front end chipset used in another meter that Dave had reviewed and I though the settling time was discussed back then.   I would guess some of the people who bought one have more than one meter.  Maybe others will do a side by side comparison to give you a better idea how it compares.       

[Fungus]

I had wondered if it could not run in a low res mode then switch to high res to get it to lock in faster.

Even better: Do a binary chop instead of a linear search (ie. start in the middle) 

[joeqsmith]

SAR?

[markb82]

I looked at the chipset and I think you could do a lower count fast sampling mode which could help with auto-ranging.  Even if it doesn't, it would be nice to have a faster sampling mode.

[joeqsmith]

Looks like the UNI-T UT171B also uses that front end along with the HPAK U1282A.   These would be good comparisons.   

[markb82]

AD1 of the HY3131 chip has a max sample rate of 640 sps (using 4.915Mhz crystal and the lowest prescalar of 256). 

[exe]

Even better: Do a binary chop instead of a linear search (ie. start in the middle) 

Yeah, this also surprised me why using linear search? . With 50k counts just one measurement at mid-range it is enough to fully determine the required range, imho. So, no need for search most of the time.

I was also thinking about a dedicated comparator that would just "know" which range is needed. But it might be possible to just activate a high sample rate at an overload event (if available, the manual says max sample rate is 5 samples/s, but there might be a higher rate at reduced resolution).

I'd also try to align numbers to the left so when it down-ranges it would just display extra digits of resolution at right.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Looking at the video, that autorange time on ohms is totally unacceptable.
Fluke 87 takes a second.
Any more than this is simply broken.

[mikeselectricstuff]

should I take your statement as a confirmation that the 121GW is indeed slow?

It didn't seem slow when I watched someone test it.

I guess everything is relative but here it seemed slower than I was expecting from a meter with 5 updates/sec.

I had wondered if it could not run in a low res mode then switch to high res to get it to lock in faster.  The 121GW uses the same front end chipset used in another meter that Dave had reviewed and I though the settling time was discussed back then.   I would guess some of the people who bought one have more than one meter.  Maybe others will do a side by side comparison to give you a better idea how it compares.       

Presumably it's already doing fast sampling for the bargraph display - it should be using this for ranging.
Does kinda bring up questions of firmware quality if it's doing such basic things so obviously wrong..

[fanOfeeDIY]

I just uploaded the review of auto rage time on measuring resistance on 121GW multi-meter, comparing with other two meters from Keysight and Hioki.
In the future the software updates might speed up the auto-rage but not clear at the moment.

The measurement speed on resistance by manual rage on 121GW had no issue.

I was thinking to make it short but became about 14 minutes video.

I spent too much time on rendering too

EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter Resistance test with auto-range slow?
https://youtu.be/dyM0F7y3bj4

[dcac]

Looking at the video, that autorange time on ohms is totally unacceptable.
Fluke 87 takes a second.
Any more than this is simply broken.

I tend to agree, the auto-ranging on 121GW isn't just "slow" - it is unusable.

[HKJ]

Fluke 87 takes a second.
Any more than this is simply broken.

That makes most of the multimeters on the market broken, except the manual range ones.

[evava]

from my shop:
(ohms autoranging from open to short)

UT61e - half second, sometimes almost instantly
UT181a - 1.5 second
87V - 1 second
289 - 2 seconds

and AN8008 about four seconds, too slow.

Can someone please try the same (speed of autoranging) on capacitance range, for example from open to 20uF ?

[markb82]

Had a 100uF on my bench.

Capacitance:
    121GW open circuit to 100uF -> 4.5 seconds
    U1272A open circuit to 100uF -> 1.5 seconds
    BM235 open circuit to 100uF -> 3.0 seconds

Resistance:
    121GW open circuit to short -> 9.5 seconds !
    U1272A open circuit to short -> 2.5 seconds
    BM235 open circuit to short -> 1 second (maybe even less)

[markb82]

I think the firmware needs some serious love.  Perhaps an opportunity for a GitHub open-source project once Dave releases the schematics?