Thanks for the video. I like your presentation style and the camera setup, although the auto-focus capability of your camera is a bit sluggish.
Thanks!
I'll see if I can tweak the auto-focus. It has different speed settings but I don't remember what it was set to. I think I need a bit more light in the talking-head shots as well.
(These are all things you notice in the editing stage...)
Awwww, did you have to carp on the Fluke being big and slow and heavy?
I was trying to figure out a way to explain why I like using the Sparkfun meter.
It's not easy to put into words but I suspect it's the same reason why Dave normally uses his little Brymen 357 when he's got shelves full of high-end Flukes, $1000 Gossen MetraWatts, etc., just a few feet away.
Too bad you didn't crack the case just for a quick comparison of industrial-grade versus hobby-grade. Just for educational reasons, of course.
Dave's already done it and I don't think I could do better (and besides, my video was already getting too long...)
They really are a work of art inside.
You probably already know this, but the Sparkfun meter is essentially the same ICL7106-based design as the ugly cheap-Os. There is nothing inherently wrong with a 7106-based meter, it can be a very good measuring instrument as you demonstrated. The Sparkfun version shows it only takes a few bucks to make it a bit more useable and reliable tool.
If you search for "VC830L" on eBay you get a lot of multimeters that
look like the Sparkfun meter,
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=VC830LSome are a lot cheaper, some have backlights, some have hold buttons... etc.
Anyway: One of the scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor was a scene pointing out that the two cheapo meters have the exact same model number on the outside ("DT-830B") but are completely different meters on the inside.
Sure, you can get a generic "VC830L" on eBay, but will it be the same as the Sparkfun meter? I dunno ... but I think it's better to pay a couple of extra bucks for postage and get one from Sparkfun.