Uni-T UT71B or UT171B?

[Balcmeg]

HI,
I guess there are loads of posts like these, but I'm in need of advice.
I am looking for a Multimeter to complement my Fluke 77 (Series 1 or 2) that I got when the physics institution I worked at changed to new models.
It is for both work and hobby. For work, I mainly test low voltages and continuity testing so I might even get a UT125 for this to complement the USB oscilloscope and reduce weight.
For hobby, its electronics, sometimes PSU and mostly amplifiers, DAC etc. I Have sent the discussions about safety with some UNI-T as well as the videos, but since I still have my Fluke 77, I am not concerned about that. What I feel is missing is mainly measuring mA/uA as well as low voltages.
What I do not really get is the difference between the two Uni-T's. From what I gathered, the difference is (assuming I don't mix up the ABCDE models) that UT171B has,
- "better" screen
- rechargeable batteries
- Higher count
- a larger number of storage points (which I'm not sure I need much)
But there are a lot of other differences, and frankly, despite reading here and all over the internet, I am a bit lost. I don't mind paying the higher price for the UT171B If it is recommended.

I am currently living in Hong Kong, so the shipping costs of the Meters are close to negligible. UT171B would be UDB 228 while UT71C is USD188.
If any other model (especially ABCD...) might suit me better I'm open for that.

/Stefan

[mqsaharan]

Hi Stefan,
Welcome to the forum.
If you have access to Brymen meters in Hong Kong, my suggestion would be to choose one of those. They are better built and tested than Uni Trend meters.
If you want to choose between UT71 and UT171 series, go with UT171 series. It is newer and better built than their old UT71 series.

UT171B's screen could give you hard time in bright light.
On average its battery life is about 100 hours. And the meter is unusable during charging.
You can find a detailed review here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/uni-t-ut171b-teardown/

There are too many options while choosing a multimeter. You need to think about your preferences first. That will help you narrow down your choices.
In the end, you'll have to decide it for yourself which meter suits you better.
Qasim.

[Fungus]

What's your reason for choosing those meters? They're not cheap and Uni-T aren't the best brand.

[Balcmeg]

Hi,
Would you have any suggestion what might be a Brymen DVM comparable to the Uni-T i was looking at?
I can probably buy most of the products from Chinese TaoBao and send to Hong Kong (strangely enough Uni-T is more expensive inside china than outside)
seems their selection is at least as confusing as Uni-T's
/Stefan

[Fungus]

Would you have any suggestion what might be a Brymen DVM comparable to the Uni-T i was looking at?

Only you know what features are important. 

If you've got money to spend then choose between the BM859s, the BM869s and the BM789.

https://brymen.eu/product-category/multimeters/?orderby=price-desc

The BM859s is their "Industrial" meter - basic, solid, easy to get at all the functions. It's what I use.

The other two have more functions but as a consequence can take more button presses to get to them. The BM69s has dual display so it can show two values at once (eg. voltage and frequency).

All of them are very accurate and have 50,000/60,000 counts. They're also very robust. Uni-Ts are known to die with tiny sparks, Brymens will take big sparks and come back for more.

Brymen serial cables are cheap if you ever need data logging.

PS: I wouldn't buy any meter with an OLED display. OLEDs wear out after a few years, they use a lot of power so they need constant battery charging (and you can't use the meter while it's charging), the internal battery also will wear out after a few years. Old fashioned LCDs show the same information but they're always ready to use and they go for years between battery changes.

[mqsaharan]

The reply above mine, from Fungus, is perhaps more useful to you.


Brymen makes industrial grade multimeters. If you look at their website www.brymen.com, they have arranged multimeters in CAT categories. The CATII meters are smaller in size and CATIV are the largest in their series.
Comparing with Uni Trend, I couldn't find any Brymen that has all the functions of UT171B in one meter.
Brymen meters do not measure frequency more than 1 or 2 MHz. They mostly lack LoZ function and* do not go as high in range in Capacitance function either. Also, none of the Brymen meters can measure AC current up to 100kHz bandwidth.

It is very difficult to suggest someone a multimeter. Only you can decide which meter offers a better combination of functions that are important to you.

Please take a look at the following file: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/multimeter-spreadsheet/?action=dlattach;attach=1188318
One forum member Wytnucls put a whole lot of work in making the above linked file just to make a handheld multimeter selection easier. His thread can be found here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/multimeter-spreadsheet/

I hope it'll help.
Qasim.

Edit: * I didn't check it thoroughly before but there are many meters from Brymen that have LoZ function.

[Fungus]

Brymen meters do not measure frequency more than 1 or 2 MHz.

I wouldn't put much faith in a meter that claims more than that:

eg. The Uni-T UT61E+ claims 200MHz, shall we test that...? 

https://youtu.be/4rADgFqFFH8?t=769

[mqsaharan]

There are many more shortcoming of Uni Trend meters. I was only keeping everything up to published specs.

[Balcmeg]

Thank you for the advice. It helps a lot to have the choices narrowed down!
When I got the old Fluke 77, I never even really considered the functions much - after all, I got a Fluke for free!

I have been searching a bit online, and surprisingly I can't seem to find any registered dealers for Brymen in Hong Kong. WECL, the largest local variant of RS, Mouser etc, only deals with Fluke and Uni-T. There also doesn't seem to be any Bryson dealer on Amazon. The ones on Taobao turned at a closer lookout to be small dealers that only have a very limited selection, none of the meters mentioned by you.

I'm feeling quite annoyed at myself for not taking the chance of buying a used Fluke 87V that showed up in my local used goods store a week back for about USD100. But the things they sell are sometimes not working properly, so it's a risk.

I will take some time later today to see if I find any dealer in US or Europe, Australia that might be willing to ship to HK, but from previous experience shipping would add quite a bit to the total cost.

EDIT: From what I read so far here, It seems the UT171A is the better choice IF I do not find any Brymen or other suitable here, The A is lacking some features (that I will need to look closer at, but I will also not have to deal with the rechargeable batteries and can get a normal LCD screen)

/Stefan

[Fungus]

I will take some time later today to see if I find any dealer in US or Europe, Australia that might be willing to ship to HK, but from previous experience shipping would add quite a bit to the total cost.

I'm sure Welectron will send you one: https://www.welectron.com/Handheld

[Balcmeg]

Thank you, I will have a look!

I will take some time later today to see if I find any dealer in US or Europe, Australia that might be willing to ship to HK, but from previous experience shipping would add quite a bit to the total cost.

I'm sure Welectron will send you one: https://www.welectron.com/Handheld

[mqsaharan]

EDIT: From what I read so far here, It seems the UT171A is the better choice IF I do not find any Brymen or other suitable here, The A is lacking some features (that I will need to look closer at, but I will also not have to deal with the rechargeable batteries and can get a normal LCD screen)

/Stefan

UT171A has been discontinued as per their website. If you'll buy one now, you might not get any warranty.
If Uni Trend is locally available and you don't want to spend too much, UT71D could be an acceptable choice. It has very slow continuity and the front end components are ever lower specs than their newer meters but it has reasonable set of functions. You can check its review here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/uni-t-ut71d-review/
UT171A will be a better choice than UT71D if you don't need AC+DC and temperature measurement functions. You can check UT171A review here https://lygte-info.dk/review/DMMUNI-T%20UT171A%20UK.html

If you don't have any special requirements then it'll all depend on your budget.
If you can afford an import from Germany, then may I suggest BM789 https://www.welectron.com/Brymen-BM789-Multimeter_1 *
All of Brymen meters are very good. You can choose according to your budget. As you go down in price they'll lack some features. If you find one that is affordable to you, we can discuss its pros and cons.

Qasim.

Edit: *  I better retract my suggestion of BM789. Seems like it still have some issues. You'll be better off with any of their 800 series multimeter.

[Bobson]

UT-171B has EBTN, not OLED display, and it is perfectly readable under direct sunlight. It is way better than any UT-71x series DMM.
The only serious drawback I see, it has only 10 microvolt resolution both in DC and AC voltage mode, compared to 1 microvolt offered by most hi-grade DMMs.

[mqsaharan]

Yes, UT171B has EBTN display. If it is usable in direct sunlight, then it will be even better indoors. Personally, I haven't used one. I only saw it in a very few youtube videos and I didn't like the hard to read display. If you are saying it is perfectly readable, then I'll have to check out the reviews more carefully again.

Anyway, the only problem remains is the battery. If you can live with rechargeable battery then great. Depending on the meter's design it gets flat even without use. For example: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/msg4343515/#msg4343515

Don't worry about 1 microvolt resolution. Manufacturers usually reserve that for their high end meters.

Please keep in mind that Uni Trend meters are geared more towards hobbyists and not exactly professionals even though they claim so. Lately, they have been including multimeter safety components in their new meters like UT171 series. Also, they are not very robust, means they get fried due to static discharge sometimes (not happened with many people anyway). I have to mention it since there is a chance of that happening. They are improving their products slowly. Personally, I am using a few Uni-Ts and overall, they are working all right.

For multimeter robustness, if you can spare time, check out joeqsmith's youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsK99WXk9VhcghnAauTBsbg/videos
He is also a member here and has been characterizing meters for their robustness. There is a long thread discussing all that https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/
In his testing Uni Trend scores badly.

[Bobson]

I think UT-171B & C versions are hi-grade DMMs, only UT-181 is higher in current Uni-T line. It has 0.025% best DC accuracy, 100 KHz TRMS AC+DC, concurrent AC & DC voltage measurement, 100GOhm resistance.

Considering robustness, I am not expert, but Joe Smith says UT-171B is better than the UT-181:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/uni-t-ut171b-teardown/msg954809/#msg954809

UT-171B has several backlight levels (and keeps level after on/off), you should only rotate it sometimes to eliminate reflection glare, or just attach mate screen protector.

I don't use it for CATIII/CATIV, since I have a lot of other DMMs which are more suitable (APPA, Chauvin, Brymen, SANWA, etc). It is really useful general purpose instrument for electronics.

[mqsaharan]

I only noticed after posting my last reply that the reply 12 was not from the original poster.

If you have read the rest of the thread, you'd know that I linked the very same review in my first reply.
UT171 series indeed is higher grade than their even cheaper and older meters but still as you wrote you don't use it for CATIII/IV, I was trying to explain the same to the original poster.

[Fungus]

I think UT-171B & C versions are hi-grade DMMs, only UT-181 is higher in current Uni-T line. It has 0.025% best DC accuracy, 100 KHz TRMS AC+DC, concurrent AC & DC voltage measurement, 100GOhm resistance.

But as noted, they have several problems, eg. internal batteries.

I don't use it for CATIII/CATIV, since I have a lot of other DMMs which are more suitable (APPA, Chauvin, Brymen, SANWA, etc). It is really useful general purpose instrument for electronics.

For the less money than the Unit -T you can have a similar-featured CAT IV 1000V Brymen.

[Bobson]

For the less money than the Unit -T you can have a similar-featured CAT IV 1000V Brymen.

It depends on features. There is no similar-featured Brymen for the less money. UT-171C is routinely available for $200 and sometimes even less (got mine for $150 @ali). Comparable Brymen models 859 and 869 cost more and don't have internal logging and don't include PC interface (bought separately).

Also, I don't consider rechargeable battery as a drawback (however the drawback is absence of battery level display). Replacement is easy, there are lot of batteries that fit. 

In my opinion, for amateur low-voltage use UT-171C is one of the best choices. If you deal with high voltage, and want universal DMM, APPA/Benning 500 series or Brymen/Greenlee 800 series (no internal logging) are better choices with good accuracy, but higher prices. There are lot of choices much cheaper than UT-171C with better high-voltage resilience but lower accuracy from Brymen and APPA, and other brands.

[Peter2K]

Hi all,

because it seems to be one of the few topics about UT171B. I have the problem that the software does not work at all. The software does not detect it or claims to have detected, but no values are seen in the software.
Some hints?

Thank you very much,
Peter