Agilent U1242B or Fluke 179

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Great review for speed and ergonomics.  Fast and to the point!  Thanks.  If you've time, accuracy check would be great, how does it live up to specs?

Ok, I finally managed to get five minutes of free time and made a very quick video. Sorry I couldn't show more, I just don't have time to cut/edit/compress videos this week.

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If you know how to eBay, you can get a used Fluke 87 V for under $150, under $100 for the I.  Given Fluke 87s reputation, a working old model should be just as good as a new model, given Fluke's reputation for durability.  When eBaying choose a 'gently' used one and you can't go wrong.

Now, I don't have enough experience to really know what I'm talking about, never mind looking at, but after looking at this Agilent U1242B, I have to ask (just because I can't see it myself) what reason would there be to choose a Fluke 87 V over this Agilent, if any?

The 87 has several advantages:
1) 20,000 count vs 10,000 count
2) 0.05% vs 0.09%
3) "Lifetime" warranty vs 3 year warranty
4) Made in USA vs Malaysia
5) Arguably better parts support in the future
6) 400 vs 300 hour battery life

But the Agilent does has some advantages in terms of features, you'd have to weight those up.

But considering the Fluke is more expensive, it's not quite comparing apples to apples.

Dave.

[TopherTheME]

Great review for speed and ergonomics.  Fast and to the point!  Thanks.  If you've time, accuracy check would be great, how does it live up to specs?

The meter comes with a full blown cal certificate from Agilent showing you the accuracy for all measurements. I did compare it to a calibrated Agilent 34401A we have in the lab with 12v, 5v, and 3.3v DC measurements and it was spot on. I may try and do a more "Dave like" video review but it wouldn't be for at least a couple weeks.

[saturation]

Sounds great in that case no test needed, a cal certificate from Agilent is more than good.

Great review for speed and ergonomics.  Fast and to the point!  Thanks.  If you've time, accuracy check would be great, how does it live up to specs?

The meter comes with a full blown cal certificate from Agilent showing you the accuracy for all measurements. I did compare it to a calibrated Agilent 34401A we have in the lab with 12v, 5v, and 3.3v DC measurements and it was spot on. I may try and do a more "Dave like" video review but it wouldn't be for at least a couple weeks.

[Tobias]

Heyho, sorry for digging out this old thread, but i just bought the U1242B and while checking if i want to buy it, i found this thread over google. I was not sure if i want to buy this multimeter cause of the continuity tester and found out something, which is not mentioned here.
If you look very close, you can see, that the multimeter is autoranging, while doing the continuity test.

However, you can make it way  faster, by choosing manual ranging.(something between 50ms and 200ms - just my subjective feeling). You can even speed it up a bit by choosing a higher range.

here a short part of the manual:
measurement range         Beeps, when
1000,0                                  < 10
10,000 k                               < 100
100,00 k                               < 1 k
1,0000 M                              < 10 k
10,000 M                              < 100 k
100,00 M                              < 1 M


Maybe i can make a short video, but it will need some days

edit: dedoh, havent looked properly at the video, manual ranging was already selected. Somehow, my multimeter does beep, when i do this scratching.

[Kiriakos-GR]

Yes its true that the manual ranging helps.
And the higher ohm ranges offers a bit of improvement ( less missed beeps ) 

But the continuity speed was an comparison point, now with U1272A the continuity mode got promoted,
in to a more useful function.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=4190.0
 
 

[morrissey70]

I'll have to get the U1242B for review, as it doesn't seem to be the best value meter around the $200 range.

Dave.

Hello Dave and hi all forum members, this is my first post. 
 I follow with interest all your reviews Dave. You are incredible. Thank you
 Just to stay on the subject of discussion, which recommend best multimeter into range of 200 Euro or 250 USD.
 I know that is not a easy answer, but try it because I'm in trouble.

Sorry for my poor English but is not my language. 

[abelb]

Hello all, first post from a long time eevblog youtube subscriber and occasional forum lurker. Thought I'd bump this thread as I've just ordered the U1242B from www.triosmartcal.com.au where it's currently on special (hint... Dave)