VC8145 thread ... It's here, finally

[T4P]

Slow auto-ranging too, perhaps?
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/question-about-vc8145-newbie/msg164949/#msg164949

You don't even own one and you just shoot off your mouth that it's slow in auto-ranging. It's speed is not bad and guess what? Several DMMs are much slower.

[Monkeh]

Slow auto-ranging too, perhaps?
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/question-about-vc8145-newbie/msg164949/#msg164949

You don't even own one and you just shoot off your mouth that it's slow in auto-ranging. It's speed is not bad and guess what? Several DMMs are much slower.

Oh my GOD! Somebody has criticisms of a device you own! KILL THEM! THEY'RE WRONG AND EVIL AND STUPID!

[Wytnucls]

No, if you had bothered to read the thread, you would have seen that it is a problem encountered by someone who actually owns the same bench meter as yours.
I don't shoot my mouth off as you say, unlike you, who badmouths a certain multimeter at every occasion, without ever having owned one.
It seems that you can't take your own medicine when it matters and Vichy/Uni-T 61E Kool-Aid doesn't impress me.

[Bored@Work]

You are falling into a typical trap. Because you bought one you feel the need to justify your purchase by all means. But that doesn't change the fact the thing is crap. All show, no substance. Pretty much looks like it is build around a garden variety multimeter IC put into a largely empty box to sell it for an inflated price. Just like the Uni-T 801, 803 and 804 lunch boxes.

Now, unlike Dave, I am a fan of bench multimeters. But that thing doesn't cut it. I would love to see a small, entry level, safe bench multimeter, build around a common multimeter IC and maybe $10 more expensive than a corresponding handheld. Because that would allow more people to see the advantage of a bench meter. But it has to be honest, not an empty lunch box bench multimeter poser.

[nctnico]

At what point do you feel the VC8145 doesn't cut it (*) and what would be your alternative?

Don't forget different people have different wishes. When I looked for a multimeter I wanted a big & easy readable display (preferably LED) so I can look where my probes are and peek at the display, >10A current handling capability and mains powered so I wouldn't have to change batteries all the time. With my demands the list of candidates got short real quick and interestingly the VC8145 was one of the very few that actually fit the bill. Most (99.9999%) handheld DMMs only have 3.5 digit resolution which is not enough for anything serious. Most benchtop DMMs are all about precision (which I don't need), have tiny displays and only a very limited current handling capability.

* Please skip the empty box argument. Every modern instrument is a mostly empty box.

[T4P]

No, if you bothered to read the thread, you would have seen that it is a problem encountered by someone who actually owns the same bench meter as yours.
I don't shoot my mouth off as you say, unlike you, who badmouths a certain multimeter at every occasion, without ever having owned one.
It seems that you can't take your own medicine when it matters and Vichy/Uni-T 61E Kool-Aid doesn't impress me.

I don't need to own a UT71 to say it's crap, like i said before i bought one and returned it in a week

[Wytnucls]

Keep your story straight, last time you said you borrowed one for a week. Maybe you just saw one in the shop window once. I rest my case.
And before that, you always referred to other people opinions, like Lightages, who does own a 71E, without any supporting evidence of your own. You've been caught in a lie.

[Bored@Work]

At what point do you feel the VC8145 doesn't cut it (*)

Please spare us this trolling attempts to waste others and my time. Every grown-up can check that on his own, and if you after that still think it is worth buying then by all means waste your money and buy one.

[nctnico]

At what point do you feel the VC8145 doesn't cut it (*)

Please spare us this trolling attempts to waste others and my time. Every grown-up can check that on his own, and if you after that still think it is worth buying then by all means waste your money and buy one.

Well if you think something is not worth buying then please enlighten others on what technical grounds you have formed your opinion (or just keep quiet). Its always good to have extra insights on what to look for when selecting equipment.

To sum this thread up to this point the only cons I can find is that the VC8145 is mostly an empty box, it is not as accurate as a high end multimeter which is more than 10 times expensive and that the VC8145 is not made by Fluke. All in all the negative comments are just FUD.

[david77]

@T4P and other owners of this meter:

Instead of bickering with others could you not just test the damn thing and give us a bit of a review & teardown on it?
Is it usable? Does it do what the maker claims? What's the buid quality like? And let's have a look at that board in there.
Does it really have that function gen in there and what can it do? The data on Vichy's site is a bit confusing, and it must be said Vichy's homepage is not impressive at all.

[alm]

To sum this thread up to this point the only cons I can find is that the VC8145 is mostly an empty box, it is not as accurate as a high end multimeter which is more than 10 times expensive and that the VC8145 is not made by Fluke.

Let's compare it to the much more expensive UT-61E:
- DCV, R are slightly better
- ACV is slightly better as long as you don't use the upper 25% of the ACV ranges
- DCA is better
- ACA has less bandwidth, especially in the amps ranges (50-500 Hz vs 45 Hz - 5 kHz)
- Capacitance has much less range, only up to 100 uF instead of 220 mF
- Frequency has worse lowest range and resolution (1 kHz vs 10 Hz) and accuracy (0.1 % vs 0.01 %), and the UT-61E claims to go to 220 MHz without extra gadgets. So much for the ten digits of resolution.

It's slightly better in some functions, but surprisingly worse than a hand held sold at half the price in others.

[grenert]

To sum this thread up to this point the only cons I can find is that the VC8145 is mostly an empty box

That's a pretty significant con, I think.  I don't want my equipment taking up 3-4X more space than it needs to.

* Please skip the empty box argument. Every modern instrument is a mostly empty box.

No, only junk instruments are mostly empty box.  Have you not seen teardowns here of:
Fluke 8846A bench DMM
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/fluke-8846a-teardown-9409/

HP/Agilent 34401A bench DMM
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/hp34401-teardown/

Agilent E3631A power supply
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/teardown-agilent-e3631a-power-supply-(picture-heavy)/

Agilent 33521A function generator
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/agilent-33521-teardown/

Fluke 196B portable oscilloscope
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/video-teardown-and-repair-of-a-fluke-196b-handheld-scopemeter/?nowap

And of course, Dave's teardowns of the Agilent DSOX and Tektronix MDO oscilloscopes.

It's not just really expensive stuff that is actually filled.  Look at this Rigol DM3058 bench multimeter
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/teardown-rigol-dm3058-(multimeter)/

These are not empty boxes.

On the other hand, the garbage Atten ATF20B function generator has quite a bit of air inside:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/atten-atf20b-teardown/

[Rick]

To sum this thread up to this point the only cons I can find is that the VC8145 is mostly an empty box

That's a pretty significant con, I think.  I don't want my equipment taking up 3-4X more space than it needs to.

* Please skip the empty box argument. Every modern instrument is a mostly empty box.

No, only junk instruments are mostly empty box.  Have you not seen teardowns here of:
Fluke 8846A bench DMM
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/fluke-8846a-teardown-9409/

HP/Agilent 34401A bench DMM
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/hp34401-teardown/

Agilent E3631A power supply
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/teardown-agilent-e3631a-power-supply-(picture-heavy)/

Agilent 33521A function generator
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/agilent-33521-teardown/

Fluke 196B portable oscilloscope
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/video-teardown-and-repair-of-a-fluke-196b-handheld-scopemeter/?nowap

And of course, Dave's teardowns of the Agilent DSOX and Tektronix MDO oscilloscopes.

It's not just really expensive stuff that is actually filled.  Look at this Rigol DM3058 bench multimeter
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/teardown-rigol-dm3058-(multimeter)/

These are not empty boxes.

On the other hand, the garbage Atten ATF20B function generator has quite a bit of air inside:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/atten-atf20b-teardown/

Could remind us the price of those new instruments you mention ?

[Simon]

Does this meter come from the same conmen that did the VC99 ? If it does I wish you luck, you will need it !

[grenert]

Could remind us the price of those new instruments you mention ?

The point is not that these are suggested as alternatives for the Vichy.  The point is that this $200 bench meter, and likely every new $200 bench meter is junk.  You just can't put together a good bench meter at this price.  What you can do at this price is put a mediocre handheld in an oversized case and power it off the wall, and that is what they did.  At the cost premium over what the handheld would cost, it doesn't make any sense.

[nctnico]

To sum this thread up to this point the only cons I can find is that the VC8145 is mostly an empty box

That's a pretty significant con, I think.  I don't want my equipment taking up 3-4X more space than it needs to.

The whole point of a bench DMM is that you can stack things on top! I have 2 bench DMMs and a power supply stacked on top of each other. In the end the 'empty' box is actually saving space. When using a handheld DMM I always had to put it upright against something in order to be able to read it but in the end it always was in the way.

[Rick]

Does this meter come from the same conmen that did the VC99 ? If it does I wish you luck, you will need it !

Regarding the VC99, I have recently received my second VC99 from China.
You will be amazed to hear what the Chinese seller told me. She said that she is selling plenty of that DMM. Selling very well actually. So for most people it is ok. But I shall not buy another Vichy because of its slowness.

[grenert]

The whole point of a bench DMM is that you can stack things on top! I have 2 bench DMMs and a power supply stacked on top of each other. In the end the 'empty' box is actually saving space. When using a handheld DMM I always had to put it upright against something in order to be able to read it but in the end it always was in the way.

Ha ha!  You have a very good point there.  Yes, I certainly take advantage of the stacking feature of bench equipment, probably more than is safe!  I agree that a bunch of handheld stuff on the bench does tend to get knocked around a lot.  A good tilt bail helps, but those seem to be harder to come by these days.

[T4P]

Does this meter come from the same conmen that did the VC99 ? If it does I wish you luck, you will need it !

Regarding the VC99, I have recently received my second VC99 from China.
You will be amazed to hear what the Chinese seller told me. She said that she is selling plenty of that DMM. Selling very well actually. So for most people it is ok. But I shall not buy another Vichy because of its slowness.

Simply not the same animal.

[nctnico]

Could remind us the price of those new instruments you mention ?

The point is not that these are suggested as alternatives for the Vichy.  The point is that this $200 bench meter, and likely every new $200 bench meter is junk.  You just can't put together a good bench meter at this price.

They used to say the same about Rigol scopes. The rest is history... Labour in China is cheap for both engineering and production. If you put a DMM into an ASIC which needs very few external components then you can mass produce something decent and sell it for a price low enough so lots of people can afford it.

[T4P]

Keep your story straight, last time you said you borrowed one for a week. Maybe you just saw one in the shop window once. I rest my case.
And before that, you always referred to other people opinions, like Lightages, who does own a 71E, without any supporting evidence of your own. You've been caught in a lie.

Troll much? What if i told the sequences happened one after another? Your pathetic attempt at trolling has been denied.
First earlier (June or September?) this year i bought a UT71A and felt it was utter rubbish, went out of cal within a week. so i returned it
Nevermind so later this year i borrowed a UT71E to see if it was any better (Being a different price point, something like 200$) but no it wasn't.
Still rubbish

[Wytnucls]

Yeah, right, whatever...my bullshit meter is glowing red. Wasn't helped by that tall ever changing tale about a Vichy 99 exploding in your hand, first without, then with glove. I think you're a phony and a first class distorter of the truth.

[T4P]

I'll let you think what i think, it doesn't change the fact that the UT71 is still a bad series.
And thus a troll is a troll.

[Wytnucls]

I'll let the reader decide who the troll is. The evidence is all here for everyone to see.
By the way, where is the VC8145 review? Did we put you off or are you incapable of doing a proper one?
Come to think of it, you never did one of the UT-71A and E models, that supposedly passed through your hands, either. Not even a picture, zip, nada, not a peep! Too busy posting inane comments in everybody else's thread, perhaps?. Nearly 4,000 posts and no reviews.
What is is with that post count of yours anyway? Are you trying to overtake Dave and Simon to gain some respectability, that you cannot achieve otherwise? It nearly gives a new meaning to quantity over quality.
I'm glad there is only one jerk on this site, otherwise it would become unbearable very fast.

[T4P]

Overtake? Don't make me laugh, boy. If there was a jerk right now it's you alright.
I really don't have time now to make a review as that requires some thinking and thought and i'm probably not posting here either