Anyone ever use any of the Uni-T LCR meters? Any internal pics?

[FenderBender]

Hello,

I'm interested in getting a cheap-ish LCR meter as I want to start toying around in RF and I need something that will help me do inductance measurements...so I saw these cheap Uni-T meters, specifically the UT-603. They range from about $30-50...which is pretty cheap for most LCR meters. It is manual ranging, but I don't need an autoranging component tester right now.

Are these okay? Anyone have any teardown pics? I'm wondering about the quality...

Thanks in advance!

[ddrl46]

Looking at the specs it seems that it won't measure down into the µH range which is quite important for RF work, the capacitance range isn't that spectacular either at 2nF 1% + 5 digits. For the price however it seems like quite a good deal.

[T4P]

Also, at the same time Uni-T has some 100kHz meters also which frankly are the only ones worth buying, it's using the same chip as the MS5308, it can be found on precisegauge but i would rather go for the MS5308

[free_electron]

into the µH range which is quite important for RF work

not only for rf work... modern switching regulators use power inductors in the 0.5uh to 2.2uh range .. they switch at 1..5Mhz these days ...

[FenderBender]

Hmm yeah you guys are right. Overlooked that yesterday late at night.

I'm a high school student, not much dough to work with here though I am not opposed to making a good investment where it is due.

[FenderBender]

This seems pretty okay- I found it for $170 elsewhere...Still a lot of money, to me, since it won't get a ton of use, but seems decent.

[FenderBender]

This looks like a toy- But to be completley honest, seems to have decent specs. Where I would trust it, I don't know, but not bad overall...I think,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LC200A-Inductance-Capacitance-L-C-Multimeter-Meter-Tool-/260816756900?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb9e3e0a4

[Lightages]

Unless you see a take apart review and an accuracy check of anything Uni-T, you are gambling with your money. They have a very inconsistent design and quality. My advice would be to buy anything other than Uni-T unless you know exactly what is inside and that some examples of the product are actually known to be within spec.

UT71E: expensive pile of unreliable junk
UT33C: Inexpensive useful meter
UT10A: Inexpensive useful pocket meter

Just my experience. My first email to Uni-T about my UT71E being way out of spec was to send me calibration instructions. The second email when I asked for more assistance was to send the meter back to the vender. That would be useful except it took 2 months for the meter to arrive here and and would take another 2 for the return and then maybe I would get another working meter another 2 months after that. Further emails have been ignored.

Buy anything other than Uni-T for things you want to rely on. I would consider buying only a UT61E, UT33X or UT10A again. All others are gambles until you see some kind of history that shows they are a good buy.

[FenderBender]

Yeah I'm aware. I've looked at a lots of Uni-T teardowns. On some of the meters you would expect good quality, it's abysmal. Piggybacking SMD parts etc. And then others: They are quite nice.

I just came across this one- http://www.aade.com/lcmeter.htm

People say quite good things about it. $105 shipped as a kit. And it's fairly accurate (1-5% at 1nH!) Pretty good. And most of the time it stays between 0-2%error otherwise. Pretty beast. It's meant for radio in mind.

Now I have to scrounge up $100...

[RCMR]

I bought one of these from GLB

http://www.goodluckbuy.com/lc100-s-l-c-f-inductance-capacitance-high-precision-meter-board.html

Haven't really tried it yet and GLB is a real lottery (bad packing, dodgy fulfillment, etc).  I have since seen them with a nice plastic case (probably also on the GLB site and) on eBay.