Any dealings with tester.co.uk ?

[c4757p]

Well, the scope arrived today (ordered last friday - 5 days ago).

They have indeed given us the next model up - the 100MHz version rather than the 70Mhz. They didn't have the SDS1072CML 70Mhz in stock so instead sent us the SDS1102CML 100Mhz at no extra charge.

[Stonent]

Yes indeed

Outstanding!

[SeanB]

 Dusklow, ROFLMAO on that one. At least here we don't have no steenking consumer side TT systems, they are at high voltage points in the distribution system ( along with Peterson coils) where they rightly belong. LV and MV are all grounded systems, with both overcurrent and leakage current monitoring being common.

Then again some of the Izinyoka have been making illegal connections to the MV side of substations. Could be fun as the typical wire used is single strand 0.5mm stolen phone cable, or steel MIG wire or the odd bit of fence wire. MV here is typically either 11kV or 33kV, depending on the age of the suburb and the demand load of the area supplied by the feeders.

[duskglow]

Well, on the bright side, coil some of that up and you have a toaster.

[SeanB]

The street lighting there in the skwatta camp aka informal settlement aka jondolo is mostly comprised of glowing wire.

[IanB]

I've picked up "bloody", "baaahstads", "diiiik'eads" and "half a bee's dick". I swear to god I almost say them, and with an Aussie accent to boot! I can't say "haitch", it makes me feel like I'm about to cough up a furball.

There's one I have not heard from Dave I don't think, but I'm sure they must use it in Oz, just like in NZ and Britain:

[c4757p]

You're right, I don't think I've heard him say "bugger" by itself rather than inside "bugger off".

[EEVblog]

To be honest that sponsorship put me off them and mjlorton.

Why did it put you off?
The guy's gotta earn a living. AFAIK, he is doing that channel full time now.

[HKJ]

I watched that "review" of a laser distance meter and it really did seem more like something you would see on a shopping channel.

In my opinion it  looked more like a guy trying to learn how to use a laser distance meter. Without knowing what he is reviewing it is difficult to do a serious review.
This learning is part of his channel.

[EEVblog]

On the other hand you always find something wrong with everything you review, even if it's just a fairly minor UI issue, and compare it to the other products on the market in terms of value for money.

That just my nature, I've been doing that for decades. I like to whinge and nit pick, I can't help it 
I make it very clear in my review terms and conditions that I almost certainly will find something I won't like about their product and will point it out. To the point in fact that I essentially go into a review with the attitude of deliberately looking for something wrong with the product.
A lot of people don't like the way I review stuff, but hey, I do what I do.

I can't speak for Martin of course, as every reviewer is different and goes into it with a different mindset.

Maybe the stuff he reviews is all excellent

Well that's a distinct possibility. Some people question why my reviews of Agilent gear are always generally very positive. Well, it's simply because they make the best stuff. It's like buying a Rolls Royce and expecting to find shoddy design or workmanship, it rarely happens.

[EEVblog]

In my opinion it  looked more like a guy trying to learn how to use a laser distance meter. Without knowing what he is reviewing it is difficult to do a serious review.
This learning is part of his channel.

I haven't seen the video in question, but yes, that's the impression I get with Martins channel, a "you learn as I learn" kind of approach. I for one like it, and quite a few of my videos have a similar side to them if it's about something with which I don't have much experience.

[george graves]

I like his videos - but they tend to drag on a bit beyond my liking.  I find myself skipping through them.  (Dave, you're videos are so jam packed, I often end up re-winding several times!  And don't mind that at all)

[Pippy]

The one thing that comes to mind regarding these digital scopes is the price. They seem very highly priced compared to say a desktop PC mother board. A PC mother board tends to be far more complex as well, and the build quality of mother boards/laptops seems to be far higher than the plasticy feeling digital scopes.

I can only assume two reasons for the scope prices, it's because they are produced in lower quantities, or they charge the prices they do simply because they can. I expect it's a mix of the two though.

[c4757p]

It's because they are produced in lower quantities. Everything in them is lower-quantity, from the unit oscilloscope down to the amplifier components in the front-end. It's not the least bit because they can.

[duskglow]

That's also why you'll find things like scopes and DMMs reusing designs and components across product lines, and goes right to why that Agilent multimeter uses WinCE.

[Stonent]

That just my nature, I've been doing that for decades. I like to whinge and nit pick, I can't help it 
I make it very clear in my review terms and conditions that I almost certainly will find something I won't like about their product and will point it out. To the point in fact that I essentially go into a review with the attitude of deliberately looking for something wrong with the product.
A lot of people don't like the way I review stuff, but hey, I do what I do.

No, Dave, you don't want to do that. You'll certainly make them mad and they'll never want to work with you again...

 



 

[duskglow]

That was one of the most epic corporate responses ever.

[Stonent]

That was one of the most epic corporate responses ever.

Also epic is the fact they used the real engineers.  That girl in the video is the real engineer they use in other videos.
She did a PICkit 3 video which basically highlighted all the Dave features that were re-enabled in PICkit 3 like on the go programming. Of course she didn't mention they were re-enabled, just that they were features.

[tester_co_uk]

Hi All,
I just wanted to introduce myself.

I'm the MD of PASS Ltd that runs tester.co.uk and calibrate.co.uk. A few people made me aware of the thread. I always think it's better to say something in a forum to prove that we are not a faceless company and we do exist :-)

We are based in the UK and have been around since 2001 and across the company we have around 40 staff so we're no RS Components.

I would also like to say that we always try to get things right. We're not perfect, sometimes we do sometimes we don't but if we learn from it that's what matters.

Pippy - i'm glad you got the scope ok and glad to see that we had the sense to give you the next model up. As you know these come from the far east so they are not always in stock and generally take 6 weeks+ to get them in. Regarding the emails i did check and i have seen the emails so maybe some replies went into your spam or junk. We do get this sometimes so if you've not had a reply it's always best to call just incase.

If anyone has an issues with anything you can email me directly through the forum.

Regarding sponsorship (takes a deep breath)
Everyone needs to make money i'm afraid including us and it's becoming more and more difficult to do that in the age of the internet. Advertising on channels and websites is good for us as it get's us infront of people who buy what we are selling.

It's also great in other ways too. We get to know what people want to buy through recommendations. We introduced the Siglent range because of a recommendation.

Product Reviews
When someone carries out a review for us the customer gets an expert giving an expert opinion on a product rather than a salespersons opinion. If the reviews were from someone at our place you are never going to believe them.

I always welcome anyone that wants to review a product and i will put it on the site be it good or bad as long as i think it's an unbiased, well executed review. We are here to sell products but there's no point in someone being unhappy with it so i would rather the customer knows before they buy it. It means that we get less returns because someone is unhappy with the product.

Most people can live with a few small issues on a product as long as they know about them. There are very few products that are perfect !

If something gets a bad review then that is for the manufacturer to deal with and they cant do that if everyone is telling them their products are fantastic.

Dave and Martin review products as they find them. As we sponsor Martins channel one of the stipulations from both sides was that the product reviews be impartial which i believe they are as if you look around you will find some pretty poor reviews on some of the products we have sent him:-)

So yes sponsorship is a way of the world and as long as it's good for the customer and both parties then thats great.

As i say if we dont get it right just let me know !

Thanks Dave for letting me post.

Cheers

Barry

[tester_co_uk]

No Problem.

Each person has their own style and to be honest being in front of a camera isn't the easiest thing in the world to do so i take my hat off to the guys that can and want to do it !

[Gnyff]

I just "concluded" my final (first and last) dealing with tester.co.uk / Pass Ltd. That was a horrific experience - and I'm surprised they are still in business if my experience is in any way representative!  I do not want others to be cheated - so I'll post my experience here even though it's an old thread:

I bought an Applent AT4808 from PASS Ltd based on the information on their website (which was more or less copied from the manufacturers). It stated sampling "Speed: Fast: 100ms/channel". So I spent quite some time making useless measurements, testing, and corresponding with Applent. It turns out that the 100ms/channel does not turn out as 10hz sampling as it should - but more like 0.2hz (or 5000ms/channel). When logging, the AT4808 does write 1 value/ch*s - but seemingly it only updates the measurements every 5 seconds !!! Anyways, definitely not to specs - and totally unusable in my application. Applent seemed totally ignorant, so I took it up with PASS Ltd. support. Although I'm always a bit disappointed when people have no experience with what they are selling, it did not come as a surprise. At least they took it up with Applent, who promised to solve the problem with a new firmware. That never happened. So although it took me two months to finally realise this, I asked for a full refund: The equipment was sold with falsely advertised specs. But PASS Ltd turned this down categorically. In my world that is "fraud" (although, admittedly I'm uncertain if this would be the correct term in the legal system). Anyways, PASS Ltd.'s "solution" was to change the specs on their website (actually, they are /still/ not correct) and claim that the equipment is OK. I'm not sure if they actually believe this (I sincerely hope not)... But in any case I think is really lousy business ethics. Basically I was cheated - and not being in UK, I'm not sure I'll have the energy to take legal action. :-(
I can't imagine why they would think it's good business in the long run to cheat customers. And I'm really puzzled that they intend to continue keep selling this specific Chinese "equipment" after this ordeal! (They have of course also not published my submitted review - which is a pitty for other potential victims/customers)

But in any case: Don't be naive like me: PASS Ltd. does /not/ have knowledge of the equipment they sell and will NOT support you when they sell you non-working stuff. So if you are smart: Take your business elsewhere!!!!

[RGB255_0_0]

Why would a shop front need to have specialist knowledge of everything they sell? Paying engineers specialised in different areas would cost a fortune. It's not their task to do your research for you: they provided what they were given as specifications.

Distance seller act doesn't run for 2 months so it's not on them to refund, but that would have been an option had you returned it earlier.

IMO your beef is with the manufacturer.