Multimeter spreadsheet (80 manufacturers and over 400 meters listed)

[Wytnucls]

Here is the latest Google doc file with a legend:

Warning: These highlights reflect personal preferences and may not align with someone else's requirements.

CAT ratings are not that important for electronics work, which is the main interest.
Independent professional testing is required to confirm that meters comply with regulations.
Regardless, fuse voltage ratings are listed in the database and also CAT ratings for selected meters.

[Wytnucls]

Updated file with a few additional meters and some extra features listed:

[crmaris]

Great work!! Congrats!

I want to buy a bench DMM and this excel file is a life saver for me!

[Wytnucls]

Has anybody got the manual for the 50,000 count Transcat 65023MM? I struggled to find much info about it. It looks like a dumbed down version of a Yokogawa meter and sells for about 300$.

[Wytnucls]

Minipa of Brazil has been acquired by UNI-T:

http://www.uni-trend.com.cn/en/news/2014_0901_964.html

http://www.minipa.com.br/

[PedroDaGr8]

Minipa of Brazil has been acquired by UNI-T:

http://www.uni-trend.com.cn/en/news/2014_0901_964.html

http://www.minipa.com.br/

Wow, Uni-T making some big moves

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

[RobertoLG]

I just hope they improve the quality and safety of the multimeters, most of them don't have 10 amps fuse, lets see if this is good or not...
still using my oldie Motech MIC 2200A, got sold to BK precision, only the multimeter part

[kxenos]

You haven't include Picotest (https://www.picotest.com/products_index.html) in your list. They are the OEM of Keithley, I believe

[Wytnucls]

Thanks, hadn't heard of them. Will be included shortly.

[bigsky]

Hi, I'm new here. Great spreadsheet!

A comment - it shows the Fluke 87V as having dB capability. I have an 87V and I'm sure it doesn't do any form of decibel measurement, so I think this is a mistake.

A question - can anyone recommend a cheapish DMM that can measure dBu or dBm ? I was thinking of the Amprobe 37XR, but that only goes down to -13dBm. I really need something with a bit more sensitivity - -20dBm at least, preferably -30 or -40. It could be a discontinued model that is readily available.

[Wytnucls]

Thanks, main database corrected for the 87 V.
What do you consider cheapish and where do you live?
The Fluke 185 aka Tektronix TX3 does -74/+60 on dB and dBm but is hard to find.
The Fluke 87 IV  does -52/+60 dB. The Gossen 18S has similar specs.
The cheap Digitek 80000R does -80/+80 dBm.

[bigsky]

Hi, I'm in England. Cheapish is less than, say, GBP 150. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm also thinking of a used Fluke 187 / 189 as they are easy to find.

Sorry to give you more work but if you have a moment, could you add the Agilent / Keysight 1253 and 1273 models. The spreadsheet must be a huge task and it's much appreciated.

[Wytnucls]

1253B and 1273A/AX were lumped together with equivalent models as they mostly differ by screen type. Any difference is annotated in the relevant cell.

[bigsky]

Sorry, I missed that. What awful battery life those OLED models have!

[VK5RC]

The U1253b battery is a LiPo rechargeable,  the oled display I really like,  easy to read from all angles and I tend to reach for the Agilent U1253b in preference over the fluke 87v.
A huge thanks to Wytnucls for keeping this great resource going.

[Wytnucls]

Updated DMM pictures:

[mibars]

Hi guys, I've registered ther just to report one thing: Uni-T UT171A price in spreadsheet is WAYYY off, I've been searching for that one because it looks kinda stuffed with options for "just 60 bucks" and you know what? It is available only on Alibaba (not even AliExpress,) I've been quoted (1 unit) whooping US$233 + $40 shipping to EU + no taxes and duties included. That $60 looks wrong for that amout of features even for a bulk order!

[Marco]

140$ on taobao too, still a bit shy of 60$.

[Wytnucls]

That 60$ price was just tentative, as the only quote I could find was wholesale.
There is still very little information about the 171 series and I'm not even sure it is officially on sale yet.
The 181A sells for 240$ on Taobao, so 233$ for the 171A sounds quite excessive.

[Linrox]

Hey new to the site o/.
Looking for a review on the DT-9919. There is a version on ebay (Link below) at the moment for $99 from gastools, not sure if it is worth it. It does have ceramic fuses, (500mA and 10A)
Now that i think about it, the front cover has "Fused Max 400mA" but uses a 500mA. Odd?

http://s9.postimg.org/hcn8v6a1r/dt9919_Cover.png
http://s24.postimg.org/c4651f7qt/dt9919_fuses.png

It also states Cat4 @ 600V, but not sure i trust it?

can anyone clarify please?

Link to site:  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DIGITAL-MULTIMETER-PRO-ELECTRICIANS-TESTER-WATERPROOF-AUTO-RANGE-/111205371704?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item19e45b4f38

[retiredcaps]

Looking for a review on the DT-9919.

The DT-9919 has some family roots with the Extech EX505 (eevblog #99 - $100 shootout) and this photo teardown

http://mrmodemhead.com/blog/gallery/craftsman-82003/

With the supplied ebay picture, I highlighted some dodgy soldering which could affect the functionality of the meter long term.

R40 looks hand soldered.

There is no solder on the right leg of C13.

The capacitors by the white jumper cable are all hand soldered and are barely holding onto their pads.  What happens with one drop of the multimeter?

IC5 and IC6 look hand soldered with big blobs of solder on the legs.  Cold joints?

The negative battery terminal has solder covering half the contacts?  Oops?

The insulation on the COM terminal is pretty short and fairly close to that standup power resistor?

It looks like none of the flux has been cleaned off.

If this were me, I would keep looking for other options.

[3roomlab]

was mastech a part of yihua? or the other way around ?

http://www.mastech.com.cn/html/en/products-va38.htm

in amazon, the va38 is hot red color ! lol
http://www.amazon.com/VA38-True-Digital-Multimeter-Interface/dp/B000Y95URA

[omgfire]

was mastech a part of yihua? or the other way around ?

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/product-review-dmm-latest-va-mastech-va18b/msg128081/#msg128081

[KD0RC]

This is a fantastic resource!  I really appreciate all that it takes to compile and maintain a list like this.  As I zero in on my decision, I want to be sure that I truly have this correct...
I get the difference between Accuracy and Precision, so we don't need to go there.  But I notice on some of the higher end units (50,000 counts at .02% + 2 digits), it seems like the precision exceeds the accuracy.
So if I measure 5 volts, it should show as 5.0000 (that would be th 50,000 counts of precision - correct?)  .02% would then be +/- .001 V (ignoring the +2 digits for now).  If I am correct to this point, then the last digit exceeds the accuracy of the device.  Am I thinking of this correctly?

[hammy]

This compilation is awesome! Thanks a lot!

There are no Bench Multimeters from UNI-T in the list. The UT803, UT804 and UT805. Are they discontinued?
The UT805 changed a little bit over time, at least the display got a redesign. But it doesn't look like UNI-T is putting much work in this line of their products. Do you know more?

Cheers
hammy