New Agilent 34461A 6.5 Digit Bench Multimeter

[EEVblog]

http://www.home.agilent.com/en/pd-2270273-pn-34461A/digital-multimeter-6-digit-34401a-replacement-truevolt-dmm
http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5991-1983EN.pdf

Yes, I have one.
Yes, it's sexy 

[ben_r_]

Nice! Cant wait for the review!

[ChrisGammell]

So nice. So cheap!

[Fsck]

Hello sexy colour display.

[robrenz]

Finaly,Trend plot on a Agilent.  Looks realy good

[EEVblog]

Finaly,Trend plot on a Agilent.  Looks realy good

That green screen Fluke looks pretty 1980's now doesn't it 

[digsys]

  So nice. So cheap! 

$1,100-1,200 .. Guess you'd need to need all the fancy buttons :-)

[EEVblog]

  So nice. So cheap! 

$1,100-1,200 .. Guess you'd need to need all the fancy buttons :-)

US$945 and $US1095

[nukie]

I assume its made in Malaysia?

[EEVblog]

I assume its made in Malaysia?

Correctamundo.

[AlfBaz]

LXI GPIB optional 

[AlfBaz]

That's odd the web page says "LAN/LXI (optional), GPIB (optional)"
In the pdf under options it says "3446LANU Enable rear panel LAN/LXI web interface, ..." INCLUDED STANDARD.

Just checked some more. It seems they have mixed it up on the web page. Its optional for the 60A, included for the 61A

[fpga]

The 34461A looks very interesting -- nice specs, nice flashy new GUI, USB and LXI. Only thing they omitted was Capacitance measurement, which is of questionable value on a high end DMM.

The cheaper 34460A is not much of a bargain compared to the 34461A. Half the precision of the 34461A, reduced capability, no LXI, no probes, they even took out the USB cable (cheapscates!).

So my question, is the 34461A worth the 300USD over the 34450A? The 34450A has all of the features one would _need_ in a "budget" bench DMM. However the 34461A has 4x the precision, 6.5 digits, faster measurement rate, color GUI, LXI, etc.

I really think that Agilent has done to the bench DMM market what they had done with the X2000/X3000 scopes to the scope market last year.

[PA4TIM]

A keithley 2000 was allready cheaper as the Fluke and agilents and Keitley has just this month introduced some cheaper models. They are maybe not that fancy lookimg but they sure are good and especially accurate-over-time meters. But I never hear much over them on this forum.

[EEVblog]

The cheaper 34460A is not much of a bargain compared to the 34461A. Half the precision of the 34461A, reduced capability, no LXI, no probes, they even took out the USB cable (cheapscates!).

I agree.
If you can afford $945 you can afford to spring the extra.

So my question, is the 34461A worth the 300USD over the 34450A? The 34450A has all of the features one would _need_ in a "budget" bench DMM. However the 34461A has 4x the precision, 6.5 digits, faster measurement rate, color GUI, LXI, etc.

The ability to get trend plots and histograms in the unit (as opposed to PC control) is worth it's weight on gold to some people.

I really think that Agilent has done to the bench DMM market what they had done with the X2000/X3000 scopes to the scope market last year.

Not quite that far, as there aren't any huge feature innovations here, but yeah, it's designed to give the competition a real kick up the butt.

[Fsck]

Well DMM market is pretty stagnant. The 3458A is.. older than I am (the manual I have says Edition 1 came out in 1988)
I'm kind of curious to know when Rigol's going to stick their finger in the 8.5d pot.

[AlfBaz]

A lot of companies seem to be doing this weird model placement. I know canon are doing it with their DSLR's.
They bring out a new model that supposedly fits between existing models (although here they are suggesting it replaces the 34401) and then cram it full of features the next model up doesn't have but lacks some of the superiority in measurement accuracy (aka 34410)

[fpga]

Could we have a quick, first impression, video on how the unit feels in your hands?

Use it to make some measurements, especially the bar graph, histogram, trend plot, etc. Save some data to flash drive, is it fast enough to be usable? Is the display responsive? Any lag during measurements? Any lag on going through the menus? Or will you stick to your tradition of first taking it apart? We kind of know/expect that the insides will be first class, and the specs to be dead on, but want to know how well the unit lives up to usability and how well the new features actually work.

[mikeselectricstuff]

LXI GPIB optional 

Seems entirely sensible that the baseline model has _some_ connectivity, via USB, and that others are options for people that need them.
GPIB is surely on its way to the graveyard, and including it as standard on any gear nowadays would be an unnecessary expense for the majority of users.

 

[IanB]

I wonder if the quality of the solder joints is up to snuff? 

[EEVblog]

Could we have a quick, first impression, video on how the unit feels in your hands?
Use it to make some measurements, especially the bar graph, histogram, trend plot, etc. Save some data to flash drive, is it fast enough to be usable? Is the display responsive? Any lag during measurements? Any lag on going through the menus? Or will you stick to your tradition of first taking it apart? We kind of know/expect that the insides will be first class, and the specs to be dead on, but want to know how well the unit lives up to usability and how well the new features actually work.

I do could that if there is enough interest.
I was planing on having a review and teardown ready on the release date (was supposed to be June 17th, don't know why it's early), but that's tight.
I've had a quick play and it feels as good as it looks. No response issues, but I just played at home without measuring anything. My guess would have been it would have cost at least twice as much, but I only found at the price yesterday and was quite staggered.
It runs windows CE, and I have been told I have pre-release firmware with a longer boot time, but seemed ok to me considering.

[fpga]

Could we have a quick tour today?

[AlfBaz]

LXI GPIB optional 

Seems entirely sensible that the baseline model has _some_ connectivity, via USB, and that others are options for people that need them.
GPIB is surely on its way to the graveyard, and including it as standard on any gear nowadays would be an unnecessary expense for the majority of users.

I'm not up to speed with communication offerings from new test gear, but if I don't see visa mentioned anywhere in USB connectivity does this mean you have to program each device using proprietary commands related to each devices' driver? If this is indeed true and you are paying 1k+ for a multimeter surely you intend on carrying out setups that involve coms with more than one instrument

[Hypernova]

If it's anything like the scopes what you get with USB a also a USB serial SCPI interface, so ubiquitous SCPI command support should be there.

[AlfBaz]

If it's anything like the scopes what you get with USB a also a USB serial SCPI interface, so ubiquitous SCPI command support should be there.

Thanks, good to know

Edit: I guess I should do some reading to find out for my self, but if I have a bunch of code that does coms to instruments via gpib-32.dll, would I have to talk to these USB scpi instruments through some vendor specific dll or will the gpiib-32.dll handle it?