M3500A (PICOTEST)

[eurofox]

Hi,

I'm new here and interested in a 6 1/2 digit multimeter, did someone use it or test it?

 

Similar features like   34401A (Agilent)   K-2000 (Keithley)   8845A (Fluke)

M3500A (PICOTEST)
VFD Dot Matrix, Dual Displays with 3 colors
6 1/2?59 reading/sec 1PLC
5 1/2?545 reading/sec 0.1PLC
4 1/2?2000 reading/sec   0.02PLC
100mV~1000V
0.0035%+0.0005%
100mV~750V
0.06%+0.03%
3Hz~300kHz
1M?
10mA/100mA/1A/3A
0.05%+0.005%
1A/3A
0.1%+0.04%
3Hz~5kHz
100?~100M?
0.01%+0.001% YES
3Hz~300kHz
0.01%
RTD/TC
10 channels
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
0~3600s
2000 readings
USB/GPIB(opt)/RS-232C(opt)

Eurofox

[David_AVD]

I bought a model M3511A about a year ago.  Haven't used it a lot yet, but seems easy to drive.

[alm]

Pretty sure these are rebadged from some other ODM (Array?). Unless it's substantially cheaper than the Agilent/Fluke/Keithley competitors, I don't see the point of buying a lesser known brand. You should be able to find a Fluke 8845 or Agilent 34401a for close to that $900 MSRP.

[David_AVD]

As a matter of interest, the 34401A goes for $1300 - $1500 new in Oz.

I bought my M3510A (faster version of M3511A) for about $680 because the cal certificate was expired.  Even the "fresh" ones were < $900.

[alm]

Since eurofox did not specify a location, I'm assuming US pricing. The Agilent 34401a is about US$1100 list, and the street price is substantially less. Tequipment.net currently has the Fluke 8845A on sale for US$950. In that market, the Picotech/Array/whatever M3500A does not make much sense unless you can get it for substantially under $900.

[eurofox]

I can get it from the local distributor (EU market) for 550 Euros VAT included and 2 years warranty + original calibration. Normal price is 100 Euros more.
He claim that features a similar and provide me a comparison list with the 4 leaders producing a 6 1/2 digit multimeter, I just want to be sure that this is a good investment.

Eurofox

[Bored@Work]

Array http://www.array.sh/M3500A.htm

If I remember the story correctly, then Keithley rebranded this Array multimeter as 2100 http://www.keithley.com/products/dcac/dmm/broadpurpose/?mn=2100120 and people were not really happy about the 2100 firmware stability and usability. Maybe that has changed, the meter is now a few years on the market, Maybe the Picotest version has another, better firmware.

But I would be careful buying one At least check the manual upfront to figure out if the usability is ok.